On Tantra, Yoga, and Embodied Resistance (In-Person)

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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. Learn how these rich traditions have been used as catalysts of historical change and how modern practitioners can engage these traditions in more expansive ways that honor their histories while refocusing on embodiment and liberation.

Join us as 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. Their conversation explores Hindu feminism and what the history of Tantra and Yoga can teach us about the political dynamics facing the world today.

Dr. Anna I. Corwin (she/they) is Associate Professor and Chair of the Women’s Spirituality Program at California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS). Dr. Corwin received their Ph.D. from UCLA and is a recipient of fellowships from the National Science Foundation and The National Endowment for the Humanities for research on aging and well-being. Dr. Corwin has spent almost 20 years researching how everyday practices shape individuals’ experiences of well-being. In addition to her work as Chair and Associate Professor at CIIS, Dr. Corwin also leads workshops on aging as a feminist spiritual practice and works with individual clients as a spiritual director and aging coach.An author of many peer-reviewed articles and the book Embracing Age: How Catholic Nuns Became Models of Well-Being, Dr. Corwin’s work explores the effects of everyday routines and habits on health and well-being in older age. She recently completed a research project funded by the Templeton World Charity Foundation exploring spiritual intelligences, focusing on how communities around the world define and cultivate spiritual expertise. Her works in progress include a graphic novel about her research on experiencing the divine and a workbook, Aging as a Feminist Spiritual Practice.

Dr. Sundari Johansen Hurwitt, PhD, specializes in gender, the body, ritual, power, and secrecy in religion. While her interest in these themes encompasses a variety of religious traditions, her research work currently focuses on ritual studies in South Asia, especially Hinduism, Śāktism (goddess-focused Hindu traditions) and Tantra in India. A practitioner and scholar, Dr. Johansen comparatively explores representations of the young female in the Tantric literature of Bengal and the Northeast as well as in the living Tantric traditions of Northeast India, using extensive textual research and in-depth ethnographic fieldwork. Her dissertation, “The Voracious Virgin: The Concept and Worship of the Kumārī in Kaula Tantrism” (CIIS, 2019) is the first comprehensive study of the kumārī (pre-menarche virgin girls worshipped as goddesses) in India. She is particularly interested in representations of gender and the body in late medieval and early modern Tantric texts, the development of Tantrism in Bengal and the northeast, and in continuities and differences between textual and modern living traditions. Her work is deeply rooted in post-colonial and decolonial, transnational, feminist, and integrative philosophies, as well as exploration of non-Western philosophical and theoretical traditions. Dr. Johansen is a strong proponent of integral feminist pedagogies and research methods and interested in furthering the development of immersive, cooperative, and collaborative educational models in online education.

During her dissertation fieldwork in Assam, Dr. Johansen assisted in the development of a library and digital archive with the Foundation for History and Heritage Studies at Kāmākhyā Dhām in Guwahati, which was established to preserve endangered manuscripts and other documentation from the local community at the Kāmākhyā temple complex. Part of this work included video and audio documentation of local women’s devotional music, as well as assistance with digital restoration of archival materials.

Dr. Johansen received an MA and PhD in Philosophy and Religion with a concentration in Asian and Comparative Studies at California Institute of Integral Studies. Her research has received support from the American Institute of Indian Studies.

Anjali Rao brings an intersectional and decolonial feminist lens to the study of philosophy and yoga history. Emphasizing an embodied approach, her work interrogates the dynamics of power in yoga, integrating storytelling, art, and poetry. She is on the faculty of multiple yoga teacher training programs. She is the host of The Love of Yoga podcast bridging scholarship, activism, and yoga. She has served as the President of the Board of Directors of Accessible Yoga Association, a nonprofit dedicated to ensuring accessibility and equity in yoga spaces to people of all backgrounds.

She is currently pursuing a PhD in Philosophy and Religion in the Women's Spirituality Program at California Institute of Integral Studies. Her book, Yoga As Embodied Resistance: A Feminist Lens in Caste, Gender And Sacred Resilience in Yoga History, North Atlantic Books is available for pre-order, and available from October 14, 2025.

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Recording PolicyTicket holders will have access to an ad-free replay of the event for one month after the live event, after which unlimited viewing with ads will be available. Portions of the audio will also be released on our podcast. Only registered ticket holders who choose to watch live can participate in the chat and Q&A.

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