In this deeply important conversation with Thenmozhi Soundararajan, we discuss the often overlooked, devastatingly real trauma of caste. Thenmozhi's eye-opening work exposes how the brutal creation of caste is still harming so many, both in South Asia and here in the states. Her personal story of surviving religious trauma and her insights into the ways caste-oppressive rituals are steeped in our yoga culture are a must for any yoga practitioner or teacher.
Thenmozhi Soundarajan is a Dalit Civil rights artist, organizer, and theorist who has worked with hundreds of organizations to better understand the urgent issues of racial, caste, and gender equity. Working across disciplines, she is an innovative strategist and thinker who has built bridges between many communities around the world.
Through her work at Equality Labs, Thenmozhi has mobilized the South Asian American community to confront their historical trauma and to break the silence about caste, and to commit to ending caste apartheid, gender-based violence, white supremacy, and religious intolerance. Thenmozhi previously co-founded Third World Majority, an international media training organization and collective that supported people from disenfranchised
Her intersectional, cross-pollinating work—research, education, art, activism, and digital security—helps to create a more generous, global, expansive, and inclusive definition of South Asian identity, along with safe spaces from which to honor the stories of these communities. 
Her new book The Trauma of Caste, A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Meditation is available now where books are sold.
Find Thenmozhi at https://dalitdiva.com/ and on her Instagram
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Opening and Closing music: Other People's Photographs courtesy of Daniel Zaitchik. Follow Daniel on Spotify.