Can yoga bring hostages home? No. Can yoga stop a genocide? Also no. But this won’t stop earnest practitioners from instrumentalizing practice for both purposes.
For supporters of Israel, practice is dedicated to the protection of land, the return of hostages, and to uphold the spiritual valor of soldiers. Among supporters of Palestine and a ceasefire, yoga practice and community is an organizing principle for decrying genocide, building mutual aid, and resisting global colonialism. Both factions cite the Bhagavad Gita.
Does yoga support nationalistic violence and body fascism? Isn’t that where its modern origins lie? Or does it have deeper, intersectional roots in universal liberation?
The interpretive war, articulated and inflamed online, only accelerates the material war.
But there is a third space we examine today: the gap between how spiritual aspirations appear and are praised or condemned in the world of the spectacle, and how they play out in the flesh.
Show Notes
[Tel Aviv Yoga Event ] (https://www.instagram.com/p/CzgG2Ato2AJ/)
[About : Israeli hostages taken by Hamas] (https://stories.bringthemhomenow.net/about)
[We Are Still Standing handstand event] (https://www.instagram.com/p/Cy_Zx6vtUpN/)
[Carmel Gat | Yoga in captivity] (https://www.facebook.com/maayan.shavit.1/posts/pfbid02TrFwiBniw3SE8CJkmhdHSRXqhPqRoaa2gg3CdtxoHLWAakgrWBkKo3Zx7tLFQ12Kl)
[Taken captive: Carmel Gat, seen doing yoga with hostage children] (https://www.timesofisrael.com/taken-captive-carmel-gat-seen-doing-yoga-with-hostage-children/)
[Initial Twitter posting of Alfie's yoga class in Gaza] (https://x.com/DanelBenNamer/status/1749806294805123501/photo/2)
[Reserve combat engineer practices yoga with soldiers in a house in Gaza] (https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1s5e5bca)
[IG post | criticism of Yoga Journal cover] (https://www.instagram.com/p/C61JadmrcZ_/)
[In Israel, Chanting 'Om' Between Missiles] (https://www.hadassahmagazine.org/2023/06/28/in-israel-chanting-om-between-missiles/)
[What does Israel's rescue of 4 captives, and the killing of 274 Palestinians, mean for truce talks?] (https://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/prospects-cease-fire-deal-after-israel-rescued-4-110974479)
[AP: Calculating death numbers in Gaza] (https://apnews.com/article/israel-hamas-war-gaza-deaths-women-children-360c6aabc03421c718d4a8452cec2c67)
[Sarah Martin Little Rock yoga benefit event] (https://www.facebook.com/yitrAR/posts/pfbid0i33mEJrvheutLeDC3UGiJd4p6frZKabvMhHQWKNVtgu7kfo9ZaLRoiggd5rZGCAYl)
[Rasha Madkour fundraiser for The Longhorn Muslim Alumni Network] (https://www.facebook.com/groups/MuslimLonghorns/posts/7797778500242557/)
[UK yoga event for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund] (https://www.facebook.com/namilauramcneill/posts/pfbid02oo1eNqwaDvaPqxqXG95Wkb4F74VKqzSMpnAHMsJtoVfA7n6E43ZUqZSsQvCTEfUQl)
[Hot Yoga Glasgow yogathon for the International Rescue Committee] (https://www.facebook.com/HotYogaGgow/posts/pfbid0LFNtoEpiYCvs6PYTwLZfL8uawzBq9dXpnDBtRMmiZ6pLPbehFBQzwGhSn5UuXLz4l)
[A look inside the growing Pro-Palestine student solidarity encampment at UCSB] (https://www.ksby.com/santa-barbara-south-coast/a-look-inside-the-growing-pro-palestine-student-solidarity-encampment-at-ucsb)
[Pro-Palestinian Demonstrators At USC Join Camp-In Movement On Heels Of Valedictorian Controversy] (https://laist.com/news/education/pro-palestinian-demonstrators-usc-campus-israel-hamas-protest)
[Sheena Sood's Yoga for Palestine series at Bhakti Yoga Movement in Portland] (https://www.facebook.com/TheBhaktiYogaMovementCenter/posts/pfbid02nFgzrt7rAYSsoNMiE4c7f49gt2Cnt5ewV9qQnms8p51LACB9ZFDj72K5sAahZwFul)
[50. Sellouts & Zealots (w/Sheena Sood)] (https://www.conspirituality.net/episodes/50-sellouts-amp-zealots-sheena-sood)
[Samson's Foxes insignia] (https://www.facebook.com/243894462476473/photos/a.258197597712826/1587194038146502/?type=3)
[Reserve combat engineer practices yoga with soldiers in a house in Gaza] (https://www.ynetnews.com/article/s1s5e5bca)
[The Dangerous History Behind Netanyahu’s Amalek Rhetoric] (https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2023/11/benjamin-netanyahu-amalek-israel-palestine-gaza-saul-samuel-old-testament/)
[Dark Mirror: A Torah View of Revenge, and its Reflection in Israeli Media During Operation Iron Swords] (https://www.academia.edu/resource/work/113533744)
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