It’s so meaningful to me when the work I do a yoga teacher intersects with significant cultural moments - such as getting to attend a special screening of @homeboundthefilm to celebrate India’s official entry to the 98th @theacademy awards. This film is based on an @nytimes article from 2020 about two friends in India with an incredible story. The director @neeraj.ghaywan of ©dharmamovies expanded on that story and cast an honest intersectional lens of life in India highlighting casteism, religious discrimination, misogyny and patriarchy, and classism - all while gracefully underscoring India’s innate beauty. Throughout my 20+ year history with yoga, I’ve come to learn so much about the complex nature of yoga’s evolution—including areas that have been shaped by casteism, misogyny and patriarchy (by the way, check out @yoganjali’s new book about this!). The truth is, although the codified yoga we all know and love originates from present-day India, the philosophical origins of yoga (as a concept and variable practice) spread far and wide — a truth that receives backlash even just to acknowledge. I say all this to make it clear that we can hold many truths at once. We can appreciate the beauty of a culture, a place, and it’s people that shape it — while also acknowledging systems of harm that prop it up and doing what we can to sustainably break them down. That’s exactly how I felt watching this film—a multitude of layered emotions while also thinking critically about how to apply the core message to my work as a yoga educator and leader. @homeboundthefilm features @ishaankhatter @vishaljethwa06 and ©janhvikapoor who beautifully portray the nuance of their characters - flaws and all. I won’t give too much away but just know in the span of two hours, I was belly laughing, locked in, boo-boo crying, and incredibly inspired. I absolutely recommend you go watch this film and show it support so we see more stories like this financed, spotlighted, and celebrated in Indian cinema. Thank you for having me @_productofculture_ 🫶🏾 Photo credit: @gettyimages