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@article{190110,
        author = {Ms Mamta Devi and Dr Amarjit Singh},
        title = {Decolonisation Yoga: Women’s Voices and Empowerment in India},
        journal = {International Journal of Innovative Research in Technology},
        year = {2026},
        volume = {12},
        number = {8},
        pages = {1986-1988},
        issn = {2349-6002},
        url = {https://ijirt.org/article?manuscript=190110},
        abstract = {Yoga is globally celebrated as a system of health and well-being, yet its contemporary representations often obscure the cultural, philosophical, and social contexts from which it originates. Through processes of colonial reinterpretation, globalization, and commercialization, yoga has frequently been reduced to a depoliticized physical practice, while the voices of Indian women—especially those from marginalized backgrounds—remain underrepresented. This paper approaches yoga from a decolonial feminist perspective, examining how Indian women reclaim yoga as an embodied practice of empowerment, resistance, and spiritual self-definition.
Drawing on qualitative insights, indigenous philosophical concepts, and critical feminist scholarship, the study foregrounds women’s lived experiences across rural, urban, spiritual, and community-based settings. The findings suggest that yoga enables women to assert bodily autonomy, heal intergenerational trauma, reclaim indigenous spiritual knowledge, and negotiate new forms of social and economic agency. Central to this process is the reawakening of Shakti, understood not only as divine feminine energy but as lived inner power.
The paper argues that decolonizing yoga requires moving beyond Westernized, market-driven frameworks and centering women’s voices, ethics, and community-oriented practices. When rooted in indigenous epistemologies and social justice, yoga emerges as a transformative Indian tradition capable of fostering gender dignity, cultural continuity, and collective empowerment.},
        keywords = {Decolonizing Yoga; Women’s Voices; Empowerment; Shakti; Feminist Spirituality; Indigenous Knowledge; India},
        month = {January},
        }