This talk explores an implicit ecospirituality contained in the Bhagavadgītā. A proper understanding of the Bhagavadgītā’s well known “yoga of action” (karmayoga) depends on a cosmic sacrificial wheel described by Kṛṣṇa in verses 3.9-16. This cosmic wheel is an all-encompassing ritual ecology tha...

In our keynote moderated discussion with Cornel West, co-host of the Spiritual Citizenship Conference, Oneika Mays, will explore the relationship between Cornel West's spiritual and religious commitments and his political activism. By highlighting the example of his many decades of work, through ...

Many spiritual traditions have viewed sexuality as an obstacle to spiritual practice. Because queers are seen as the embodiment of sexuality, our sexualities have been sidelined and prohibited. Yet many queer yogis are also climate justice activists: what connections can we discover between our e...

In this live interview, Andrew Harvey will share his vision of our current unprecedented world crisis. He will show that it is an evolutionary global dark night that could potentially birth an embodied divine humanity. The birthing force, he believes, of this new humanity will be what he calls Sa...

Indigenous/Native Americans, Africans, and Asians have traditions of recognizing and honoring sexual and gender diversity that predates the modern movement to recognize LGBTQIA+ rights by hundreds of years. Due to European settler-colonialism, imperialism, and Christian missionary attacks on indi...

In a world desperate for categories and identities to explain everything, mystical interactions still have the power to lift us beyond such restraints to the one true God…the God beyond God…the Queer. Now…the Queer ultimately can only be described from within, for the Queer is unique to each per...

A Panel Discussion on Eco-Spirituality & Environmental Activism with Devora Neumark, Alka Arora, Tiokasin Ghosthorse.

Dr. Cartier will discuss her ground breaking work, Baby, You Are My Religion: Women, Gay Bars and Theology before Stonewall, which argues that American butch-femme bar culture of the mid-20th Century should be interpreted as a sacred space for its community. Before Stonewall―when homosexuals were...

A multicultural deep-dive into the mythology of queer deities, mythic legends, and historical leaders from around the world throughout human history.

Spiritual ecology may be defined as the vast, diverse, complex, and dynamic arena of interactions of religions and spiritualities with ecologies, environments, and environmentalisms. It is predicated on understanding that secular approaches to resolve environmental problems from the local to the ...

We are living in an unprecedented era. The triple pandemics of COVID-19, white supremacy, and the climate crisis are drawing worldwide attention to the deep economic, social and environmental injustices of our time. In a March 10, 2021 interview with the CBC’s What on Earth host Laura Lynch, one ...

A Panel Discussion on Racial Justice & Healing with Jasmine K. Syedullah, N. Fadeke Castor, H. “Herukhuti” Sharif Williams.

A Panel Discussion on Globalization & Appropriation with Neil Dalal, Andrea Jain, Shreena Gandhi.

In this talk, Dr. Green examines the ethics of the practice of love. Love is an act that requires community accountability and self-reflection. Dr. Green discusses the importance of practicing love as a Black feminist politic. This talk also examines the importance of kinship as a radical queer f...

In this talk, Francesca will share about how mindfulness and embodiment can help support us in the work of becoming an embodied antiracist practitioner. Why is it not enough to be non-racist? What about people who “don’t see color?” And what about those who feel many groups have experienced traum...

A Panel Discussion on Spiritual Activism with Raj Balkaran, Rev Jeff Hood, and Pamela Ayo Yetunde.

There was a time when most people’s practical awareness of life and the world around them was limited to the people and events that occurred within the area or region in which they resided. The geographical borders of their “world” often did not extend beyond more than a day or so walk, and for s...

Yoga has a long history in the United States. Starting with Henry David Thoreau, yoga has captivated Americans, and has been translated, practiced and commodified to be culturally constructed in a particular way: as “eastern” and mystical; as non-Hindu, universal and scientific; as a practice for...

In this talk, Andrea Jain illuminates the power dynamics underlying the global yoga industry. She does not just bemoan the commodification of yoga as a numbing device through which consumers ignore the problems of neoliberal capitalism or as the corruption of “authentic” religion, however. Instea...

We have been taught to see parts. We have been taught to relate to that which is outside ourselves as separate from ourselves. We have also learned to feel into our own brokenness, our sense of fragmentation, our isolation from others and from ourselves. From the scientific, to the political, to ...

What do Black and Xicana feminists teach us about spiritual activism? About being with intersecting identities, our bodies, the planet, and each other? About practicing spiritual activism in this moment? To reflect on these questions, this talk and guided practice devotes particular attention to ...

How can we discuss spiritual citizenship for emancipation when the concept of citizen itself is rooted in the modern binary logic of citizens vs. non-citizens within the geo-political boundary of nation-state? How does spiritual citizenship work with our everyday material-embodied interactions wi...

Research has shown that forgiveness is a healthy response to interpersonal wounding. It leads to improvement in physical, relationship and emotional well-being. This talk will explore the work of the Stanford Forgiveness Projects which has created a secular method for teaching and learning the sp...

Nothing is the same and that’s okay. The past 18+ months have forever changed the world. We are entering the fallout from this time, a period of global PTSD which will impact every being on the planet. We have acknowledged the first anniversary of a racial reckoning in the US that started in 1863...