S3 E3: Harpinder Mann — Creating the spaces that you’re seeking

We’re back with our third interview of the season and excited to introduce you to Hapinder Kaur Mann, a yoga and mindfulness educator and the co-founder of the Womxn of Color Summit. On this week’s episode, we get into Harpinder’s story and journey, personally and professionally, with wellness and yoga. She shares some of her wisdom with us that leaves both Hien and Zahra, and hopefully yourselves, some space for reflection about our reactions. Then Harpinder gets into her journey with yoga in white-led spaces and how she reconciled that journey with her personal experiences as a Punjabi Sikh, and finally what led her to working more specifically with folks of color. Harpinder is kind enough to share with us how the Womxn of Color Summit began and the revelations that brought her there. We get into a conversation about certifications and the commodification of wellness practices. Harpinder also shares with us some of her own process for decolonizing and fighting against the engrained capitalistic standards imposed on us. Additionally, we hear about Harpinder’s own journey of decolonization in terms of her yoga practice and education. Zahra and Hien wrap up by gushing about Harpinder’s vision and work. Plus, they get into more talk about religious influences and spiritual practices.

Harpinder Mann (she/her) is a Sikh-Buddhist Punjabi-American yoga asana and meditation teacher currently living on Tongva Land. Her childhood consisted of trauma from domestic violence, sexual abuse, and bullying which set her on a journey of healing through yoga, meditation, activism, and brave community. Now she aims to move through the world with compassion and joy.

This led her to create Harpinder Mann Yoga in 2018, where Harpinder now works with womxn of color 1:1 on reclaiming their power & intuition to be free through yoga asana, meditation, breathwork, and spiritual connection. She has over 800 hours of yogic training within the traditions of Raja, Vinyasa, Kundalini, and Prenatal Yoga from respected teachers across the globe. Without her teachers, ancestors, and women before her, none of this would be possible.

She is also actively working to decolonize wellness by creating community and providing real accessibility to her ancestral practices for BIPOC as the co-founder of the Womxn of Color Summit, an equitable community organization focused on creating brave and inclusionary spaces for womxn and non-binary people of color to share stories and knowledge as well as make impactful change.

https://www.harpindermann.com/ 

https://www.instagram.com/harpindermannyoga/ 

https://www.tiktok.com/@harpindermannyoga/ 

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