Raising Children Who Don’t Serve The Empire
We are raising children in a time of climate collapse, growing authoritarianism, racial violence, digital overwhelm, and deep disconnection. The pressures on young people—and their caregivers—have never been greater. Many of the systems around us are designed not to nurture wholeness, but to produce compliance, consumption, and competition. Our world is shaped by systems that reward dominance and separation, and for families who want to raise kind, conscious, critical thinkers, parenting can feel like walking upstream.
Children today are asked to grow up fast, stay silent, and perform constantly. They’re taught to strive, not to rest. To conform, not to question. To achieve, not to feel.
But many of us are begining to suspect that there must be another way
The tools that yoga offers lend themselves so completely to liberatory action.
The root of yoga is yuj, meaning to unite. Yoga is not just about flexibility or mindfulness—it is a tradition of liberation, of waking up from illusion (Maya) and returning to our true essence (sat). It teaches us to act from love, not fear. To live with integrity, not performance.
By sharing yoga’s deeper teachings with our children—not just poses, but values—we offer them a compass. We give them tools to respond to injustice with wisdom, to meet life with presence, and to rest in their own inherent worth. This is especially needed in a world that tries to train them to be useful to the System—but not to themselves, their communities, or the Earth.
Our families and communities are the front-lines for this work towards a brighter world for our children to inherit. We have very little control over the circumstances they are growing up in, but we can shape how they see the world and how they see themselves in it. Dismantaling the huge and harmful systems we live and work within, is a stretch for us as individuals, but we can raise children who are aware of those injustices and who will not mistake those systems for truth.
Families and communities are where the seeds of empathy, and courage are planted.
So what exactly does it mean to raise a child the Empire can’t use?
It means raising children who ask questions when the world demands obedience, children who rest when the world tells them to hustle. It means teaching our young people to understand that their worth isn’t based on achievement or approval and who know that truth and collective care, matter more than fitting in.
More than ever we need children who can say:
“I see what’s happening.”
“I know who I am.”
“I know what matters.”
“I know I’m not alone.”
And there is a cost to not doing this work, we are seeing more and more that if we do not give our children tools to understand systems of harm, when we don't create space for truth telling and hard questions, when we don’t model community and collective care, our children feel powerless, they learn to stay silent and disconnected, practicing individulaism as a survival tool instead valuing connection as a way for society to thrive.
Left unexamined, children begin to absorb dominant cultural values: perfectionism, disconnection, urgency, “othering,” and domination.
This work matters because our children deserve more. They deserve community, context, clarity, and compassion. They deserve to know that their lives are part of something sacred, something shared.
This is not idealism. It’s the real work of changing the world and it begins with our own families.
And this is why we created this work book: Raising children who don’t serve the Empire.
We want to talk about justice—but without shame. We want to raise confident kids—but without teaching superiority. We want to say no to harm and yes to joy.
This interactive workbook is aimed at 8-12 year olds and is rooted in yogic philosophy. It offers simple and accessible, age- appropriate activities, reflection questions and practices for families to work through.
Each chapter draws from the roots of yoga and these ancient teachings guide us as we raise children who can move through the world with more care, clarity, and courage.
The workbook includes five core chapters, each focused on a yogic value:
1. Viveka (Discernment):
Seeing clearly, thinking critically, and listening to our inner compass.
2. Ahimsa + Santosha (Rest as Resistance):
Learning to rest, regulate, and know that our worth isn’t tied to output.
3. Satya (Truth-Telling):
Honoring our truths and listening deeply to the truths of others.
4. Karma Yoga (Justice in Action):
Turning our values into small, courageous steps toward action.
5. Seva & Sangha (Collective Care):
Learning that we are not alone—and that healing happens together.
It’s a set of invitations for families navigating real-world conversations, to gently reflect, play, rest, openly question, and grow together.
Its an especially supportive tool for parents, caregivers, and educators of children agead 8-12, for families who value empathy, equity and integrity and for communities looking for tools to connect values with action.
It all boils down to empathy, kindness and care and the belief that working together with these ideals at the heart of what we do, will ulitimately lead to the most fulfilling types of success.