Dr. Sundari Johansen, scholar of women’s spirituality specializing in Hindu tantra and archival work, and Anjali Rao, yoga educator and author focused on feminist, caste-aware yoga histories, discuss tantra and yoga as lived, embodied traditions. They explore tantra’s heterodox, material practices, women’s roles and endangered archives. They connect embodied scholarship, political resistance, and preserving ancestral spiritual stories.
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Hinduism Is Plural And Shaped By Caste
Hinduism is a plural, porous collection of traditions rather than a monolithic religion.
Anjali Rao highlights caste as an undergirding reality that must be named when discussing Hinduism and its many contradictions.
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Hindu Thought Belongs In Philosophy Curricula
Hindu philosophical traditions have rich intellectual systems that were marginalized as 'religion' by Western academies.
Sundari Johansen points to thinkers like Abhinavagupta to show tantra and related philosophies deserve inclusion in philosophy curricula.
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Yoga Is An Evolving Multivalent Practice
Yoga is a multivalent, evolving set of practices aimed at liberation and transformation, not just asana.
Anjali Rao uses the ocean metaphor to show yoga reshapes itself by absorbing local movements like Bhakti and tantric body practices.
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Tantra and Yoga are practices rooted in Indic spiritual traditions that share long, intertwined and complex histories. Often, we encounter tantra and yoga as forms of exercise, self-care, sex, or as pathways to personal wellness. However, these powerful, multifaceted practices are much more than that.
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In this episode, Dr. Anna Corwin, Chair of the CIIS Women’s Spirituality Program facilitates an illuminating conversation between Dr. Sundari Johansen, Assistant Professor of Women’s Spirituality, and Anjali Rao, yoga practitioner-educator and author of Yoga as Embodied Resistance.
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This episode was recorded during an in-person and live streamed event at California Institute of Integral Studies on October, 16th 2025. You can also watch it on the CIIS Public Programs YouTube channel. A transcript is available at ciis.edu/podcast. To find out more about CIIS and public programs like this one, visit our website ciis.edu and connect with us on Instagram @ciispubprograms.
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LINKS
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Podcast Transcripts: https://www.ciis.edu/podcast
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California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS) Website: https://www.ciis.edu/
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CIIS Public Programs YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ciispublicprograms
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CIIS Public Programs Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ciispubprograms/
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Mental Health Care and Support Resources:
https://988lifeline.org/
https://thrivelifeline.org/
https://translifeline.org/
https://www.ciis.edu/ciis-in-the-world/counseling-clinics
https://befrienders.org/
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