Another White Lady Yoga Teacher: Let’s Hop on the Elephant in the Room

On Respect, Heritage, and Jyotish

Let me begin with the elephant in the room: I am fully aware of the stereotype of the “white lady yoga teacher.” It’s an image that has often become shorthand for cultural appropriation—someone plucking sacred traditions for personal branding or profit. I want to acknowledge this openly because the concern is real and valid. Ancient wisdom has been commodified and diluted in ways that can feel careless and even harmful.

My path into Jyotish is different. I came to it not as a consumer trend, but as a lifelong student of the cosmic order. For the past eight years, I have studied formally with teachers from India, the UK, and the United States—serious scholars of this tradition who come from diverse backgrounds. My training has been rigorous, devotional, and humbling, and it is supported by a lifetime of contemplative practice, chaplaincy study, and strategic advising.

Most importantly, I hold deep respect for the Hindu culture and for India itself, which for millennia has safeguarded the Vedas. Without that devotion and protection, we would not have access to this treasure today. At the same time, history shows that access to these teachings was not equally available to everyone—especially to women or those outside traditional social systems. Just as in any tradition, sacred knowledge can sometimes become bound by the very structures that protect it.

It’s important to remember that the Vedas themselves are not national property. They are human texts—rooted in India, yes, but addressing the universal condition of life, consciousness, and cosmos. Every culture has sought its own way of describing the stars, the cycles of time, and the unity of existence. Jyotish is the form of that study that has survived most intact, and it is a gift to all who approach it with humility.

Both in the East and the West, astrology has often been bent toward materialism—sold as prediction, personality branding, or entertainment. That is not the way I walk with it. The heart of Jyotish is not about extracting gain, but about recognizing cycles, harmonizing with time, and cultivating inner clarity. It is a spiritual, philosophical, and ecological discipline that points us back to union—yoga in its truest sense.

So yes, I am a Western woman studying and offering Jyotish. But I do so with reverence, gratitude, and a commitment to stewarding it with integrity. I honor the sages of India who preserved this wisdom, and I believe—deeply—that they intended it as a map for all humanity.