Kink & Yoga

My understanding of the relationship between kink and yoga is deeply embedded in discipline, bodily control, transcendence, and the politics of power—all framed through my lived experience in both realms.

I view both practices as structured systems of bodily engagement that exist at the intersection of pain, pleasure, self-mastery, and submission. Both demand an intense relationship to the body—one through acts of control and constraint (BDSM), the other through controlled breath, stillness, and flexibility (yoga). They both offer a form of transcendence through discipline, yet each has been absorbed by different ideological forces:

• Kink as a reenactment of power dynamics—playing with domination, submission, pain, and control as a way to either subvert or ritualize authority. It reflects systems of power in society but also creates private, coded spaces where individuals negotiate these forces on their own terms.

• Yoga as a spiritualized self-discipline—often framed as liberation but in practice requiring submission to a system of physical mastery. In its Western iteration, it has been co-opted into a neoliberal wellness framework, where discipline over the body is often linked to purity, morality, and self-optimization.

I recognize that both spaces—dungeons and yoga studios—are arenas where power is enacted, commodified, and, at times, exploited. While one embraces its artifice (BDSM acknowledges its role-playing of authority), the other often masks control under the guise of self-improvement and enlightenment.

From my perspective, these are not opposites, but rather two parallel structures that engage the body as a site of meaning, transformation, and control. The question that lingers throughout my work is:

• When is discipline liberating, and when is it just another form of subjugation?

• How much agency does one actually have in these systems?

• How do these practices reflect broader authoritarian structures embedded in society?