‘Yoga Talk’ as a Feminist Issue

Recently I was fortunate enough to attend some sessions of a course ‘Embracing Death and Living Life’ at Mandala Yoga Ashram. As part of the teaching there was a practice called Tattwa Shuddhi. This is a wonderful tantric meditation practice that uses symbols to point towards the different aspects that make up our being; everything from the solid and manifest to the transcendental and beyond. The practice works with the concept of first recognising all the elements that make us human and then dissolving them, allowing us to connect with and touch higher states of consciousness. 

Following one of the practice sessions a participant asked, ‘Where would God be placed in terms of the symbols?’ This led to much discussion. The elements, or tattwas, are non-gender specific. However, when one gets to the headier aspects, the penultimate tattwa is described as Shakti and the final tattwa, Shiva. In Yoga Vedanta philosophy, seekers move towards non-dualism. The state of ego limits us to perceive ourselves, others and the world around us in a dualistic form: the ‘I’ and the ‘other’. Ultimately this illusion is transcended by the Truth that everything is interconnected and that there is no separation. However, whilst we are still in the ego state, we identify with a limited sense of ‘self’, rather than with the ‘Self’ or Consciousness. Within yogic teachings, Shakti is the feminine principle and Shiva, the masculine. So this teaching and philosophy present us with a gender hierarchy. Do water and earth question their place within this linear hierarchy? I don’t think so, but as humans we have been in a long period where the feminine has been disregarded or demeaned in relationship to the masculine and the language that we use can either heal this or reinforce it.

Swami Nishchalananda, spiritual director of Mandala Yoga Ashram, explained that when teaching Tattwa Shuddhi and other practices we should emphasise that Shakti is not a woman, nor a feminine principle; Shiva is not a man nor a masculine principle.  Shakti symbolises energy and Shiva symbolises consciousness.  He explained that in his experience, energy follows consciousness – that is, energy goes where consciousness directs. Awareness (in women and men) directs the flow of energy. It has nothing to do with being a woman or man, these are labels for how the universe, including you and me, are driven by energy and consciousness. Ultimately, of course, Shakti (energy) and Shiva (consciousness) are not different. The Ultimate Reality is neither masculine, nor feminine, but includes both and is beyond gender.

As a female yoga practitioner or yogini, when I perceive a hierarchical concept that includes gender, I feel somewhat alienated from the teachings. I know that most of these teachings originated from Shakti Shaivism or Tantra - groups of practitioners who recognised that we owe our creation to The Mother, the Absolute Creator. That from Her womb of creation everything was born or manifest. And yet, the teaching is passed down that Shiva is the ultimate space or void from which everything was created, and Shakti was the active spark that brought life into that void. This is what is usually taught, however I, and perhaps other Shakti yoginis, would see this as a distortion or a different perception of the Divine Mother. So, here’s the issue: if as experienced practitioners of yoga we know that the linear hierarchical description and gender inference is meaningless, does it matter in which order Shakti and Shiva are portrayed?

Let’s imagine for a moment that Consciousness, that black velvety unlimited void, is Shakti; Her womb from which everything emanates. Shiva provides the spark and from this union creation is manifest. How does this sit?  

            She is the one who gives rise to the creation and destruction of the world - regardless of  whether she is a woman like you or a man like me … All the gods; Brahma, Rudra, Vishnu - are at Her service.  The Nirrutara Tantra (cited Odier Tantra Kali p.48)

Kali is depicted either sitting upon Shiva’s heart or straddling his lingam. She is never under Him. Yoga does acknowledge that Shakti and Shiva are both important and need each other, but it is Shiva who ‘wears the trousers’ so to speak. (Notice how this common phrase implies the masculine ie trousers is superior). What if Shakti and Shiva really were perceived as in balance? What if, when referring to Consciousness, we used language that represented the non-dualistic merging beyond gender rather than the masculine assumption? The majority of us were brought up in the West with the concept of God as being masculine. God of course is beyond any such label or classification and yet the education received and conditioning is that if the omnipresent, omniscient were to be allocated a gender it would be masculine. To pretend that this does not have a cognitive and emotional impact on children and adults is extremely short-sighted. Perhaps the main difficulty is that spiritual concepts and experiences are beyond words; our language is too crude, clumsy and lacking the subtleties to describe the ineffable. In everyday language, books and scriptures, the masculine pronoun is used. Sometimes the author will add a comment saying ‘’Im using He but I mean She as well’. The use of the masculine pronoun continuously reinforces that the masculine is superior and the female is inferior. If it really is the same and doesn’t matter then let’s use ‘She’ or the singular form of ‘They’. Increasingly, some young people choose to use the term ‘they’ as they do not wish to be restricted and reduced to a dualistic gender pronoun with all the assumptions and expectations that come with it. Perhaps we can learn from them.

The Absolute Formless Being is beyond concepts, yet is referred to as He. If we look at the Hatha Yoga Pradipika which refers to the Absolute as masculine, we can speculate that at the time of writing most practitioners (in public, or overtly anyway) were mainly male since most women were housebound due to the social expectations of the time. As a consequence, it may have been a natural conclusion to use the masculine pronoun. But why now, when the majority of yoga practitioners are female?

The majority of the students in the teaching session that day were women. I wondered, if like me, they felt unease with the inferred hierarchy. Did this make them also feel less resonate with the practice? I am reminded of other female spiritual seekers who have courageously written about patriarchal religious, spiritual systems and organisations. It is largely agreed that history, including religious and spiritual history, has been written by men and that female practitioners rarely have been represented. It is probably fair to assume that accounts of women’s spiritual advancement have not been fairly or accurately edited or included over the years. If this is a little unpalatable then we can remind ourselves that in certain Buddhist schools, it has been taught that if born into a female body one cannot attain enlightenment. Vickie Mackenzie in her inspiring book ‘Cave in the Snow’ shares her account of trying to find her place in a patriarchal and misogynist institution as she had to serve soup to a monk who had just entered the monastery and had to sit behind all the male monks despite her being their senior. In many spiritual traditions women have not had access to teachings, been unable to perform sacred tasks or had access to sacred environments. There has been a systematic exclusion and non-representation of female spirituality. Outdated inference and language reinforces this distortion and imbalance.

Like any ‘ism’ perhaps it is only when you are truly on the experiencing side of it that it seems important. Male seekers that I discussed this with repeated that it didn’t matter as these concepts are beyond gender. Although this is true, when the potency and validity of the feminine is persistently unrecognised this can have a detrimental effect on yoginis and yogis and perhaps more importantly our aspiring young people. Clare Dakin, founder of Tree Sisters, says that we have to step into the role of restorers and protectors and perhaps part of this is bringing more awareness to out-dated assumptions. We are at a time in our evolution where the balance between female and masculine qualities and attributes need to be understood and woven together to heal individual, collective and Mother Earth, so perhaps it does matter after all. If we want to experience change we need to bring more awareness into how we address these issues: the language, inferences, subtleties, implications, the pronouns and implied hierarchy, even if it may feel a little uncomfortable. What a wonderful opportunity for us to practice our awareness and step out of habitual patterns!

References: 

Cave in Snow by Vicki MacKenzie 1999

Hatha Yoga Pradipika by Swami Muktibodhananda 1998