Nadine McNeil: Spiritual Activism for Knowing Thyself

Black History Month BONUS release drop! We remastered three episodes with prominent black expat leaders of the Bali community, centering on the intersectionality of consciousness, spirituality, activism and plant medicine. On this episode, we fearlessly bridge the worlds of spirituality and activism with the one and only, Nadine McNeil of Universal Empress. Her mission as a yoga teacher, speaker, wisdom mentor and humanitarian is to ignite infinite possibility in people around the world and share yoga with diverse underserved communities. She is the founder of the BadAsana Series ©: Yoga with Weights and long-time teacher at the Yoga Barn, the largest yoga and wellness facility in South East Asia. Prior to her deep dive into yoga in 2008, Nadine travelled the world in service of the UN, UNICEF, Global Volunteer Network and Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for nearly two decades. These and other experiences rooted Nadine’s continued devotion to activism. Additionally, her globally expanding Women’s Circles are rooted in her mantra: when one of us suffers we all suffer. Yet when one of us heals, we all heal.

This conversation was igniting on all levels, bridging the medicine of activism and spirituality into one potent conversation. Contrary to the perception that Yoga is all love, light and OM, Nadine shines a light on what’s typically overlooked — that for real change (and real movements) to happen, we must access our anger and injustice, the “most potent emotional frequencies in Dharma.” By reaching for the lessons within our fire and rage, we can then ignite transformation in the direction of justice, move beyond the “danger of the single story,” and collectively challenge what Reverend Kyodo Williams calls the “impoverished imaginations” of our times. 

With the Old World crumbling, humanity needs a new story that includes all voices and identities -- leaning gracefully into the complexity of who we are, not simply what’s perceived as “normal” or comfortable to face this existential crisis. Inspired by the work of Kyodo Williams, author of “Radical Dharma,” we cover wide ranging topics that centers spirituality as a force for activism, helping us show up in the world in our true Dharma and extraordinary differences. 

We travel landscapes far and wide, including:

• As a woman who is “Jamaican by birth, Universal by outlook,” how Nadine claims her identity as one that was significantly shaped by a lifetime after leaving Jamaica at age 16.

• What is actually dangerous about “the single story” and how she brings this concept alive in her own engagement with diversity.

• After spending 22 years with the UN in emergency response and humanitarian stints, what broke the camel's back and inspired her on the path of Yoga.

• What role can (and should) Yoga play in current COVID times of systems collapse, racial injustice explosion, and the collective sentiment of rage and violence worldwide.

• Unpacking the “Democratization of Yoga,” what she describes as the removal of the illusion of elitism attached to the practice in modern times.

• In response to Kyodo Williams’ TEDx talk where she famously declares, “I don’t want your love, I want your justice for the people of different ethnicities, cultures and countries,” what Nadine feels is the role of love in a time of violence (and whether Yoga requires that we love everyone).

• How we can compassionately and gracefully transform violence into something of val