Michelle went DEEP in this conversation to offer thoughts on why she doesn't buy into dominant culture's definition of "productivity,” how collective grief is connected to freedom and liberation, her practice for staying grounded in a noisy world, and more.

THIS is the yoga we’ve been waiting for. Michelle C. Johnson, author, yoga teacher, social justice activist, licensed clinical social worker, and Dismantling Racism trainer, gets into deep conversation with Aurora + Kelly about the intersections of yoga and justice, embodiment, liberation, and spiritual bypassing.

Michelle speaks about why yoga teachers have a responsibility to investigate white supremacy, racism and oppression, why we are uniquely positioned as yoga practitioners to do the work of dismantling racism, how yoga philosophy calls us to create justice and liberation for all, and more.

In this exploration of self-care from a variety of unique experiences and perspectives, Michelle and Amy engage in an honest discussion about yoga and social justice.

In this episode Michelle talks about how she came to yoga by way of the breath and how your breath can be a form of resisting oppression. She shares how yoga and social justice overlap. We talk about spiritual bypassing and ways to disrupt it. We also hear a little bit from her beloved dog Jasper.

This conversation is centered around the yamas and niyamas, otherwise known as the ethical precepts of a yoga practice. Michelle and Renee delve into the meanings we make of them, their own understanding and (re)interpretations, and how we understand the intersections of spirituality, yoga, and social justice.

The truth is racism still exists. It exists in our subconscious - as a memory in our bodies from our ancestry. It exists from past traumas of our ancestors still yearning to be healed. It exists in our conditioning, our society and how many of us were raised.