Ignite Your Yoga: How to Live, Practice, and Teach as an Authentic Yoga Steward

Ignite Your Yoga: How to Live, Practice, and Teach as an Authentic Yoga Steward

​​An essential guide for all yoga practitioners to delve deeply into the tradition and practice authentically with appreciation, not appropriation. Includes practical advice for embracing yogic values—such as service, non-harm, and truthfulness—in your daily life and relationships and for the well-being of others. Popular yoga educator and advocate Susanna Barkataki invites yoga practitioners to become stewards of the tradition—bold and effective trailblazers for embodying the roots of yoga. She gives you the knowledge, tools, and language to respectfully and responsibly hold and participate in class and more effectively embody yogic values. Each chapter is full of step-by-step instructions, stories, practical advice, practices, and contemplations and covers the following: The issues with modern yoga in the West today - Best practices for yoga leadership - Learning what equity is in yoga - How and when to use Sanskrit Integrating yoga ethics into your yoga practice, relationships, and work While mainstream yoga culture explodes, the teachings have often strayed far from yoga’s traditional roots. The result is a watered-down, often inaccurate or incomplete practice that doesn’t responsibly reflect the rich and powerful tradition. Ignite Your Yoga is an essential guide for all yoga practitioners to delve deeply into the tradition and practice and teach authentically with appreciation, not appropriation. “ Ignite Your Yoga is a comprehensive guide for anyone wanting to live a life of purpose and meaning. Susanna skillfully offers us a way to understand and practice yoga in a holistic, transformative, and respectful way. She connects the dots between yoga philosophy and modern life and invites us to reflect on how a commitment to our own spirituality must be connected to how we lead, teach, parent, and show up in relationships. She is a gifted and clear writer. If you are needing to reconnect to meaning and purpose, or want to deepen your practice or teaching of yoga, this book is for you.” — Hala Khouri , editor of Practicing Liberation “Susanna Barkataki embodies her work, and her cultural understanding and knowledge ignite our passion and presence in yoga. This book is an education for your soul.” — Dianne Bondy , author of Yoga Where You Are “ Ignite Your Yoga stands is a crucial contribution to the global yoga community, offering a fresh perspective on what it means to live and embody the practice. In a world where yoga can sometimes be reduced to mere physical postures, Susanna reclaims its spiritual heritage, grounding the practice in the principles of social justice, self-awareness, and personal transformation. This book is not simply a guide or a manual—it’s a call to stewardship, inviting practitioners to engage deeply with yoga’s roots through sincere study, practice, and contemplation.” — Kino MacGregor , author of Accessible Ashtanga “ Ignite Your Yoga is a passionate examination of the continuity of yoga from its roots to its contemporary expression. It is a skillful and rich blend of teachings that will no doubt inspire its readers to be a force for positive change on and off the mat.” — Tias Little , author of Yoga of the Subtle Body “A bridge between tradition and modern yoga. Ignite Your Yoga is a tender invitation to return to the heart of practice. With wisdom and care, Susanna Barkataki gently guides you to honor the sacred roots of this ancient practice, while empowering you to live its teachings in your modern life. Each chapter is a meditation on connection, integrity, and inclusivity, inviting you to cultivate a practice that is both deeply personal and profoundly universal. For those who seek to embody yoga’s truest essence, this book will be your steady, compassionate companion on the journey.” — Elena Brower , author of Practice You “In Ignite Your Yoga, Susanna offers illumination and direction on building a yoga practice that is true and honest to yourself and to the ancient practice. She invites each reader to consider best practices and to reflect on how appropriation and misguided teachings have shaped what is known about yoga today. I am so grateful for her relentless leadership and guidance in the conversation on reclaiming yoga’s roots.” — Tejal Patel , Tejal Yoga " Ignite Your Yoga is a heartfelt guide that seamlessly weaves tradition and modernity, inspiring a deeper commitment to yoga as a path of personal and collective transformation.” — Acharya Shunya , author of Sovereign Self “Susanna is the yoga leader we all need in our modern times. In Ignite your Yoga, she guides us back to the beating heart of yoga, its principles, and how we can apply them to our work, leadership, home, and activism. With embodied wisdom, she shares the true diversity and beauty of what yoga can bring to our lives. This book is a must-read for those seeking to walk and share the yogic path with right-relationship, honor, and devotion to this radiant