In this episode I chat to Nadia about her experiences with mental illness that started when she was a teenager. We chat about that first yoga class, what led her there and the impact that finding yoga has had since. And we chat about eating disorders, sobriety and recovery and we chat about movement, physical health and why wellness is bullshit.

Of course, we chat a lot about yoga, how it can be beneficial with regards to mental health but also how it’s not the answer to everything like it’s often sold to be. I absolutely loved chatting to Nadia! We had one of those wonderful conversations that goes absolutely everywhere and we really got in to some big topics.

“We're living in a world that doesn't want us to change our mind or make mistakes.” - Nadia Gilani

One of the things I love about Anne's episodes is I get to experience them as a fangirl first. Anne's conversation with Nadia Gilani, a London-based yoga teacher and author of The Yoga Manifesto, is no exception (there’s a reason Anne calls Nadia “a warrior pose of a woman”). Sure, the tl;dr header is appropriation vs appreciation within the retail-oriented, whitewashed atmosphere of modern yoga. However, the unabridged version goes deeper, like a good asana, inviting folks to explore their relationship to yoga and its tenets, question the teachers, and consider how our favourite classes are taught and sold.

A Stillpoint portrait of Nadia Gilani, a writer, author and yoga teacher who lives in London. Nadia shares about the struggle she has with moving in and out of practicing yoga. She talks about how relationships are key to understanding and how the practice helps her to relate to her body in a deeply meaningful way. Watch the full conversation on YouTube here.

Nadia Gilani is an author, yoga teacher and former news journalist. Her book, The Yoga Manifesto, is what brought us together to chat. For me, Nadia's book is a call to action. An open honest look at modern yoga, how we engage with it and integrate it into our lives. Nadia says, "without action the yoga isn't working... we have to engage in the world."

"How can I use the practice?"

"What can I do right now with what is in front of me?"

"In a world of inevitable suffering, what can I do to find peace?"

"What am I doing to promote peace in the world?"

In this frank and tender interview with author Nadia Gilani, we discuss the tensions within the 'Yoga Industrial Complex' body image, disordered eating as part of the yoga practice and more. Her brilliant Book 'The Yoga Manifesto: How Yoga Saved Be And Why it Needs to Save Itself' has been on my bedside table since it came out earlier this year.

Yoga is an ancient practice from South Asia, but once it was brought to the West it was whitewashed, commercialized and focused mainly on yoga asana (poses) when in fact it is so much more. Today it is a multi-billion-dollar industry. Nadia is a yoga teacher in the UK, a freelance journalist and now author of the book The Yoga Manifesto. We chat about her journey with yoga, her book, and where the yoga industry is now.

“Yoga is about looking at yourself.”

The episode is called: Yoga is for Everyone which is a no-brainer in Nadia’s world when it comes to detangling the strange ideas of wellness the practise has got itself wrapped up in these days.

This ep’s just 30 mins and we packed SO MUCH in! Listen to hear us discuss the dangers of WELLNESS culture (that make Nadia want to smoke a rollie and drink a Diet Coke 😜) and why the yoga world needs more HONESTY and TRUTH. What happened when a white yoga teacher told Nadia she believed she had INDIAN GENES and how a PUNK ethos and faith in people power, community and collectives led Nadia to writing her book

In this raw and wide-ranging conversation Scott Johnson talks to Nadia Gilani, yoga teacher and author of The Yoga Manifesto. They both go deep on yoga, practice, life, creativity and the shadows and light of yoga that Nadia discusses in her her new book, The Yoga Manifesto. We are left with the understanding that a voice like Nadia’s could never stay quiet. And we are all the better for it… And as a beautiful ending to the podcast Nadia reads an excerpt from her book.

Ava and Nadia discuss the dynamics of social justice and in-equity within society and culture. The responsibility we all have to address imbalances within society and ensure the availability of support and access for all. What it means to be aware of the inherited trauma within a culture and the healing necessary. What it means to meet everyone's needs.

I speak with Nadia Gilani, a writer, yoga teacher, and in my designation, a yoga activist. Nadia has noticed not only yoga's rising popularity, but also how its modern incarnation no longer serves people of colour, working class people, or many other groups who originally pioneered its creation.