As a trauma-informed yoga teacher trainer and trauma sensitivity trainer, you would think that I would know and have expertise in every type of trauma.
That, however, is not the case. Definitions of trauma keep evolving and expanding to include survivors yearning to get their voices heard, and it is deeply important that we listen. It’s how a trauma survivor frames their story that is important and that needs to be acknowledged and believed.
Thenmozhi Soundararajan opened my eyes to the trauma of caste. Though I have spent years in India and was very aware of caste oppression, it wasn’t until her telling of it, that my understanding deepened into a bodily knowing of how traumatic the experience of being caste oppressed is and how much it still very much exists both in east Asia and here in the United States.
Caste oppression also involves religious oppression. It is taught in religious texts that certain castes are not allowed to read, speak or listen to. They are deprived of religion and taught it is due to their karma leaving many wondering what horrible thing they did in their past life. It is cruel and it must be acknowledged and stopped.
I am so grateful to activist and artist, Thenmozhi Soundararajan for sitting down with me to discuss the important topics of caste and religious trauma and how some of us are perpetuating this in yoga spaces even as we are trying to respect Indian culture.
Take a listen HERE and please don’t forget to rate and review!
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