Like millions of Westerners out there, I too joined the yoga bandwagon about eight years ago after trying out my first Bikram class, moving on to Moksha and then settled at a hot yoga studio which practices all types of yoga in a hot space.
I too fell in love with how yoga made my body feel after a particularly tough workout.
I too fell into the pseudo-spiritual aspects of the practice.
And, finally I too got burned out by the practice, disillusioned and at times, even disgusted at the people who I thought should be setting an example to the rest of us but turns out that they are even more messed up than you realize and the yoga was just an effective cloak to hide their true nature and personalities.
For me, it was and always will be the health benefits of yoga which attracted me and still keeps me around but I also, perhaps in my naïveté, thought the people who were a part of the scene would be as sincere as they appeared to be. I had read every book out there, was thoroughly sick of the new age charlatans claiming to have psychic abilities all in the name of Mr. Dollar and selling their wares, whether it was books, weekend retreats or $1000 seminars and very disenchanted with what the so-called “good life” of a westernized professional was offering (it’s a formula, no more) . With yoga, I finally felt that I found something authentic, based on authentic teachings, plus I was feeling great afterwards. The people seemed nice; they had read and kept quoting all the great seers and sages of the centuries. Aurobindo, Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, Rumi, Hafiz and more recently, writers like Eckhart Tolle. They were into the green movement, recycling and genuinely concerned about Mother Earth. They wear Toms and donated to legitimate foundations like Unicef, Right to Play etc.
But a few nagging observations wouldn’t leave me.
1) First of all, I’m of Indian heritage. I’m brown. You look at me and you know I’m ethnic. I speak the language and still have many extended family members there and have gone back often. By and large, and I’m generalizing since it’s not always the case, but yoga in the West is increasingly becoming a trendy diversion for the affluent and bored or those who are obsessed with the body beautiful and the cult of hedonism which follows that. Now I see yoga branching out in such things like “Chocolate Yoga” or “Trance Dance Yoga”, where in short, the culture of the nightclub or rave is being super-imposed on yoga. India is still deeply conservative socially. Arranged marriages are still the norm in the villages and were also the norm in the big cities until maybe 20 years ago. Binge drinking, sexual promiscuity and drug taking, which are elements of the club culture are strongly frowned upon and considered socially unacceptable in many social circles in India but yet it is being passed off as something that is a part of yoga by North American suburban kids and marketers looking for the next big trend, when that is just not true.
2) It is extremely classist. It lacks plurality and inclusiveness. I do not see many people of blue-collar backgrounds who can afford these classes on a regular basis and many of them are precisely the ones who could probably benefit the most from yoga. Most of the studios in my city charge around $1200 for an unlimited yearly membership. That’s serious coin. I can hardly envision a stressed, single mother trying to raise her kids on social assistance being able to afford that when she probably needs the benefits of yoga more than the pampered trophy wife who just returned form her 5-star shamanistic initiation retreat in Bolivia. I walk into most of my yoga classes and I see nothing but a sea of white faces, maybe the token black and Asian. Some people may read that as a racist statement but I’m not trying to be racist and this isn’t a reverse racism argument either, it is just my observation. Yoga in North America caters to the affluent and is falling in line with the capitalist system of profit. It is increasingly distancing itself from the roots of yoga.
I can barely make out one non-Caucasian at this Bikram yoga training session.
If anyone can find a non-Caucasian here, let me know.
3) It is really annoying watching some white people try to act ethnically brown when they are not and they never will be. Intention is everything here. I can understand there is a difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation, but when the Pussy Cat Dolls show up in saris at some premier, you have to ask yourself, what the intention here is.
Pussy Cat Dolls at the 2008 Fashion week Fashion Rocks concert
Pale women with Shiva tramp-stamps do not look good in saris doing Bollywood dance moves or wearing bhindis especially if they have freckles (Like, really). For Indian women, this is part of their cultural heritage and identity, not some gimmicky hip trend to try out and pose around in until the next trend shows up.
Happy woman dancing in sari
5) Sanskrit, like Latin, is a dead language. Let it go already. The Catholic Church let go of the Latin Mass after Vatican II back in the early 1960s. Chanting in Sanskrit does not make you look cool nor does it make you an automatic Hindu. Or an authority on yoga, Vedic studies or Indology (Yes, that is a real academic subject). Nor does having a made up Sanskit-derived moniker name make you any more real either with names like Blissananda, Ganeshananda, Serenityananda etc.
Ganeshananda – I’m wondering how many Indian followers does he have?
6) Just because it’s exotic does not mean it’s real or more authentic. Real Indians, in India make fun of many Westerners behind their backs and are making money off of their ignorance. Do you see real, native Indians in the fancy, expensive ashrams in India? No. Do you see many native Indians “following” your Guruji? Probably not. Do you see many Indian women at these open air clothing-optional Tantric weekend couples workshops in Hawaii? Did you ever ask why not?
I’ll let you in on a little secret. Many, many of these so-called gurus and God-men (and women) of India are scam artists but because their ashrams and centres bring in so much, much-needed cash and tourist dollars, the Indian government looks the other way and in fact, are in on it too. There is nothing spiritual about it. It’s a cash cow and they are milking many Western followers of yoga for all they can get. Not always, I’m generalizing. There are some authentic teachers left in India but they’re usually just minding their own business and not interested in selling anything or proselytizing people. Unfortunately, the former is happening more frequently than the latter.
(I heartily recommend anyone who is interested in this topic to watch this BBC documentary on Sai Baba called “The Secret Swami”.)
Another yogi who pretty much indirectly admits Caucasians are inferior to Indians is Bikram Chowdhury. In his 60 minutes interview he said that the intense physical aspects of Bikram yoga is more “suitable” to North Americans because they need to discipline themselves physically before they can start on the spiritual and psychic and that it’s not necessary for Indians. That somehow the physical and mental make up of Caucasians is different from Indians and therefore they need to do an additional step of rigorous physical training before attempting anything spiritual. Does anyone see the double-speak and double-standard here? ( at 1:15 and 10:10)
Bikram Chowdhury on 60 Minutes
They are promising you Enlightenment just as long as you pay up or keep giving enforced “donations”, but it does not work that way. Why do you think celibate Buddhist monks devote their entire lives living in monasteries under vows of poverty, living off of alms trying to achieve Enlightenment? Because it’s excruciatingly hard work and it takes a lot more than a weekend retreat or two plus reading a best-seller to get there.
Thai Forest Tradition Buddhist monk
7) Yoga can become cultic very quickly and the levels of self-absorption and narcissism can sky-rocket easily if you don’t watch it so keep your radar tuned in. I have heard stories of certain Jivamukti yoga instructors threatening to cut off friendships with other yoga instructors from other traditions because they were not completely vegan.
Really folks? That’s all you can worry about and think about? There’s a nuclear reactor in Japan which is about to fail and spells disaster for the West coast of North America. Workers in Greece, Spain, Ireland and Portugal are on the frontlines fighting technocrats and bankers who are trying to rob them of their right to live in some semblance of dignity and respect. There’s a Maoist insurgency in central India and peasants are trying to keep their land from mining companies and THIS is what you have to bicker about?
A woman runs from anti riot police during a demonstration in central Athens, Greece
8) The level of cultural awareness among some of the yoga set is pitiful at times and yet this is the same crowd that tries to come off as cultural and spiritual mouthpieces for that sub-continent. It is truly a subcontinent, with vast differences in culture, religion, diet, language, customs, and history. The only commonality you will find among Punjabis, Gujaratis, Marathis, Rajasthanis, Bengalis, Tamils, Goan, Keralites, Nepalis, Uttar Pradeshi, Kashmiri, Assamese, Ladakhs, Orissians etc is possibly the brown skin, if that. Once upon a time, all these provinces and territories were their own kingdoms and countries and were amalgamated and consolidated into one state and created into “India” by the British. Think of them as entirely different countries with their own unique identities. You wouldn’t mix up a Pole with a Russian (and if you did, they’d probably punch you), so why should you mix up a Tamil with a Punjabi?
You have no idea how annoying it is to hear some girl at the yoga studio look at you and say “Oh, I have an Indian friend and her parents made her get married to some computer engineer in San Jose and she had to get this thing signed with witnesses, what’s that about?”
Me: “Was she Sikh?”
Girl: “No, I think she’s Muslim”.
Me: “Well, I’m Sikh so I’m not really sure”
Girl: “But she’s Indian, just like you.”
Me: “Yeah, but we have many different religions in India and practise things differently…”
And it just goes downhill from there….
In the end, I began to see how vacuous the scene was becoming and has become. I still love the feeling I get after doing a session but I just can’t stand to be around the high-school popularity contest atmosphere which has permeated many of the studios these days and some of the more vapid personalities who are claiming to be instructors and taking advantage of their privileges.
I know they are not all like that, there are some genuine well-meaning people in that community and some of them are truly doing outstanding work like outreach into prisons and so forth. But for me personally, I’m questioning the profit-driven, hedonistic aspects which seems to have taken over the subculture.
Yogadork recently had an article asking if yoga needs to grow up.
In short, yes. Big time.
Addenda: I will no longer post any comments which quite obviously show that the poster has not taken the time out to either read or watch the links I provided below nor took the time out the read the comments already posted in their entirety but instead feel their drive-by analysis and knee-jerk reactions suffice as a form of discussion.
Other Links
Diversity Training: Do Yoga teachers and YTT programs need it?
Sacred Justice: Where Yoga, Solidarity & Activism Meet (Workshop review)
Let’s Try This Again…
Why cultural appropriation hurts
Yoga and the exclusion of people of color
Why I really want to give up on yoga
Why I will Never give up on yoga
For anyone who needs to understand WHY issues of cultural appropriation, inclusion and plurality is not about visible minorities “getting over the whole race thing” but rather understand that this is a “white problem”, please watch these videos of “The Color of Fear” (and if you can find a copy of the entire film it is well worth your while) as well as this documentary, “You are Here: Exploring Yoga and the Impacts of Cultural Appropriation”.
This article is offered under Creative Commons license. It’s okay to republish it anywhere as long as attribution bio is included and all links remain intact.
The Shift Has Hit The Fan 
Let’s get it out of the way: I hated Eat Pray Love. And I understand everything that you’re saying because I’ve written about the same thing (i.e., what yoga has become in the West, no diversity, etc..). I am a white woman of a certain age who travels to India yearly to study at a yoga school in Chennai. Believe me, I know I will never “blend in” in India, but I wear salwar kameez most times and I would in no way attempt to wear a sari without guidance on how to wear one than I would wear a mini skirt in Fallujah.
But I would have to take exception to what you say about it being mostly Westerners who follow the God-men of India. Just to see what was what since I had seen some of his videos, I did a 4 day “Inner Engineering” retreat at Sadguru’s Isha Yoga Center in Coimbatore, TN. http://www.ishafoundation.org/ — most of the participants were Indian men. I won’t get into a review of the experience, but it was freaky. The ashram was like a 5 star hotel, but the atmosphere was damn freaky and I could not wait to leave.
And look at the followers of Swami Nithyananda — Indian. http://www.speakchennai.com/index.php/tag/swami-nithyananda A friend of mine in Chennai attended one of his retreats and she wasn’t impressed. My friend now tells me that Swami is selling “instant enlightenment” for a couple of lakhs. So it’s not all Westerners with their heads up their assanas.
I could go on, but I won’t. Just want to say, I hear ya.
So so true!!!!
I hated Eat Pray Love too!!! So contrived! And, the conclusion of the story – it’s all great now that I finally have the right man… BLECH!
@ Debra De Angelo, there is a whole feminist article about this … the Eat Pray Love phenomenon has never spoken to women who either do not have the disposable income, or whose philosophies and lifestyles eschew the lockstep buying-in: http://bitchmagazine.org/article/eat-pray-spend
I agree with you, Debra. Little girls are force fed this nonsense from the time they are being read Grimm’s Fairy Tales. In comes prince charming on a white stallion and there is happiness ever after. Sheesh. What a fairy tale, indeed. From Anne Sexton’s Cinderella:
Cinderella and the prince
lived, they say, happily ever after,
like two dolls in a museum case
never bothered by diapers or dust,
never arguing over the timing of an egg,
never telling the same story twice,
never getting a middle-aged spread,
their darling smiles pasted on for eternity.
Regular Bobbsey Twins.
That story.
I feel so angry with the way some of these Yoga centres try to sell there expensive courses to vulnerable people even when they are totally aware they so not have the means to pay for them, yet alone have the ability to be a teacher trainer at the end of it. Twice now a well known yoga centre in Lindon has tempted my daughter to take a teacher training course full knowing that she has a mental disability & to pay for the course would land her in debt, & very little chance of her having a job as a teacher trainer at the end of it. It took me several vista to the swami to sort it out. Now they have done it again, they use subtle suggestion manipulation which is quite a lure to a vulnerable person, by saying they are part of the family & make them feel they belong. They are all so indoctrinated by the teachings of old belief systems & follow like lambs. I feel so fed up with having to sort out the mess, these centres need to look at their own issues & manipulation of the vulnerable.
Thank you, brother, for an excellent expose. I am true blue Indian and have been practising yoga in India for nine years now, and it has done wonders for my physical condition, concentrative powers, and inner peace. I constantly advise my friends to start yoga for the benefit of their bodies, souls, (and golf swings!) But that’s all it is. Unfortunately it has now become a crassly commercial venture for charlatans and con-men like Bikram Chowdhury, and our very own Ramdev and company. Hypocrisy, cynicism, and double standards abound.
Hello.Can you explain about this FREAKY atmosphere?I know how most Gurus are but why did you have to go there at all?Most foreigners go there either because they want to learn ,come back repackage and earn a lot.Quite a few are unfortunate souls,recovering from personal tragedies,drop their guard and are taken for a ride.The most unfortunate are those who get molested or worse-raped.Be safe and learn at home from some very good books available such as EVE DISKIN’s book and if you are interested in meditation–Vigyanabhairava Tantra where 112 methods are given to attain that blissful state that we all seek.You can choose any one after trying all.The problem and solution both are us.
Shanti! Shanti! Shanti! Peace and Love, Peace and Love,Peace and Love, to All Beings of the Universe.
Just like the “Atman” or “Christ Consciousness” or the “Krishna Consciousness” or “not watching through the field of mind” or whatever you want to call the journey – any fancy name men have made for the argument of living without pre/conceptions. This article exactly is “Yoga” in practice – to become one with the “Reality”, to get to the, “Truth”, one has to test all theories, the ones you don’t like, and the ones Love. Keeping your eye on yourself and how you effect your own experiment. To uproot your double agent self – The policeman who is committing all the crimes and would never bust himself. Only after testing all, and finding all to be only thoughts.
Then will you see the “Truth” – Thought is always, Was Always And Will Always be : Imagination.
Not at all important… Did you just find the boggy man under your bed? where did your fear go? Feel better forever.
Bernard Bell: Unplugged.
So….did you gain anything from the ishafoundation? What was so bad?
I go to the Isha Ashram in Tennessee. The dining is in Tents and most people sleep on the floor in Mahima during an event. It is run by volunteers. Far from a 5 star hotel. You just have to be in Sadhguru’s presence to know it is the real deal.
Its real for Christiana, a reality for all humans does not exist, a reality for all living organisms can never be the same, other than what anyone thinks as what reality is? it exists within the conditions of your cultural interpretations of what you think other than that, it has no substance, a guru can be a cup of tea or a cockroach or anything you think it is.
p.s. this is what I consider real yoga…. interesting that he says no “yoga teachers”, other than one who used to be a pro wrestler, would help him. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448
Just beautiful…And thank you for your insightful article. A much needed discussion.
Hi Linda,
It’s not just Westerners, it’s everywhere nowadays. While I don’t doubt there may be genuinely spiritually enlightened persons in India as anywhere else, it’s become a bit of a circus in India, involving both Indians and non-Indians alike. Maybe I’m jaded or naive, but this sense of dis-ingenuousness and lack of authenticity seems to have gone viral. My issue isn’t so much as Caucasian women wearing saris or salwar kameez, because let’s face it, they are very comfortable and given the Indian humid climate and the social norms of not showing legs, ideal to wear, but it’s this rave yoga set who in a certain sense hijacked some aspects of Indian culture are doing it because it’s this week’s trend I have problems with that.
But thank you for adding your voice, even on sites like yogadork or recoveringyogi, I’ve had a hard time trying to get this dialogue started and I think it’s one which needs to take place.
“sense of dis-ingenuousness and lack of authenticity seems to have gone viral” — I’m with ya. and feel free to get the dialogue going over at my house: http://lindasyoga.com (writing about similar issues since 2005.)
(and I don’t say namaste!)
slowly but surely this dialogue is taking place, teachers and students alike have had enough of this drive thru, inauthentic stuff that’s being churned out. A few birds of a feather have flocked together already in a short space of time since I started my blog and have been putting my thoughts out there. It’s hard to inflitrate in the realm of Yoga apps and reality show ‘rock stars’, but it’s happening. I’m hoping over time, and thanks to a few controversial shake ups in the mainstream that have forced contemporary yoga circles to take a good hard look at what is going on, the necessary changes will start taking place, and like you say teachers like Linda (who I’ve connected with in the blogosphere) and real attitudes like your own, will be the rule not the exception.
And never mind Eat, Pray, Love – Yogawoman has got to be one of the most smarmy, shameless self promotions of yoga and teachers I’ve ever seen. I am trying to connect with veritable sources as I endeavour to become a teacher, what a disappointment that was.
I think the biggest problem is that this drive-thru, inauthentic stuff is what’s currently dominating the yoga scene. Yoga is BIG business right now and while I agree there is a movement towards more genuineness in certain circles, I can’t help but have a bad feeling that it may take more controversies like Anusara-gate or that awful killing at the Lululemon store to make more people shake out of their kula kool-aid haze. It’s market forces which are dictating the predominant yoga culture. If it sells, it rules. How do we make authenticity, genuineness and humaneness popular?
Love This:) Thanks
Yogawoman did not bother me so much. I saw it via library-borrowed dvd a few months ago. However, at that time, I’d sworn off practicing yoga …
….and, likewise, I certainly did not spend on semi-vanity, riding the hype-wave non-asana instruction books!
I’d gotten those, even Suzanne Morrison’s and Neal Pollack’s, out of the library.
By the time I was able to find Claire Dederer’s (also a few months ago) I’d lost interest and could not finish … (self-involved as an author she was)
Oh, yeah ….
I may be wrong, but I suspect Masters of Yoga is a gender-neutral version of Yogawoman. I do not want to see that one at all.
I’m since back to practicing (some) yoga, but totally on my own terms …
You brought a smile on my face and made me laugh. I felt the same way. I believe most people come to yoga with good intentions but I always felt yoga was a farce secretly ( so westernized and a joke). It did not seem authentic or genuine. I can imagine the original creators of yoga laughing at what yoga has become or wondering why people have bastardized yoga.
Brilliant writing.
Thanks Linda :-)! Great video! Yoga needs more instructors like his to be the norm, not the exception.
Reblogged this on Warriors and Goddesses.
I dropped out of college in 1969, went to a Northern California retreat and became a hatha yoga instructor there. I loved the opportunity to immerse myself in hatha yoga and meditation, but things turned sour the second summer when a woman I liked was called in for a private talk with the (Caucasian) leader of the retreat and came out traumatized after he rather crudely came on to her and tried to grope her.
Another thing worth mentioning is that after leading a meditation session, somebody tried to touch my feet and call me their guru. It really creeped me out and made me wonder if that’s how some gurus get their start. All it takes is one with some cash and blind devotion and you’re off to a good start.
All that said, there are many good things about yoga and meditation. It just seems we live in an age where everything gets corrupted. Jesus may have turned water into wine, but our gurus seem to turn it into coca cola.
or kool-Aid 😉 …
I’d like to introduce you to The Babarazzi….. http://thebabarazzi.com/
Into coca cola. Hilarious.
I totally hear you on this…. Especially on the name changing and sanskrit thing…. Changing the name your parents gave you is just, well, WHY?! When I was in India doing my teacher training, we had the option of getting a spiritual name given to us. I opted no, because I don’t see the point of someone who barely knows me giving me a name based on how my current one sounds! And plus, I already have a name – the one my parents gave me! Sanskrit to me is just another language, and one I am not very good at communicating in. I sometimes don’t understand why people feel the need to throw in a million sanskrit words during a yoga class or a normal conversation, because it just confuses my little brain.
Agreed — the name change is creepy. I was taught that the point of chanting in sanskrit is the rhythm of the language creates a pleasing vibration that English doesn’t give us, so I’m a-ok with chanting.
Please don’t practice Hindu culture if you are too embarrassed to adopt a Hindu name…
Its not right for you to partake in a typical Indians life (yoga etc) and then go back to being regular Amanda the white girl.
That is offensive to the real Indians with brown skin and Hindu names who dont have a choice to drop names if they dont find it suitable.
Stop appropriating Indian culture – that is my point
It’s not only in Sanskrit to yoga, but this idea of linguistic purity and power in a certain spiritual tradition is also found in Arabic to Islam, Hebrew to Kabbalah, Native American languages to their traditions, that somehow if you chant, meditate, read or pray in those original languages, then that’s all that matters. I don’t buy it, I think the intention behind your actions is key, not what language you use to get there. I’d rather attend a class where no Sanskrit terms are dropped but the instructor was excellent and was watching out for everyone in the room than a class where a dozen Sanskrit terms are employed and the instructor doesn’t know her ass from her armpit about what she’s doing.
Amen!
Before i start, I am a Hindu male in my mid 20’s i have been learning and practicing yoga for a few years now. In my childhood i also studied the Vedas and Western Philosophy (mostly the works of Aristotle, Plato & Speusippus). I agree with most of what you are saying. Although i have to disagree with your sanskrit viewpoint. In my opinion from my studies and experience i believe that hinduism is a way of life which pushes one towards cosmic consciousness and sanskrit as a language further aids in that task. As, Antonio T. de Nicolas talks explains in his book ‘Four-Dimensional Man’, a book which is about the rig veda, that sanskrit is extremely scientific in its structure unlike semitic scripts words follow the path of the breath through the hollow of of the mouth from the nose to the lips, producing vowels through the nose with nasalization and the same breath with occlusion of the tongue to points in the hollow of the mouth from throat to the lips producing the consonants. Chanting mantras in sanskrit has a lot of positive energy and there is also a lot of scientific evidence to prove it. Having said that, i agree with you that a lot of these instructors use it these days to feel superior which goes against the whole notion of the language. I aspire to become a teacher of the vedas and the hindu way of life one day and teach those who are interested in learning this way of life with purity and sincerity.
I think yoga is like everything else: you have to use discrimination. Part of being on a spiritual path is about choosing to accept and reject. Personally, I find it easy to reject the western, commercialization of yoga, for the most part. I just ignore it. But I wouldn’t “throw the baby out with the bath water.” I don’t blame yoga for the misinterpretations.
Also — can I offer a potentially different perspective on why “white people” are doing yoga in vast numbers? Perhaps it’s because that’s who needs it most.
Maybe everything is as it should be, and we are all just in a state of evolution towards higher spiritual consciousness. Naturally, some are ahead of others due to education, capacity, experience or what have you.
Cheers,
Mariellen
Very good points here, Mariellen – every last one of them!
Though the original post brings up some valid observations there may be many more reasons why this is happening and many many more ways you can approach and appreciate the current state of yoga (all around the world).
I think it starts with knowing what it is you are asking for. you can’t possibly have it if you don’t know to ask for it.
so what do “you” want out of yoga? Many never even begin to ask that question. Those that do are the “enlightened ones”.
Take it or leave it I suppose. But I view articles like this narrow in their scope, and I’d argue, do a diservice to the practice so many of us deeply embrace.
Doug
The word Yoga means union of mind and heart. If you can achieve that through a spiritual journey then you will conquer yourself.
Right on, Douglas. The following part of the post should be highlighted: “I know they are not all like that. There are some genuine, well-meaning people in the yoga community and some of them are doing some truly outstanding work.”
Like in any other line of work, there are people who do their jobs well and those who don’t. If for some reason I don’t like the way my physician or dentist does his/her work and the way s/he treats me, I go to other professionals. And I’d be doing it until I find the one I like.
It’s the same with yoga. Some people are luckier and they might meet their true teacher very quickly, while for others it will take much longer.
You might have already heard: “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”
Just another yoga teacher
I don’t believe though that the higher “enlightened” people are the ones who just accept things. Christ and Gandhi were pissed off quite a bit and refused to just accept a whole lot of things. I see the normal crowd of people who just accept things to be by the least conscious people. They’re the type of people who if (for if example) you try to tell them about the LIBOR scandal (totalling over 800 TRILLION dollars) just tell you that that’s “conspiracy theory” and dismiss it that way. That is pure narcissism and is the polar oppisite of enlightenment.
It is easy for an Indian growing up in India to naturally be in spiritual mind as we are inculcated on the Hindu philosophy the essence of the Vedas. For a Westerner most have grown up in ‘Me world’ and difficult to think outside of it except to think of all gains for oneself. In this world there is no gain nor loss; there is no success nor failure, all these are incidental. You work as work is the prerogative of the intelligence with no expectations but in a spirit of dedication and labor of love be as a doctor, teacher, engineer, mother in kitchen cooking to raise her children, and all what we see here on this earth.
I like how you say it… but in a spirit of dedication and labor of love … well said.
I like the way that was stated too because that is what i want to come to a deep understanding of and obtain… a spirit of dedication and a labor of love! I know I’ve been selfish (and really hard on myself and others too) all my life but i have these these three beautiful children now and i want to become better in every way (inside and out) so that the time that i spend with them is quality and i can be a loving, kind, and nurturing mom to them and just a generally good example. What an awesome way to be raised that you spoke of. I would love to learn that and i feel like its never too late, i just don’t know where to start! At any rate, thank you for your comment…it sparked something in me and touched this mother who does a lot of cooking for her children!
Al children are our children, for me I can only deal with them on a very limited basis, I have grandchildren they just seem to be what most are more important is what do they become? in the main as they get older they seem to be something else.
We are always trying to find happiness. Probably a lot of people try to find it this way. Through discrimination, as you say, they will find their own way.
As long as people blind themselves with the idea that just changing the outside body will change their life. All sort of companies will have a field to profit from, Hatha Yoga corporations being one of the newer ones.
In the end, being true to oneself is what matters.
Only through our own journey will we find the path of happiness. So this will pass too…
Mariellen – I believe his point is…what the majority of “white people” are doing/calling yoga is NOT really yoga so they are not getting the full mind body & spiritual benefits that yoga is intended to provide. I do believe that yoga practiced the way originally intended is highly spiritual. What the majority of “white people” are doing is not. Like he said, it’s exclusionary and has become a highly profitable scam.
I agree with you, its westerns and mostly Americans shopping for culture and spirituality, because they do not have grounding or strong culture which can teach them who they really are” the real SELF”.
Where as in India for most of them YOGA is part of their culture and they grow up with it, no big deal.
Big deal of ‘YOGA’ is made by westerns trying to copy mindlessly and finally abuse it.
Thank you for this comment Mariellen.
Hi everybody, I am an young man 25 years old from Denmark, and have been doing yoga for the last 2 years 2 times a day. !
when our stomach is full, a longing to be something more than our body, becomes very natural.. for some live their life’s unconscious, but once we become conscious a natural longing for something more than the body starts. suddenly we want to break free from our limitations. 🙂
What people have forgot in the west is that, the meditation part of yoga, is actually the most important part. ! 😉
Hi Mariellen,
I completely agree with you that yoga itself is not to be blamed for the misinterpretation, it’s some of the people (and their questionable motives) who are responsible for the misreading and so forth.
However, I’d respectfully disagree with you that it’s “white people” who need yoga the most. I think our capacities as human beings for spiritual evolution, intellectual development, emotional fullfillment are the same, irrespective of race, class etc.
The problem does not lie so much in race, I think. It’s in cultural interpretation and right now mainsteam yoga in North America in particular (and I’m generalizing because I know there are so many sub-subcultures in yoga these days) is being seen through the lense of largely, the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant (WASP) culture, and interpreted as such. Values like hard work, accomplishment, profit, industry, individualism (and this includes hedonism), and utilitarianism has permeated yoga culture here.
For instance, nowadays, there’s naked yoga in most major N.American cities. If you did that in India, you’d be kicked out for gross indecency since modesty is a huge value in that culture (except in the case of sadhus who are a class of their own in Indian society). When I read about how naked yoga developed and why it would be a good thing to do yoga in a room full of other nude people, I personally can’t help but think it’s more about the neuroses of these persons trying to finally get out of themselves than it is about yoga itself. But, when you read the literature, the ads, the website etc. They aren’t talking about the neurorses, they talk about the yoga. Therein lies the problem, IMHO.
What I love most about yoga is that it’s a system built for people, and it’s big enough for all people – there are many, many variations and approaches so that we can all find what works for us. (I’m talking about ‘yoga’ as a whole not just asana practice.) But, it being for people and by people, of course we mess it up, and as you point out we do so regularly.
It’s too bad we don’t hear more stories of the small, amazing ways that yoga works for people.. but as you point out, people who are practicing with discernment and intention are the least likely to advertise.
I’m a WASP, and I’m with ya on all the problems of that culture. I think sometimes though, especially when we’re really entrenched in the crazy ideals we’ve grown up with, we need yoga to meet us where we are. It would have been too big a leap for me when I was starting to do the yoga I do now – it would have been too subtle. I needed hot power yoga that I could use to check off my healthy lifestyle list. Now I see how removed I was from myself.
But ultimately – if you’re still writing about this stuff – I’d say you haven’t left yoga. There’s more to it than asana practice, right?
Word. Very profound. And honestly I am just speechless and somewhere down the heart happy and at peace. Thanks for putting words to the dilemma of many more like me. Cheers 🙂
I know from personal observation what you write about gurus is true. I was living in Oregon in the 1980’s during the reign of terror of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh. My boyfriend’s (at that time) mother almost died when she ate at one of the many salad bars that Rajneesh’s diciples poisoned. He sent his diciples out to murder pubilc officials in Oregon, yet almost thirty years later he still has blind devotee followers all over the world. Second case: Someone I know witnessed Deepak Chopra in a morally compromising situation, and he became very threatening when he was recognized (the details of this encounter are on my website). Three years later when the Weekly Standard caught Chopra with his pants down again, most of his blindly devoted fans refused to believe it. From my observations, the average person would not recognize a real spiritual teacher, or the spiritual truth, if it bit ’em in the arse.
Hey Fernando, get off your arse and finish that book! Your story really is amazing. Since you didn’t add the link, I will: http://searchingforfernando.wordpress.com/
That’s for damn sure. Especially in the USA most people are pathetic sheep.
I don’t understand how people can still fall for Osho, I don’t care how great the teachings sound, if these persons aren’t walking the walk and setting an example then what the hell is any of it really worth? As for (married) Chopra, I know someone who had to go pick him up from the airport for a talk in town and in the car, he tried grabbing her and coming on to her while she was driving! Deepak has a long history as a lecherous perv. Most of these blind devotee-types are usually from very affluent, flakey enclaves like Encinitas, Big Sur, Ojai, Rhineback, NY etc. who just love these teachers, because they affirm their followers’ philosophy of “If it feels good, then it’s good, it can’t be wrong” Responsibility and cost of actions doesn’t seem to weigh on them at all.
Thanks, Rob. By the way, why is it that the people with the most to say, never get to say it, but the idiots spewing rubbish get the soap boxes?
I agree. The so called gurus today are so disappointing. I use to respect Oprah but now when I see her kissing the buts of these guys who charge astronomical prices for their books and programs I’ve lost respect for her as well. I have to say, I do love Gary Zukav though.
My organization, SoulConnection Wellness has several programs, all at very low cost and many are free depending on the client/s. As a matter of fact, I offer a free hatha yoga class every third Saturday in a space I rent out with my own money and never once have I considered charging.
I had a very prominent Wellness figure tell me at one of the round table sessions at her conference, that “my prices were too low and that I needed to step up to what I’m worth”. I told her that I knew the market and the going rates but that my conscience would not allow me to charge those fees. She insisted I needed to do “more work on myself to get to the core of my feelings of unworthiness” Really! Needless to say, I DO NOT feel unworthy at all, I feel truly blessed! It is always a red flag for me, when I see exorbitant prices/fees for spirituality. Just saying.
OH my goodness I just found your blog via Yoga Dork and I love it!!! I agree with all that everything you said. It’s sad, because there are a few of us (I’m a yoga teacher+student) who really are in it for the good of it. But I am aware of all of everything you spoke of, and it really does not sit well with me. I’ve been thinking and thinking and thinking of these things a lot lately, so this blog and conversation couldn’t have come at a better time for me.
Hi Lisa, it seems that something is in the air because even a quick look at the comments section over at YogaDork, particularly for articles that came out in the last few days, and it would seem that many other voices are finally speaking out and being heard around these issues. Maybe this is just a dialogue in cyberspace but if we can get this discussion going on in earnest and that would hopefully translate into more positive and meaningful change in the real world. Yoga has been hijacked, (not by everyone, there are sincere people too) by the mainstream, corporate rock-star yogi types. It’s starting to turn this science and art into a cliched joke and in order to take it back, we need to make our voices heard more frequently.
I agree with you but I think in mainstream American culture, yoga has been hi-jacked by the yuppie(hedonistic) culture.
this is a wonderful article. as a fellow Indian (N. American born) Indian yogini (Punjabi Hindu parents) who started practising in studios about 9 years ago, i have HAD it. my soul is sick in these big fancy studios (Chopra’s studio is one of the worst, and the most expensive!). and for the record, Anusara classes made me itchy from the outset and JF creeped me out. A white Texan businessman teaching adoring, beautiful thin white yogis about Sita and Lakshmi? NO, that is not right.
i don’t have much to add except I agree with everything you say. when i visited India, I looked for authentic yoga. i did not really know where to find it. i did realize that I am more Western than I think I am. Rishikesh had a lot of ashrams, but the cultish aspect and guru worship of ashrams in general also make me kind of itchy. i might try one eventually.
i have gone back to traditional Ashtanga yoga practised Mysore style in a tiny studio. i am researching Krishnamacharya extensively and the origins of modern yoga. this has helped my soul a lot: focussing on the other 7 limbs, doing the physical Ashtanga practice (because I am Western-born and I do love the physical aspect and study), chanting the prayers I learned as a child when I am at home by myself, and reading up on what Krishnamacharya’s Indian students have to say and teach about yoga.
good luck with your yoga journey. There is always a way to find and get back to the aspects of the tradition that resonate with you. step 1 is stopping going to all of the drop-in studios…
Thank you Omiya! You have no idea how many Hindu friends of the family (Punjabi, Maharasthra and Bengali) also share your feelings on Chopra. And as for JF, he always somehow gave off a pervy vibe, I’m surprised no one picked up on it sooner and said something, he was just so….eager. Rishikesh is quickly becoming an Indian version of Sedona, just like Benares and Varanasi has been taken over by backpackers looking for cheap pot and wanting to hang out with sadhus. Stay true in your search, when you’re ready the right teacher or teaching will appear, regardless of where in India or the world, it’ll take you.
Is any of this actually new? I’ve always been under the impression that the “profit-driven, hedonistic aspects which seems to have taken over the subculture” have always been a part of the yoga/householder realm (Osho didn’t manifest in a vacuum), as have questions of authenticity and intention.
I think there are authentic and genuine teachings and people, that there is something to the sacred sound stuff (as India-stuff bills itself as- should anyone be then surprised that people take on sacred names?), but too that people have a lot to learn from one-another, including the way we romanticize and cling to our identities and cultures even when we are so much variations on the same theme. I don’t mean to encourage the materialism and attainment stuff, but can’t seem to help being an apologist for materialism when it comes to the “yoga culture” as “real” yoga is such a good antidote for all of that, an antidote that otherwise might otherwise be ridiculed if not ignored outright by these profiteering hedonists.
It boils down to intention, methinks. If you want to get something materialistic out of it, then be upfront about it, don’t hide behind new-age speak and psychobabble navel-gazing jargon and paint the whole thing with “spirituality”. I have more respect for that wrestler-turned yoga instructor than I do for most posh studio-based instructors because he doesn’t hide who or what he does. He wears his identity and his practice on his sleeve.
well said………….This tradition as many others will lose some integral parts of its Integrity ,in the “Commodified Models ” we have set up…………..best to….develop a discriminating mind…………develop a relationshiop with a teacher who’s vested in developing your self practice…..in order to set you free. become colleagues as the relationship evolves….into a less hierarchal standard …..
At first, I thought you were just bitter or angry when I began reading this article. However the more I read, the more I realized what you were saying and I couldn’t agree more. I am a caucasian male practitioner and first was introduced to asana practice as a type of fitness. It was 100% physically-oriented and I went to a studio full of middle-aged, rich, suburban, Lululemon clad women with social cliques where the “themes” of the class would be discussing how hard it is to deal with their kids or making arrangements for their next vacation.
As time went on, I was introduced to the scriptures and ancient texts. With research of my own and research from others I quickly realized that not only were these people not walking the walk, they didn’t even understand that what they were trying to pass off as “yoga” was really a cardio-fitness class with flowery language. Teachers would become bitter about those who surpassed their physical abilites or went to a rival studio. Many of these teachers did not know, let alone understand, the yamas or niyamas. Asana was simply a physical workout. Don’t even think about discussing pranayama or concentration and meditation with them, they are not only unaware but don’t have an interest.
I was introduced to a yogi who is also a teacher and it opened my eyes to what yoga really is. Strict adherence to the ethical rules, asana only as a benefit to health, stillness in the postures, and as an offering are all wonderful and prepare the body and mind for pranayama exercises, which prepare the body for meditation (which is the focus of my practice now). I feel lucky to have met this teacher and he taught me proper and practical methods to the spiritual path the way it was meant to be, incorporating ALL forms of yoga (bhakti, jnana, etc.) through constant practice; something far beyond what Hatha yoga has become.
I appreciate the article you wrote and while you were blunt about it, I’m glad you were – it needed to be said. I may never achieve illumination in this lifetime but after finding the right path, I too would like to see these corrupted forms of fitness and pseudoscience come to an end.
Thanks J. for your comment.
I wasn’t trying to sound bitter and angry but admittedly as an Indian, I am upset at the direction yoga has gone in the West in some respects, particularly the more shallow, disingenuous aspects. When you walk into a studio and it feels like some exclusive country club instead from the 1950s where instead of talking about their golf game and the tomato aspic on the menu and how clumsy their maid was that morning, they’re talking about the organic wild rose petal oil and Antarctic water facial they had that morning at the spa and how the Filipino nanny was late in picking up the kids from school, all the while in their Lululemon shorts and slurping on a shot of acai berry serum, something’s amiss.
It’s especially galling when it’s your own cultural heritage that you see becoming distorted or misinterpreted by people, who very often don’t have a clue as to what they are talking about.
You are also spot-on when you describe teachers who get upset or feel threatened by those students who surpass them and eventually leave. I’ve seen that happen too. Yoga was never meant to be exclusive. These insanely priced studios and teacher trainings are doing more harm than good. I think if more voices from minority groups, whether it’s from those that define themselves at ethnic, visible minorities, queer, transgender, fat, big-boned, whatever, the better. People have to speak up more and add their voices to the discussion and the practice. I also think if the co-op movement and co-op studios/trainings were to become more dominant in the scene, the inclusivity problem would take care of itself.
I have to say that you do come off sounding bitter and angry – at least at first. However, I can understand you being upset. I’ve been pondering the evolution of yoga in “the west” for a couple of years now. How can we as westerners incorporate the aspects of yoga and the spiritual practices into our culture in a way that is authentic?
I’m not sure I have an answer but I do have ideas.
It’s still evolving and will continue to do so. Giving up on it isn’t the answer though.
At a studio I use to attend they ran a 1 hour yoga class – a set sequence. There were also the classes where the more experienced and aware students frequented. Most of us were in it for the same reasons (the deeper [if you will] reasons). What I observed is that though 99.9% of those in the 1 hour class would never show up at the class the smaller group attended. But every once and a while someone would make the transition and their life would change.
So I say let them have those “spa” classes or whatever you want to call it. Seek those that understand the difference and are on your side of the view of what yoga is and isn’t. Practice the practice and surrender to the fact that that is the way it is. The grace still exists and those that ask for it and seek it will find it. And they will find you.
I came to yoga in the same way J did and though I didn’t find the same teacher but I did dive deep in to the scriptures. I continue to study. Not everyone will do this or find that path.
I spent 2.5 months in India last year. I found often times that I knew more about some of the stories and deities than many of the Indians I met. It would surprise them (being a 6 foot tall white guy). The beautiful thing is that once they realized I was well studied and cared the energy would shift.
I guess I just can’t help but question if your article helps or hurts the evolution. Perhaps that is not the correct way to look at it – the correct question to ask. But I do think it’ll evolve and perhaps no matter what anyone writes or says it will “mature”. I suppose it’s just part of the process
In the end those that find it and go deep are rewarded. Isn’t that what we all want?
A.G. Mohan wrote a book on Krishnamacharya and in conclusion states that he wishes Krishnamacharya had lived long enough to see how yoga had become so popular in the west. I think he still holds this same view. Though I do wonder what Krishnamacharya would think of that migration today.
all the best,
Doug
Hi Doug,
My article is not meant to hurt the evolution of yoga, it’ll evolve in it’s own way irrespective of anything I say or write :-).
What I am trying to do is open a discussion about where yoga has gone and is going in some quarters, particularly from my perspective, growing up Bengali, being exposed to Hinduism, Islam and Buddhism from a very early age. Discussions around Rabindranath Tagore or Vivekananda, Ramakrishna, and Aurobindo’s stance against British imperialism were common in my household. For those of us who come from a spiritual Indian background, this “market yoga” is especially insulting to say the least. It’s just not for all of us.
What *IS* that fine line between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation?
When is yoga not yoga anymore but a a workout?
When does the studio become a cruising bar? Or a temple?
I don’t have any answers to these questions myself but I do think getting this discussion going is a step in the right direction, no? Particularly around these issues of inclusiveness and diversity.
“It’s All Yoga, Baby” posted about a studio in Toronto which will be offering “Brown Girl Yoga” and “Queer Yoga” in an attempt to create space to make all types of persons more comfortable and I applaud the initiative.
http://www.itsallyogababy.com/an-anti-racist-fattransqueer-positive-yoga-studio-kula-yogas-positive-space-initiative/#more-4016
http://www.mykulatoronto.ca/positive-space-initiatives
Cheers!
Liked your post very much and glad I found your blog…thank you.
Thanks for the fix!
I’m not questioning the intent of your article. And certainly if I was that last thing I would insinuate is that your article is intended to hurt the evolution of yoga.
What I’m getting at is I run across articles like this on a regular basis and it makes me simply ask, “is this helping or hurting?”. I suppose it can do both. It can also do neither – it just is.
I get your perspective (at least to the point that my western mind can appreciate). I admire that perspective and hope more will offer and embrace it.
After reading Singleton’s book – Yoga Body – I think is when began to really consider how yoga has evolved in the west. When I was in Mysore last year my friend Sudhama took me to the Shala where Krishnamacharya first taught non-Indians yoga. That experience really made me start to ask questions.
I was surprised by the fact that most Indians are Bhakti yogis and practice no asana. A stark contrast to yoga in America where we are more devoted to our dog than to our spiritual practice! But that is our culture.
In my mind I’ve been trying to piece together the evolution of the migration. In a way I sort of start it the Beatles and their acid trips and searching out (and finding!) for their guru. Could it have began any other way? Considering the era (the 60’s) I’d think not (assuming that was the start). And so from there (I think) it’s morphed and changed. Woo-woo yoga isn’t as popular is it use to be. It’s big time mainstream now. I try not to look! Where will it go next?
I guess I feel like if I can get an idea of where it began and where it is now I have an idea of where it can go. And with that I can begin to ponder the answers to the questions you bring up above in your last post.
No real answers yet but hey…. I’m trying! And I think that perhaps your first question is the one that deserves the most consideration. Though I’m not so sure many that “practice” will ever care to ask.
Doug
I know what you mean about the plethora or articles out there and if they are doing more harm than good. When I read some of the stuff over at Recoveringyogi.com and how jaded and disenchanted people become, I feel like asking,”Well what did you expect – mainstream yoga now is business”
Again, it always returns to intention and asking what do you want to get out of yoga and being honest with yourself about that.
I think the 1960s and the Beatles were huge catalysts in popularizing yoga and TM in the West, but it goes back further. If you get a chance to read “The Razor’s Edge” by W.Somerset Maugham, it’s there as well and in “A Passage to India” by E.M Forster. It started from the very get-go of British rule in India. German Indologists like Max Muller, Heinrich Zimmer (Joseph Campbell’s teacher) and Max Webber also added to the fascination the West had with spiritual India.
There are some contemporary historians like William Dalrymple who are doing truly fantastic work around the deconstruction of the Anglo-Saxon world’s interest in India (not just yoga), if you’re interested. I think another factor that adds fuel to the fire is that fact that many in the West feel that their own organized religions no longer serve them anymore, so there is a spiritual void and want to fill it. For some, it does end up being yoga, for others it’s the shamanistic path. It’s a complicated issue which needs to be examined from all sides.
I would say that’s most likely because it’s gone so far away from its roots these days, which lie in the paganism and polytheist rituals of ancient Europe and Near East, while the western mindset of choosing “science” being at odds with “religion” has caused many to drop religion. The last one mainly because of many many centuries of literal interpretation and not being open to other forms of belief (you believe this, you go to heaven, otherwise it is hell). this latter was not a feature of the western ancient religions, which were more similar to shamanism and hinduism, with many gods and diversity of rituals and beliefs, so I would say it is because of that in the west religion is now shifting… (The Catholic pope recently stated that to get to heaven we need not be Christian, only a good person, a comlpete turn-around from 1600 years of Roman rule)
I am laughing and shaking my head yes! I agree!
However, for me it still is a daily practice on my own, since I can not find a class i can afford and don’t feel like dealing with all the B.S. I teach for free, and believe that getting groups together and meeting in a park/beach and donating a few $ bucks per person is the way to go.
My Yoga studio in Encinitas was paying 5 grand a month for rent, that’s where one of the biggest problem lies. They barely ever broke even.
Get out of the yoga studio and into nature, it’s FREE
thanks for your gift… I enjoyed the laugh this am xoxoxo
Hi Books,
Of course there are aspects of yoga I love, but as some others have pointed out, my criticisms are mostly around the “scene” which has grown around it and not really yoga itself. It’s hard to get away from that “scene” when that’s what’s largely on the offering.
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“I question the profit-driven, hedonistic aspects which seems to have taken over the subculture”
I haven’t left but I’ve dialed back to my pre 2011 levels for most of the same reasons listed in this outstanding article. FTR, I’m Hispanic so your points about the lack of diversity and the distortion of the ethnic nature of the practice are understood on a deep intuitive level. Here’s hoping that the Westernization of the practice does not destroy it.
There is a reason why I always loved yoga at the gym vs. a studio. I LOVE the physical aspects of the practice. The rest? Not so much even after a year of trying. A year which included teacher training which I knew on paper looked like a logical step after 14 years of practice and hundreds of hours at the studio, on the mat, or reading about yoga. But the deeper I got the more I disliked what I was seeing. The more the apparent hypocrisy and inconsistency appeared. The more illusion turned to disillusion. Ultimately, I didn’t want to become what you are describing in a Western style psuedo-Indian/yogi.
I saw it early on and kept plugging through it hoping that it was my years of cynicism clouding my view. I forked over the hundreds of dollars of dollars for workshops and trainings only to feel like I knew more before I started. I knew what yoga meant when I didn’t know what it was supposed to mean. The term ‘yoga rock star’ repulses me. Sadie Nardini and her ilk , give me a freakin break. Likewise, people who aspire to be them. I was never going to make money in yoga because I never believed that was a place to make money. Therefore, any future career would be doomed if it was to contribute to my livelihood. I couldn’t take money from people to show them something they can do for free for themselves. Most Westerners just want to stretch and breath and move safely. They don’t want the rest. Yet, I kept hearing that unless you got the rest you weren’t doing yoga. Translation, unless you fall in line you aren’t one of ‘us.’ Fine.
Maybe I’m in the inevitable burnout phase. I don’t think so as I only got burned out after trying to take it further than my previous 14 years. I didn’t respect my own boundaries and let ego speak louder than my heart. IF I teach now it will be to family, friends, or coworkers for free or for donation. I’ll never recoup what I’ve spent to get to this point but I also think about how much time, money, and energy I’ll save realizing this before going any further on down what is, for me, an inauthentic path.
So I’ve shut down blog and my feeble attempt to be a yogi with a cool yoga blog. I might start blogging again but not about any one thing. I’m not a one dimensional person and trying to be was killing me. I’ve sold many of the books, tapes, and other things I purchased trying to ‘be the change.’ An action that felt remarkably liberating. No more excessive money will go to yoga. I’m back to my videotapes (now DVDs), gym classes, and the occasional studio Groupon to help keep me grounded in my decision to walk away. Nothing like getting disillusion at a discount…
I will always do yoga but I won’t ever “be” a ‘real’ yogi. That realization feels freakin great! I like my vices including my uncommon but well placed cynicism. I like the imperfections. I like being the real me whether yoga says it’s real or not. Who the fuck are they to judge anyway?
Hi DDAC,
Thank you for catching my drift, you understood exactly where I’m coming from. Judging on the commentary being left on Reddit and Elephant Journal, I think many are misunderstanding me and thinking that I’m critiquing western culture and have some kind of ax to grind against it. I’m not and I don’t. Clearly I’ve hit a nerve.
What I am critiquing is this market-driven yoga, particularly for those of us who still see is as a spiritual practice. I think there are many, many people who go into yoga nowadays because of the relaxing, spiritual aspects it offers, but when you come to loggerheads with this “spa yoga” , the cliques, the posers, the popularity contest, it is a frustrating and disheartening experience. That might explain the burn-out and disillusionment.
As I’ve stated earlier in other comments, I think it really does boil down to what do you want to get out of yoga? A work-out? A meditation? A deeper spiritual life? A new group of friends? A healthier and more self-aware lifestyle? My experience, unfortunately has only shown me that people aren’t asking those deeper questions not nearly as often as they should be asked.
Best,
EER
Thank you for your response. I tend to believe that people who are secure in their practice won’t own others opinions or criticisms of it. I became increasingly insecure in my practice when I felt that it was supposed to fit some sort of yoga culture norm especially for a teacher. My breaking point was when I had to paint my toes for a class. Not because it’s written in a teaching manual but because it’s rather expected that teachers, or studio students for that matter, don’t have unattractive feet. Yet, as a student at a gym class I could show up with a shoddy pedi at my gym class and no one gave a shit. Perhaps this was symbolic or the pretext of something deeper but that was the beginning of the end. It was a visual reminder of what was going on inside and what I didn’t want to admit. I could teach in clearance Kohls yoga wear, I could act my way through a class, I could pontificate with the best of them.
I could not hide and would be judged by my neglected piggies. And avoiding such would mean spending time and energy doing something I don’t do to keep up appearances. Pass.
A View from the UK
I think we can be over-zealous in our encompassing of the guru-mentality and all you criticise, but we can also be over-zealous in our rejection of it. Someone earlier mentioned babies and bathwater and I do support that comment – maybe you need a bit of (old fashioned) English middle-way patience on your side of the pond!
I enjoyed reading your blog, EER*, and think you have struck the right chord to stimulate the debate. No-one will bother responding unless you are at least a little controversial.
I have also enjoyed reading all the comments in their varied views.
In UK we do not have so many flashy and expensive yoga studios – though there are the expensive celebrity ones for those who choose to afford them and seek that lifestyle. If it works for them then let them do it.
Most of my practice has been in studios and village halls where sweat is the garb of choice as we progress through the primary series of astanga. The largest classes were some years ago with John Scott at the homoeopathic hospital where he, with other teachers, lead a ‘Mysore style’ practice every weekday morning for just a few pounds. Even then it was probably no more than 40 at most.
All my other regular practice has been in groups of 10 to 20 except for the occasional weekend workshop where there will be a few more – often controlled by the size of the hall.
I am also a complementary therapist in bodywork so I do not appreciate the hard-knocks school of Astanga. My take is that when my energy is focussed my muscle will follow – it won’t work the other way round. So the practice is, in my words, ‘down to earth’. No gurus, just good teachers who can teach me yoga and guide me through that practice. I am not looking for them to guide the rest of my life – that is for me, with support from other teachers in their skills. If my yoga teacher has an affair with someone, I don’t blame yoga for it.
I came to yoga originally at the age of 36 in 1984, through Derek Ireland and Radha. Derek was/is considered a guru of astanga by some but he was just a normal guy with good and bad points. So what? He is dead now so that leads some, including those who never met him, to idolise him. Fine, so what?
Currently, I practice in a couple of studios that are crowded if 15 of us turn up for the same class. And not a shred of lycra to be seen. And not many Asian faces either, I have to agree.
I recently spent three months in Bhopal, India working with people still suffering from the after-effects of the gas explosion and there I could not find a teacher! In the clinic they use yoga as part of the Ayurvedic treatment protocol, though many of your students probably would not recognise it as yoga. Rather like the man in that lovely video – they are using it to help people heal. No gurus there, but 100% Asian! And of all religious persuasions. Apart from that, the normal working individual hardly knows of yoga, and rarely knows anyone who practices it.
If someone is looking for their guru – in yoga or whatever, then, if it helps them, let it be. If it hurts them then be a friend and talk to them. But let them go their own way as there may be something they may learn. All ways are not your way.
So I will continue to practice in my way. First asana, on the mat. Second asana, focus my energy. Third asana, calm my breath. Then move through my practice. It brings what it brings and each practice is different. A body workout? Yes. A meditation? Yes. A brain rest? Certainly.
The primary focus into the eight limbs may vary but isn’t the final result (if there ever can be one) the same? And it is fine that others have different ideas. That is what makes it delicious!
Thanks for stimulating these thoughts. Much love to all of you.
Ian Jarvis
(* I DO hate these pseudonyms, is everyone scared of being who they are?)
Hi Ian,
Thanks for commenting and I agree with most of what you write. I’m guess you are visiting from the Elephant journal link? I’m quite surprised at the vitriolic reaction I received there, particularly the anti-white racist bigot thinly-veiled accusations. Like downdogandcats had posted there, those reactions are quite indicative of why yoga may self-destruct in the West, or at least in North America anyway. My critique is really not about yoga itself, it’s really about the cultural paraphernalia which seems to have sprung up around it.
I think most of my reaction has to do with yoga within the North American context, most European, Asian and South American yoga practitioners that I’ve met seem much more level-headed in my opinion and there may be because there are cultural differences at play. I don’t know. That’s not to say that there aren’t genuine and well-meaning yogis in the US, but I have a sinking feeling that because of the whole trendy-let’s-make-serious-money-off-of-this-mentality, yoga has gone in that direction also. Things happening south of the border come up here very quickly, unfortunately that also includes that rock-star, spa-yoga bullshit.
I think the initiatives that you speak of like your experience in Bhopal does show that it’s a question of digging a bit deeper and finding these sorts of more authentic and genuine outlets for yoga. I mean maybe there should be something like “Yogis Without Borders”? I think that would be wonderful if yoga instructors showed up in a place like Bhopal and worked with victims from the disaster.
Cheers!
“Yogis without Borders” – I like that. Made me chuckle.
And in the clinic they do actually need a new yoga teacher (ideally with ayurveda skills and health experience – and Hindi) as the one I knew is expecting a baby soon. Maybe I’ll see you out there when I next visit.
(On a serious note you can read more about Bhopal and my experience on my website – you have the url from my registration.)
Yes, I did discover you from that link, and I think I found that via astangayoga.inf or something – it is easy to mislay the track!
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This is a great documentary which is very much connected to the article!
Thanks Aras, very pertinent! I’ve been looking for this for a while now.
I think Yoga has become too commercialized.
I have been practicing for 41 years. When I first began Yoga, sessions were done in small intimate groups at either at someones home or at a college (but not a large space)
The teachers were gentle, caring people. The focus was on the practice for each individual.
It was not competitive,nor was it glamorous(Yoga clothes,Yoga Mats-the whole business)
I’ve been teaching Yoga for six years at my home space.
Some students were afraid I would yell at them because of recent experiences at Yoga Classes.
I was appalled to hear this.
Though it is good to challenge yourself once you master the poses I really emphasize safety and taking your time . It’s too bad it has become such a “Business” because it distorts peoples views of a practice that can keep you flexible and help your mind.
I completely sympathize with those students of yours. I too have seen the “rock-star” yoga instructor at work in the studios. One yelled at a girl for not doing the pose as he wanted and I even saw him several times make late-comers sit in the corner!
Unfortunately the ability to do advanced poses doesn’t necessarily mean the emotional and spiritual maturity and depth is there as well, no matter how many mala beads you’re wearing or other Hindu devotional paraphernalia you’ve surrounded yourself with. What’s happened is that the egos have gotten way too overblown and many “instructors” now feel that if their students are doing advanced poses within a short space of time, it’s a reflection of how great an instructor they themselves are and that’s total malarky.
I have been scrolling through all of these comments here and haven’t seen one mention of B.K.S Iyengar. This is the only true yoga for the West, in my opinion. Not glamorous, yet totally artistic. Complex, yet approachable. My teachers in this method have all approached yoga as science and have been very humble people overall (with the exception of a few narcissists, but I also learned a few things from them) 😉. Everyone interested in yoga should read “Light on Yoga.” Amen!
I just read this, VERY TRUE. That’s why I do Yoga at home alone and in peace with the help of some dvds and some online websites.
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My experience with yoga teachers that I have practiced with is quite different from yours, however, I would tend to agree with your overall observations. One of my yoga teachers was one of my meditation teachers who taught the teachings of Pra Rajadhamma Jetiyajarn (originally from Thailand, living in Canada).
I tried a couple different types of yoga but I never really found what I was looking for in the practices. I studied shamanism and had a greater connection to that. Interestingly enough I found a new practice and I have shared this practice with my friends and my yoga teachers and the yoga teachers love this practice.
The teacher, Ratu Bagus, refers to it as yoga and meditation. It is called Bio-energy shaking meditation. This practice has become very popular in Europe but has been slow to grow in North America.
As you have noted many North Americans have a greater focus on material things than developing their spiritually. It is not easy to choose a spiritual path and there can be many difficult periods during the journey. There is a saying “that when the student is ready the teacher will appear” Hopefully, many of the people that have been drawn to yoga because it is the “it” thing to do will find the true meaning of the practice and will find that new teacher. I have finally found the practice that helps me connect with the “I AM” and it took nearly 12 years for my teacher to appear.
Remember the people who irritate us are often our greatest teachers as they are mirroring what needs to be healed in us and we need to be grateful.
Shirley
if it is and always will be health benefits that attracted you and maintain your interest in yoga, why do you care about the rest? go and get what you say you want. the rest is there. to find it, you will have to allow it to exist. my guru, mata amritanandamayi is quite authentic! there is nothing pseudo-spiritual about her or the sadhana she teaches. and i see so many indians at her feet! it is quite beautiful and inspiring.
i totally agree with your view about yoga branching out into areas that are not congruent with the teachings.
the power and energy of the sanskrit language is immense! this can not die! it is eternal! perhaps spending some consistent time with a mantra, 10 to 20 years, will convince you of this. perhaps it will never happen. regardless, because you have not had an experience with the power of the language does mean it has no value, you speak of your heritage and culture yet you have no problem eliminating this integral part of it!
bikram choudhury is not someone i have much respect for! all he has to do is open his mouth and you can hear for yourself what he really thinks! no thanks.
thank you for haring your thoughts! you are right on target with so much of what you say!
sorry, namaste!!
Congrats on having this piece published in Elephant Journal. Certainly got the conversation going again!
Thanks W&G! Did you see some of the commentary there? I stopped responding because so much of it was accusing me of being a racist or with “issues around culture”. Methinks I have hit a nerve of sorts…
It has gotten a little heavy. Some missed the fundamental points of your valid argument. Anyway we are all entitled to our opinions and articles are subject to interpretation. Keep on writing though!
lol — I was thinking the EXACT same thing. Hit a few nerves, methinks.
Here’s a classic comment I received today by someone named Natalie:
“I had to walk away for a while to figure out my thoughts on this. I’ve been practicing for 8 years, have taught and stopped teaching. I too left the yoga scene where I lived in the US because it no longer fit with what I wanted (too much lululemon for my taste). For me, yoga is prayer – sanskrit, english, whatever. Intention is what counts. I’ve found a studio in Amsterdam where I live now where yoga is, once again, prayer.
Your post is negative. I had to walk away because there was too much negativity, anger, I don’t know. I don’t feel angry myself, I feel sad. Taking the time to write this kind of thing where you’re basically just criticizing and negative on a whole general level, it’s not good for you or for anyone. I believe in the energy we spread around us with thoughts, words, actions, intentions. You know, where people are is where they are, but we are all doing the best we can wherever we are. Some days that best kind of sucks, but you live and let live.
I almost want to say you owe people an apology not so much for what you wrote but for the negativity you added into the world.”
Your “blog”” is negative. It is full of judgement and criticisms. I personally find zero merits behind a hot yoga practice but if that is what suits you so be it. I find it interesting that you allude to numerous postings in which you are taken to task about your elitism’s but I don’t find any of them on the page. It must be convenient to manipulate your environment so that you only have those postings that ultimately sooth your ego be the posting that are available for viewing. I say to you, return to your mat and revisit one of the basic principles of yoga – ACCEPTANCE. Namaste (from a white, freckled face, fat woman who loves henna tattoos, saris and bhindis)
progessingenlightenment, I don’t understand why I would need to post the comments from EJ here when they are already posted somewhere else. I posted your comment, no problem. I will not however post comments which accuse me of being a racist or some sort of bigot with “issues around white people”. If you want to have a calm and civilized discussion on cultural appropriation, the state of commercialized yoga, I’d welcome that. If people want to throw slurs at me and ad hominem attacks, I don’t see how posting that is constructive in any meaningful way or conducive to starting a respectful discussion?
wow. ok….. I guess like everything it’s open to interpretation but that’s not how I read your piece. I thought you were quite diplomatic, and didn’t bring into the argument any tricky topics that you weren’t educated on -like the reference to Indians and yogas heritage- since you are after all Indian (or have Indian heritage, correct?) Unfortunately when we open ourselves up and express ourselves in any way (as a teacher, writer, blogger, whatever) there will always be criticism and misinterpretation of our words. Like I said, keep doing what you are doing. You push the envelope with all that you write about, but I for one get a lot out of it. Bliss and Bless.
Most of the folks at EJ are insufferably self-righteous.
Let me preface this by saying that I agree with a lot of what you’re saying.
But that example you gave of the girl assuming all Indians know each other and have the same beliefs/cultures/whatever? Well… hate to say it, but you’re just like that girl if you’re going to assume the entire white/western yoga world all has the same intentions, beliefs, actions, etc.
Isn’t what you’re accusing the yoga world of doing true of any “spriritual movement” or “religion” or “philosophy”? the origins may be valid, great and beautiful, but man (by “man” I mean humans of both sexes) goes in there and effs it all up and tries to get rich off the gullible. It doesn’t make the original philosophy any less beautiful.
That being said, I stepped into a Bikram class once and hated it. HATED. That’s a pretty strong assessment from someone who’s pretty willing to try any physical activity at least once and many styles of yoga. But there was something about the teacher, maybe (he was extremely condescending – even though I was new to Bikram and respect that every style of yoga does things slightly differently, I already had completed a 200hr teaching certification at that point so I knew enough to know it wasn’t me, it was him). I don’t usually hate things that are harmless that strongly but he really left a bad aftertaste, and once I learned more about Bikram himself I felt even more strongly against it.
Still, I do not hate yoga. It has helped me physically, emotionally, and mentally more than anything else except perhaps running. I rarely teach yoga anymore – but the last time I did, it was for (mostly) minority urban high school students (for free). By the way, I studied computer science at an engineering university so I’m very well-versed in the many different flavors of the Indian continent.
Confession: I am white. And middle class. I like Indian food (I also like Italian, Portuguese, Latin American, Chinese, Japanese, and probably every type of food there is as long as it’s done right). I also used to dance bhangra pretty regularly. Not because I’m trying to pass myself off as Indian or try to appropriate the culture wholesale (no offense, but I do like my own background and culture) but because it was fun. And despite my lack of coordination I got pretty damn good at it. (By the way, the instructor was Indian. As were several of the students).
I do not however, follow any “gurus” or go on retreats (too expensive! not to mention cult-like) and I don’t plan on converting to Hinduism or changing my name to something Sanskrit for the same reason I don’t really follow any particular Christian “leader” or the Pope. Though again, I do like Sanskrit. But I also like Latin. So there you go.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that I understand your point, but you’re painting the yoga world with a pretty wide brush when in actuality it’s pretty fractured and varied.
Hi Nora,
I’m addressing the “spa yoga” part of the community because that’s where a large part of my experience has been based. I know the community is extremely diverse and wide and I’m actually looking for a community which resonates more with me.
My beef isn’t about “white people” doing yoga as some of the commentators over at EJ have insinuated, it’s really about the cultural misappropriation and commercialization going on in certain quarters because it’s trendy and very current.
Thanks for taking the time out to reply
You say you want a calm, civilized discussion about appropriations of culture and the commercialized state of yoga. This is not the tone nor the sentiment behind your writings. Do you not wonder in the slightest if perhaps your article does have elitest overtones? That you are placing yourself in the role of judge and jury. To ignore input that you don’t agree with is tantamount to saying that you are perfect with no room for growth. As the saying goes “if the shoe fits wear it” in other words if enough persons felt your article was negative, racist and judgemental maybe you should take a step back and explore the possibility that there is some truth behind those statements. Your valid points about the propensity of humans, in general, to exploit anything for personal financial gains is lost due to your sweeping demeaning generalization which seem to be focused on Caucasians. I will happily try to repost my original reply to your blog in which I address most of your assertions regarding citizens of the USA. Will this or the dropsy make the “cut”?
Do you perhaps think the reason why so many people are reacting negatively are because most of them are white and someone has finally decided to call them out on A) White Privilege B) Entitlement C) A cultural history of appropriation and gross distortion of other cultures? Do you think perhaps a nerve, which until recently went unnoticed, has finally been hit?
I’d encourage you to read “Orientalism” by Edward Said and understand how far back the roots of this sort of cultural imperialism goes back. Old wine in new bottles. I could post the many,many private emails I received from Indians and Caucasians alike who expressed that they were happy someone finally decided to open this can of worms, but I won’t because I don’t have their permission and quite frankly I don’t see why I would need to.
I’m sorry if my anger and my article causes you such discomfort and rancor but it’s very clear that I’m not criticizing yoga itself, I’m criticizing the false community and plastic culture which has sprung up around it.
I’m not criticizing Caucasians practicing yoga, I’m criticizing the North American version of it inc ertain quarters. I’ve practiced yoga in other Caucasian countries in South America and Europe, and the “scene” is NOTHING like the way it is in the States and Canada. I hope you can see that.
Do I think I’m perfect? Far from it. We’re all on journeys of our own. As for my alleged racism, judgmental attitude and negativity, I’ll ask the white branch and Japanese branch of my family along with my white friends if they ever got it from me.
Check out some of these other websites as to understand and see why some people from other cultures get a little upset when they see gross misrepresentations taking place.
http://newagefraud.org/
http://theangryblackwoman.com/required-reading/
Once again you come out firing away at “white” ethnic groups with a huge focus on the USA and Canada. Neither country has a corner on the market for exploitation or appropriation of cultures, food, philosophies, etc.
I grew up in South America in the middle of the jungle and as a result have very different view points than most citizen of the US. However I also take umbrage when individuals, who enjoy the freedoms this country has to offer, think that it is appropriate to make blanket disrespectful assertion.
I beg you to address the fact that industries in India think nothing of pirating technology from anyone and using it for their own personal gain. This includes the current obssession with yoga and anything involving yoga. Who is wrong here? The shallow, short sighted neophyte or the calculating, selfish mercenary?
You refer to the “plastic culture” that has infiltrated the yoga community and take all the gullible individuals to task for believing any and everything they read, see or hear but isn’t it better to have yoga introduced into mainstream living than not at all? Granted there are aspects, individuals and application that are being introduced merely for personal gain but if someone is truly motivated to gain the benefits of a regular yoga practice they have greater access to information than wa s available in the past. I just feel that you could have approached the subject in a less incriminating manner with a greater application of yoga principles the most important being non -judgement, non-harming and acceptance.
As stated before your basic message is lost in the rancorous verbiage of your blog. A great shame since you have some very valid points about the commercialism surrounding the introduction of anything proverbially “new ” to the general public.
I appreciate you taking the time to engage in this discussion and hope that my observations are not merely brushed aside. I have read the links you provided and take the points you offer to heart and ask the same of you. Ultimately I think we agree that as a discipline, yoga has much to offer and.it is very personal as well. I wish you peace on your journey and honor the light you offer the world
The writer has obviously hit a nerve, and your comments are proving her points
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Hello there. Just found this vibrant discussion after my first elephant journal link – glad I was able to read it without the subscription! While I’m a recently qualified hot yoga teacher, and am slowly working my own path in this world, I wasn’t sure what kind of article I was getting into, but it hits the nail on the head. Practical discussion and real observations are what’s going on on this blog, and that’s knowing things for what they really are.
I don’t have much to contribute, but on my own ‘yogic’ path – stemmed from finding tai-chi and moving meditations to heal a childhood of mental and physical pain – I also feel that before I go straight into the deep end of veganism, fasting, or swallowing cotton rolls for cleansing, I like to know the purpose and necessity for such actions in my own life, and how these actions will go beyond me and make larger changes in the world.
I was trained in hot yoga in the beautiful land of sunshine, cars and dollar signs – Long Island. Now, I won’t hate on it too much, because I have had interactions with some of the most truly lovely people there who have taught me many valuable life lessons. Dharma Mittra also holds affordable, truly insightful classes, and is known to be quite the guru. However, on ritzy-ditzy L.I. it’s very easy to spot yogis and yoginis who are not getting the point. Whether it’s coming to class after a botox session, or going out for ‘liquid lunch’ after classes (i.e. boozing, not juices) it’s hard to watch the Xanax nation keeping up their bad habits, when they need to let yoga do its job!
I like the mention of Americans needing that extra kick in the behind from Hot Yoga because, personally, it’s probably true! Myself, along with so many Americans weren’t raised, or were too depressed, and/or stuck up our own egos in too-cool-for-school smoking to actually challenge ourselves physically. Running up mountains, climbing, or being encouraged to stay active in physical activity (or any hobby) sometimes doesn’t happen very well in suburbia, or the 5 boroughs. Enough of the pity party though, doing any yoga, heated or not, gets you out of your own head – the heat just helps. (On a side note: I have been to a handful of Bikram classes, and while they’ve got the smelly heat, it’s not about being yelled at in yoga).
Lastly, it’s a shame that hot yoga is so expensive, probably because of heating costs, it’s good to remember how lucky some are to be able to get that heat at all! Now living in Yorkshire, UK, my yoga goals are always persistent, but always changing. Here, with a small home studio, (that is very difficult to get ‘hot’ in the year round coolness and lack on insulation) and classes for only £5, I can’t even drag most people into a once a week routine. I do know, however, that many peoples wages go towards cheap food and frequent pub visits – with plenty of rounds and vodka red bulls. Where bacon and sausage on bread is a normal daily breakfast, and eggs and cheese are in most veggie meals – keeping the path of normal healthy eating full of fresh fruits and veg is very challenging. I don’t like to judge and often don’t attack anyone’s lifestyle outright, because I too have had all the deliciously bad habits in my life, but I find there are some cases where some tough love needs to wake people up, and other times when we need to be compassionate to ourselves, but overall be honest and truthful about reality.
Hope I didn’t blab about unrelated things, but thank you very much for such a provocative article. I like the cultural points as well. (At the yoga parties, I wasn’t given a bindi, and I didn’t want to be a poser by wearing one – although saris and bindis on Indian women are very beautiful).
Cheers, keep up the interesting thoughts. x
By the by, usually when people get ‘offended’, it’s because they have a strong sense of ego to ‘defend’. I do yoga, am a white American, not super well off, but I get it. I was not offended by your article, but was almost expecting to be : D
Hi A.M
Thank you for “getting it”, you’re quite correct that people go on the defensive if they perceive a threat or challenges to their own status quo. The article was not written in a spirit of threatening others so I’m fairly sure the mudslinging is mostly about projection, the projecting about something about themselves on to me and the article which clearly pushed those raw nerves in them. Those are their issues, not mine.
Thank you also for sharing your story about your own yogic journey. Like all journeys, there are surprises, pitfalls and unexpected surprises, it’s just the nature of the beast. Since you are in the UK now, I’m sure you’ll pick up the differences in culture from Long Island fairly quickly! The UK also has a fairly large South Asian population of Indians, Pakistanis and Bangladeshis, though I’m not sure how involved they are in the yoga community there. If you’re looking for support, try to get in touch with Bill Feeney and Fiona Agombar. I have heard nothing but fantastic things about them and they stayed at my first spiritual teacher and guide’s hotel in Cappadocia, Turkey.
Good luck!
Cool. Thanks for that. How interesting to find that Fiona Agombar happens to be doing a specialist yoga retreat in Yorkshire – where I live, for MS. That would be helpful to broaden the understanding of yoga and it’s purpose to a larger audience. I find that people here are either really fit and able, or really would have to reverse years of certain lifestyle habits to really see, or become aware of different changes in mind, willpower and health. Always moving forward..
Found your excellent blog through your Yoga article and wanted to say thank you. You nailed it. I find it amusing how many of the comments were about the exceptions disproving the rule (“our studio is DIFFERENT!”). I dropped out of a Jivamukti Teacher’s Training last year when a “celebrity” teacher from New York came up to teach us “Planetary Chanting” promising us the chance to “taste the flavor of divinity”.
What turned me off most was the self-justifying, narcissistic belief that Yoga could be ANYTHING you wanted it to be. Seemed to me that when something could be anything, it was by definition no-thing….
Hi Claude,
Generally things which are the most bland and vacuous are subject to being interpreted as anything you want it to be OR projected with any “meaning” you want it to have. It’s the same with many celebrities and politicians who deliberately stay away from controversy and avoid taking firm and definitive staces on anything and usually stick to the approved script and say the blandest, most banal generalities. What they say can then mean basically anything you want it to mean or wish it to mean.
Yea man, but similarly, life and ‘life purpose’ is just the same. It can be anything you want it to be, or it can be nothing, it can be bland, it can be bold: whatever you like. Either way, you gotta work for it. Be true to yourself, and what you reflect will be true.
Yeah man I hear you and I hear that line of thinking a lot but I guess anything can be anything you want it to be – like language or dance or as you say, life itself. And while your interpretation and expression of these things may be your unique truth, without formal structure to ground it and give it context, it often devolves into mish-mash gibberish. Or have you noticed ?
I love this….everyone has a point! I started doing yoga almost six years ago and a few months into it, stumbled upon an Anusara yoga workshop and totally fell in love with the philosophy of this tradition. I am a Malaysian Chinese practising Tibetan Buddhism, so I am most familiar with the teachings. I love my practice and am grateful for the opportunity to study his beautiful teaching. As all of you here know what happened to the Anusara founder, I am now convinced that the term ‘yoga’ has been abused by the many! It is a shame, really and I do thank you though for posting and sharing your thoughts and observations. Its been enlightening to read all of your experiences here..all who have shared!
I read your post on Elephant Journal, and I just wanted to say, rock
on, you are such a badass! I laughed my ass off the whole way through,
and even more so when I saw the blow back on the comments section,
coming largely from the kinds of people you were critiquing. I’ve been
so frustrated with new age white followers of other new age white
pseudo gurus, and it is especially annoying when they try to censure
you for being “judgmental” when you critique them for pimping out
things they don’t understand. Not that I’m an expert on yoga or
meditation, either, but I know a fraud when I see one.
Anyhow, just wanted to let you know that the post was awesome! Thank you!
me too
Hi,EER, I’m happy to find you. I am Diana, I am from Romania, and I am on my way to ascension since 2010, when I woke up to the truth. I also have a blog where I write to people about spiritual matters and try to support them, cause this is a part of my mission in this life.
I feel you with this post. Yoga is a sacred practice for the spirit, and for the body – but through the spirit as well. It’s about finding yourself into the peace and silence of your moments of practice and finding your energetic balance and your healing grace to the yoga positions. It’s a way to reconnect to your greater self and to the divine as well. People, most of them, don’t understand yoga. it became so commercial, so fancy, so misunderstood and fake…theiy have distorted it’s real meaning and turned it into something superficial. I read the autobiography of Paramahansa Yogananda and I’ve understood the true meaning of Kryia Yoga. I think that the indian culture is holding the secrets of the spiritual enlightening through the practice of yoga and of meditation. The indian culture is so rich in spirituality! It must be studied with much awareness and understood corectly, and not modified. Any modification alterates its sacred secrets. You are trully blessed to have indian blood in your veins, cause I am sure that you also have the energetic line with the wisdom of your ancesters. 🙂
Be blessed kind spirit, and continue to bring the Light to our beloved Earth!
Namaste!
Diana
Bless you, your words are gracious and get to the core.
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Very valid points, especially on the accessibility of Yoga to people who really need it. I guess the next question is will there be yogis who are willing to not join the flashy world of yoga and do the work that is less rewarding financially to help those who can truly benefit from the true essence of Yoga.
fatyogitoes, I can hardly envision some of the yogalebrities like Elena Brower, Colleen Saideman, Rodney Yee, John Friend or Sadie Nardini going out of there to volunteer their time and teach yoga on a REGULAR AND PERMANENT BASIS to underprivileged or under-represented populations like inner-city kids, welfare moms, abused women in shelters or half-way houses, returning war vets from Iraq or Afghanistan suffering from PTSD or neglected senior citizens wasting away in old folks homes. There’s no money in it (and no glam or a Hollywood celebrity clientele).
Plus to be quite frank, I really don’t get the impression that any of them have the emotional depth and spiritual maturity and interpersonal skills to deal with such sensitive groups and issues. Can you imagine John Friend at Walter Reed Military Medical Center teaching and doing yoga with male Iraq War vets who are double amputees? They’d rather give their time at some crappy corporate event like GLBL Yoga and hope the donations goes to some charity and the charity can go do the dirty work and deal with the unwashed masses on their behalf. They’d rather stay cloistered in their Long Island or Encinitas affluent enclaves and OM the rest of the world away from them.
IMHO, I think it’s going to be yoga activists, people who are truly dedicated and can see and understand the healing capacity of yoga, who will make those inroads. They will be the bulwark in making yoga accessible to all.
Reblogged this on fatyogitoes and commented:
Very valid points raised by a fellow yogi. It was exactly how I felt lying down in Savasnana after 2 Yoga classes yesterday…has Yoga today completely lost its heart/ essence?
Love it, thank you for your article. I’d say one little thing, when I travel to a country where I don’t speak the language, it’s convenient that the names of the poses “are what they are”. Ballet was invented in France so, no matter where you go, the names of the steps are the same so, when I started practicing yoga, I just accepted that the poses had names, albeit from a dead language, that I’d understand no matter where I go in the world. But I hear you, boy do I hear you. Again, great article!
Hi Renee,
I agree about using the terminology from it’s original language, it’s in Latin dance as well. tango and flamenco especially. My beef is about the use of Sanskrit for fake made-up names like Blissananda of for marketing campaigns or promoting a specific product.
I agree with this almost totally with the small caveat that while it is as disconnected from the Western version as much as the rest of yoga, there is an Indian tradition of sexual and drug related practice related to yoga. It also involves a lot of death symbolism (up to living in charnel grounds covered in the ashes of the dead) the fact that these actions are taboo is a big part of the point of these Indian practices.. They end up in their distorted Torm in the western “yoga” through being appropriated by Alistier Crowley 19th century magician and scam artist, as well as other British Occultists.
Hi Patrick,
Thanks for writing. Yes, I am aware of that form of tantricism within yoga. Much of it is unfortunately misinterpreted in the West and you end up with what George Feuerstein calls “California Tantra”.
I touch on it in this blog post:
https://earthenergyreader.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/magick-addicts-vampires-and-sex/
mmm… it’s unfortunate when the elements of human suffering invade an inherent spiritual practice. greed, hatred and delusion. In this article the author targets those aspects strongly with the Western civilization, which in truth seems to exude negativity the strongest upon this planet. Does she think to examine the source of what she perceives, which is the self?
Further, weakening language is weakening that of which we speak. In this case, “Yoga”. i believe yoga encompasses all area of life (and death, for that matter). Yoga does not start in the classroom and end at the classroom. It is a way of being, of opening our minds and hearts, freeing our spirits. What about the ‘yoga’ of making a cup of tea, or going skateboarding?
I view the western introduction to the Sacred as extremely beneficial. Maybe if we shift our perceptions as such will strengthen that betterment process. Please, i ask her, leave the “scene” get rid of the “life style”, for Yoga is not this.
and maybe, after 8 years of practice, she’d feel confident to her own drop in, by donation classes open to ALL.
peace
I agree with a lot of the original article that the “business of yoga” is truly an oxymoron in and of itself, and that this process of commoditizing (and modification of the practices for the sake of find new market niches) the process of self-discovery, healing, and reconnection is unfortunate. However, I think it is a necessary evil because it gets to reach greater amounts of people. What I take issue with is the author giving up on yoga and claiming we are all being duped. A major point that is being missed here (and I only read a few of the comments, so maybe it has been discussed) is that yoga is a very personal journey, and its true a few bad experiences can turn even the most enthusiastic student off, it is your journey to take and explore. Lets not be so myopic, I think this is just a phase for yoga as it reaches more and more people, like everything that gains mainstream popularity, theres going to sectarianism and divisiveness because everyone feels the need to be right, and get paid, and all that. But, even if all this hoopla surrounding styles and methodology and guruism benefits 1 out of every 100 people, then perhaps it is worth it, no? I got into asana practice after doing a vipassana meditation retreat. My physical practice has greatly benefited my meditation and my overall well-being. Awareness, breath, strength, integrity, intention, reconnection to spirit. These are worthwhile endeavours to me and what yoga helps me achieve. This is a great discussion to be having, nonetheless, so I that the author and other commentors for piping up.
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Reblogged this on Jumakation and commented:
First time I’m reblogging something, but i love this. And mind you, there are major benefits of yoga! Thankfully, there is donation-based yoga provided by community members of Long Beach that takes place on the bluff overlooking the Pacific Ocean – with a diverse range of participants. Exercise doesn’t have to be a luxury, or a privilege. 🙂
Hi there,
Really enjoyed this article, it’s reassuring to find someone actually writing about these issues. I’m a Western woman from Scotland and I’m worried in case this bizarre Yoga scene spreads over here. I’ve been learning about Yoga through the ‘official’ Yoga community in Scotland. They are unpretentious and welcoming. It’s very fun and light hearted.
However, I completely agree with the class division. The price for Yoga classes is astonishing. The people I have met through Yoga are mainly middle/upper class white women and their mostly retired. I sometimes feel a little frustrated that I can’t attend a regular class due to financial reasons and I’m sure I’m not the only one
Cheers,
warm regards,
Roisin 🙂
I think most of the problems here are because people are looking for a social thing with people who are “like them”. I do yoga by myself because I know that most spiritual groups are full of shit, I have to sit listening to old women talk about their fear of snakes being a karmic residue of a past life, makes me want to puke. I have had private lessons with a teacher. Yoga is supposed to be personal. I think if you even think there should be a ‘yoga scene’ then your part of the problem. I think Isha foundation is good though. I learned Shambhavi from them. They’ve never hassled me and the practice is dynamite. All the emphasis is on doing your home practice. Maybe they do weird stuff together in private but the techniques I’ve learned from them have been excellent and extremely well taught. The British Wheel of Yoga think is ok but it’s quite divorced from spirituality. Whenever I go to that stuff it irritates me because I feel it’s trying to be too palatable. I think it’s a bit sort of arrogant to assume that you know what to expect, and their classes try to cater to that arrogance under the guise of not being too extreme. Just my two cents.
I think your accusations and statements could not be less “Yogi”. Yes, the real meaning of yoga has definitely been lost in the Western Society, but maybe thats because many people in the West are not educated by the Indian people to set it straight. Im from Canada and we have so many Indian Immigrants, you would think that instead of “making fun of the westerners behind their backs”, they could teach them the real way of Yoga and what its all about. I am a certified yoga teacher and I have always been more interested in the culture, history and spiritual side of yoga rather than the “work out” aspect of it. So please dont generalize. I also get annoyed by the lack of education and the fact that its becomming a trend. But, that just motivates me to teach! Teaching yoga is not just about the asanas, but teaching the real meaning behind it as well. Maybe you should stop being so jaded, maybe be a little more yogi, and worry about your own yoga journey rather than what others are doing. I genuinely hope that the majority of your Indian brothers and sisters dont share the same views, as I find them to be judgemental and it sounds like you think you are inferior to the western society. Its upsetting to me that instead of embracing the interest Westerners have taken to your culture, instead you mock them for trying. Way to show acceptance, the way we have shown your culture by welcoming you into our country with open arms. Good luck.
“the way we have shown your culture by welcoming you into our country with open arms.”
First of all it’s not “your” country, North America is a Red continent, not a white one and “Canada” is a constructed nation-state based on Eurocentric ideas and imperialistic expansion. Please don’t play the “gracious host” for something which wasn’t your’s to “give” in the first place and then try acting nice about it. If anything, your comment shows up your own inherent and internalized racism vis a vis Indian immigrants. Go check out the “Decolonizing Yoga” FaceBook page. And you completely misread my post, it’s not about me thinking Indians are “inferior to the western society”, it’s about the lack of diversity in the scene and the annoying pseudo-spiritual posers who populate it.
LUUUUVE your initial article and love this answer. 🙂 so refreshing!!! and true. keep them coming 🙂
Thank you! I live in Canada and .. thank you! You hit the nail on the head. Really don’t need to say more than that.
Wow. You teach yoga? You can’t even post your real name? You write a judgemental post like that You can’t self-reflect on what’s going on? You’re one of those teachers that has convinced me to stick with a home practice (and yes, I have my YTT too)
Thanks for sharing: D
I really like!
Interesting post and resulting discussion. While I agree with some of your points, I think a few things need to be brought into perspective. I’ve been practicing yoga for years, but I don’t get caught up in the marketing trend of naked/candlelight/hot yoga. I do it for what it brings me mentally and physically.
Getting worked up about others is an ego thing – I personally couldn’t care less what others are doing with their practice(Sanskrit, Hindu names, Indian jewelry and clothing). I think it brings Indian culture to the forefront and why not – hopefully that results in less racism and more knowing of the culture if not outright understanding.
It seems to me that you’re outraged on behalf of your culture and feel that it’s being bastardized – I can understand that, but that Indans are scamming people for money and laughing behind Caucasian people’s backs – that to me shows a lack on the part of Indians – it’s nothing to brag about. Just another ignorant behaviour that if it was a Westerner doing it would be considered atrocious. Right? Not to mention how many Indians are scamming their own kind. Just as their are marketing trends here in the Western world, there is similar trends in other places.
Before you get angry – please note I’m brown too. I have numerous friends who are non-Indian and practice in an authentic way. I think surrounding yourself with the right people is key. Then all this other stuff just becomes silly and you do what you can to right the misinterpretations and practice authentically.
As one of the other readers noted, people that are drawn to the practice are the ones who most likely need it, hence the majority that you see in your community. I would hate to see something this beautiful and healing being kept a ‘secret’ and not be shared just because they aren’t practicing it ‘right’.
Things aren’t always done traditionally and I think that there are definitely some people that go overboard – that’s just them. Name change, eating habits and egos can clash and it creates a toxic environment instead of something real. I had never heard of rave yoga until your post.
I will end this by saying there are many Indians teaching and learning yoga, tantra etc. It isn’t exclusive to ‘non-Indians’.
Glad you started this discussion.
Hi Nazima,
Thanks for your comments.
Back and forth:
“Getting worked up about others is an ego thing – I personally couldn’t care less what others are doing with their practice(Sanskrit, Hindu names, Indian jewelry and clothing). I think it brings Indian culture to the forefront and why not – hopefully that results in less racism and more knowing of the culture if not outright understanding.”
Getting worked up about others, in this case, is really about cultural appropriation and cultural imperialism. The West has a long and ugly history of doing this, especially with respect to using the marketplace to do this for economic ends. Why is it inappropriate for a Caucasian to say wear a burka or hijab or an African mumu to something like the Oscars but it’s perfectly Ok for Selena Gomez to spot a bindhi at a show or Madonna showing up at the Grammy’s in a sari? Why is it OK to appropriate some cultures and not others? While I am completely for respectful cultural exchange and understanding, wearing the ethnic dress and taking on the mannerisms of ethnic groups is really a political act, even if the intention isn’t so. And to say well what about non-whites wearing jeans and T-shirts? It’s NOT the same thing. I’m going to quote Lakshi Nair who left a comment when this article was posted on Elephant Journal:
“Indians wear jeans and t-shirts because globalization means that jeans and t-shirts signify assimilation into a globalized (read Westernized) culture. But why do westerners wear saris? To look exotic. There’s a big difference between trying to assimilate and trying to stand out as unique, right? I mean, why hasn’t any Hollywood starlet worn a burqa to the Oscars? Or a hanbok? Or a buckskin dress? Or any other kind of culturally specific ethnic wear? Why sari? Because other communities might make a hoo-ha over their cultures being appropriated. Because Indian things being stripped of their Indian-ness is so commonplace, no one blinks.”
“that Indans are scamming people for money and laughing behind Caucasian people’s backs – that to me shows a lack on the part of Indians – it’s nothing to brag about. Just another ignorant behaviour that if it was a Westerner doing it would be considered atrocious. Right? Not to mention how many Indians are scamming their own kind.”
By no means am I placing no blame on Indians at all. There are scam artists everywhere. My intention was to alert people to that fact that brown doesn’t automatically equate to authentic and that are just as many snake oil salesmen in the yoga/guru Indian world as there are in the Western New Age movement. I mean we only need to look at what’s happening with the Bikram Choudhury cae to see that.
“Have you considered those Indian people that immigrate to the Western countries and change their names(Paul, Dave, Karen, Jenny)? Why is this not mocked and a non-Indian choosing to take an Indian name or wear ethnic stuff is?”
Most of the Indians I’ve met who have changes their names to Western ones were either Christian Indians or those who did it to get ahead professionally. Let’s face it, your CV or resume will probably have a higher chance of being considered for a job in Salt Lake City, Utah if your name is say Peter MacPherson over say, Parthasarathi Thuraisingham. My personal opinion is that the practice is horrible, cultural heritages should be worn on your sleeve and celebrated but racism, exclusion and their economic effects are realities for visible minorities everywhere.
I’ve have also seen many teens of Indian-subcontinental backgrounds especially in Toronto, try to come across as African-American, wearing the pants down to their knees and taking on African-American turns of speech and so on. I’m not talking about Indians from the West Indies, like Trinidadians and those from Jamaica, but rather those whose parents came direct from Pakistan, Bangladesh and Southern India. Is that them paying homage to another culture? Is it them trying to fit in once they realise the don’t feel comfortable or will never fit in the white community? I don’t know but to not acknowledge that there are real power dynamics at work as well as an insiduous form of racism when cultural appropriation takes place lessens all of us.
http://thebabarazzi.com/2012/10/25/is-de-culturing-yoga-an-act-of-good-faith-or-a-promotion-of-xenophobic-ideology-a-light-and-easy-subject/
Hi there,
Really enjoyed your article…lots to consider and you make it light without deflecting the seriousness of it all.
I made a film years ago you may enjoy: https://vimeo.com/37046360
Old film, not looking for self-promotion, just thought you would get a kick out of it and could not find your email here.
Nice work,
Nilesh
I’ve been practicing asanas now for 7 years, on my own, using an online yoga site. I quit one site in particular due to a gradual but definite shift toward marketing and cult, but the site I use now is very authentic (so far) and by that I mean the instructors are down to earth and knowledgable about not only the postures, but the other seven limbs as well. There is no fluff. They share their knowledge and do not make any outlandish claims; nor do they promote any products or studios. So I am very happy with it.
Like you, I stay away from yoga studios for two reasons: they’re expensive, and for me yoga is not a group activity or experience. It’s very private.
As to why yoga has exploded in the West, I think we need to look to the cult of the body, which has been a dominat aspect of western culture since the Romans and Greeks, and has become even moe so in the 20th century with the rise of totalitarianism. Note that the two major totalitarian regimes in Europe: nazi and communist, embraced physical prowess and health, the material body over any and all kinds of spirituality. Although our current governments are not overtly totalitarian, we are not living in a fully democratic society either, dominated as we are, by the market, and watched in every way from afar. And so we have a totalitarianism driven by the market, and enforced by government. Add to this the decline of religious beliefs in the wake of materialism, which leaves a “spiritual gap” in the minds of many. The Christian god doesn’t cut it, and yet, somewhere, somehow we can’t live without some sort of spiritual anchor, no matter how illusiory or false it may be. In addition, people like to follow a leader.
Yoga, as promoted, is a perfect anchor for such a society: the body beautiful, the body strong, and the mind convincing itself it is spiritual. And the fact that yoga is now a six billion $/year industry, the charlatans abound. So the best thing to do, if one wants to practice yoga, is to stay away from yoga studios, read the essential, ancient texts, and work at it on your own, or using a reliable Internet site.
But the charlatans have always existed too. Milarepa, when encouraged to be a lama at a monistary, refused saying “they put on the yellow robe and have more business dealings than lay people!”. It was true 1000 years ago, and it’s still the case… Not only with yoga. The world is full of spiritual charlatans of all kinds.
As to the discussion on clothing, that is unimportant.
Hi Nicola,
I couldn’t agree with you more esp. on this cult of the body beautiful. Unfortunately, western society (and I single out the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant one in particular) dictates marketing and economic trends around the world, it dictates our ideals of beauty, it dictates our economic system and structure and it dictates even our definition of health. This cloud of being/ ideas/nexus, whatever then infiltrates into just about every sphere of our life, even the language of discourse and thinking. So it’s not a surprise, that like Star Trek’s Borg, it’s taken over yoga as well.
I work in health management and health economics and I can tell you from that standpoint, even the definition of “health” is a disputed and much-discussed point. The Western idea of health is basically having a strong, beautiful body and it’s only maybe in the last 20-30 years mental health has entered the equation (which is why talking about things like depression, psychosis etc. is still taboo and makes people uncomfortable in certain circles.) Nothing of spiritual health. They dissected health into 3 silos and have kept them separate. While First Nations cultures and some Asian ones have a much more holistic view of health, that physical health, mental health and spiritual health are indivisible, like a tripod, if one goes, the other 2 will certainly be affected.
As for the spiritual void because of this materialistic economic world view, this is just my opinion but I really don’t think many Westerners even know their own history properly because if they did, they would know that were were/are many, many spiritual movements within Christianity (NOT Churchianity), Islam and Judaism and there is a richness and plurality there which could easily accommodate all points of view and ways of being.
Race and Class.
See, that’s the thing isn’t it?
There has been and never will be a Latino race, for instance. Or African race, etc., etc
Victorian terms used to justify the oppression of Human beings with darker skin pigmentation (then Western Europeans).
Class- sadly is a reality in India, as well as other countries Western and Eastern though not always based upon the lightness or darkness of skin.
The concept and notion of ‘race’ fuels war, fear, and segregation
Human Beings: Homo sapiens/Hominidae are (like it or not) one race, with many varying cultural identities.
Stop using the term: race, as it doesn’t truly apply.
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So sad you have not learned how to spread peace joy and love to the world through yoga like all of us ” ca ca casions” who by the way are now almost always a mixture of two or more nationalities. Better to do any kind of yoga rather than sitting around as you do full of negative energy, spreading bad karma and just downright unhappy. Embrace a little change in your heart and your world love and we will all live together in happy harmony. You’re denying yourself the beauty and transformation of all the diversness of yoga….
Actually Debbie, this article HAS done a lot of good. It’s been cited in many blogs and articles for furthering the diversity and inclusiveness issues within yoga. If you cant’ differentiate between serious criticism and negativity, then I’m afraid we have nothing to discuss. Check out the links I posted at the end of the article.
@Debbie Yogi
Why does spiritual work always have to be about putting your hands over your ears and screaming “la la la, I’m being positive, la la la…” I really hated that whole aspect of new age philosophy when I was living in California. You know what? The Civil Rights movement did not achieve any success because the people in it decided to not be “negative.” And if you think that the dominant society thought of Martin Luther King as some mellow, peace-emitting, feel good hippie, think again. When I was integrating a school, it was made clear to me that Martin Luther King was a “troublemaker” and an “motherf**cker”. Gandhi did not meditate his way to freedom. He challenge the status quo and made the British very uncomfortable and very unhappy. One could even say he was being “negative”. Please, critique the internal aspects of the argument, not the poster’s right to make it.
Wow people make this stuff really complicated!! I just do 12 basic postures by Sivananda, it’s ok for me! I didn’t realise yoga was so political!!
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You speak about classes being a “high school popularity contest” but don’t you think it seems rather high school to even worry or think like that? You shouldn’t let others distract YOU from YOUR yoga practice. You admit to enjoying the feeling after you take a yoga class but you wont because of what OTHERS do, feel, and think? You be you, and let others be themselves. Find the union y’all…. One Love ❤
Nice article. Great to see such a diverse response. I am a happy yoga practitioner because my spirituality comes from within (or the inner Atman). I am eternally wary of any venue that venerates to any one person or set of beliefs. I love my yoga and keep it very diverse, but I am well aware of the ego and how it tries to play with me on ‘getting a posture’. It is not in doing the posture, but in un-doing what stands in the way of the posture that makes yoga what it is. And that is too indepth a subject for any dialogue on my behalf. Pity that so many were duped into thinking that perfection is available. Questions everything! Enjoy the journey. Best of luck on yours, friend. Namaste. 🙂
I’m so glad I ran across this piece. I’m looking for teacher trainings at the moment and struggling with many of the same concerns. It’s ridiculous that there are yogis who would try to disagree with the blatant cultural appropriation and commercialization of an ancient tradition – just look at the prices for what it takes to become “certified”. (Don’t even get me started on a certain form of hot yoga.) Yoga is becoming a business and exclusive club like any other fad, not the revolution that it ought to be. (Of course, even the “enlightened” can become attached to an ideology, so it doesn’t surprise me that you have received criticism.)
I believe that yoga is supposed to be “for the people” – a way of placing bodily and spiritual autonomy back into our hands. By expanding access to yoga (esp. for folks dealing with trauma, conflict, socioeconomic disadvantages), people can recognize that they have the capacity for self-healing and growth, that we don’t have to be completely reliant on the medical industrial complex and pharmaceutical companies (or institutionalized religion for that matter). In other words, yoga ought to be treated as a form of practical knowledge and personal empowerment, a gift to be passed down (or paid forward), a way of reclaiming our health rather than leaving it up to principles of profit. Unfortunately, yoga as practiced in modern capitalist societies is a total farce – and the cult of celebrity, the proprietary methods, etc. is all a big turn-off to me. That said, I continue to believe it has revolutionary potential. If anyone has recs for programs that emphasize activism and working with underserved communities, I’d greatly appreciate it 🙂
You could try the Isha Yoga Community projects.
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Living in India, I see the overwhelming desire of people to lead a easy life- job, car, house, holidays etc. The notion of renunciation and spiritualism has been dead for a while. Western education and scientific education don’t sit easy with traditional faith driven spiritual movements.
In a world driven by notions of personal rights, spa-oriented yoga gives a good entry point into the consciousness of the young urban professional. Once, he or she is hooked, its upto the individual to seek deeper for the source of the divine.
In the olden days, religions were spread by the sword. I much prefer the spa and market driven approach :-). More fun, less dead bodies! I think one of the reasons why the Kriya Yoga teachers used the West as a platform is because of its current position as the driver of global standards.
So- to sum it up in Ayurvedic terms- spa driven yoga is best viewed as a vehicle to deliver the medicine to the target.
People. They try and throw away, then go for something new. But no matter what you try, you are still there on earth listening to your own mind’s lies. Yoga is another name for an exercise for westerns.
ps. Accordingly to google trends the word “mindfulness” is upcoming;)
I totally agree with this article!!!! I am a Yoga instructor and I feel immensely disappointed as well.
I decided to become an instructor because there were many stress factors in my life and I needed to ease physical and emotional injuries I’ve sustained in my life. And learn how to discipline myself to be more mindful. I didn’t become an instructor to be on the cover of the Yoga Journal or to be some bullshit yogi celebrity. I barely make a living off of it. I mostly volunteer to communities who do not have access to go to a Yoga studio neither the financial means to purchase memberships or even pay for a single drop in class. And speaking from an intuitive perspective, there was a lot BS going on behind the scenes of the school I got certified from. So I witnesses corruption at first hand while training. I became disillusioned but I did not let those narcissistic/ sociopathic idiots get to me. After I got my certificate, I got away from all of those dishonest people and continued on my own journey. There is alot of serious shit going on in the world. People suffering from depression, battered women, abused children and so on. Those are the ones who need Yoga practice the most!! Yes many people are being duped! I dont by into that BS because Ive been there, and witnessed a lot of bogus shit. So now Im teaching my way. I allow my students to practice asanas to their own comfortability. I do not pressure them or bully them into impossible Asanas. I am gentle and respectful to them and very sensitive to whatever the students would like to share with me personally after class. Like problems at home, or advice they may need. AND ITS ALL FOR FREE OR A VERY SMALL DONATION. Thats how I roll!! And Im not worrying about a damn thing. Because when more bamboozled people start to wake up… I will be there to support them!!!!!! PEACE AND BLESSINGS I COMMEND YOU FOR WRITING THIS ARTICLE! Thank you!!! Namsaste!!! Your Guru should be your breathing…not some asshole that wants your money and completely brainwash you!!!! Fuck That!!!!
Gangsta Yogini!
Hear, hear to the author and to Laksmi’s comments above and a few others that are willing to see past their own agendas to the truth of this article.
but Wow, just wow. The level of unexamined privilege, racism and justification for cultural appropriation dripping from most of these comments is truly cringe-worthy and brutal, especially the first few pages. It completely proves the original premise that Westerners are comfortable co-opting other cultures and then bashing those that would call them on it. The response to someone telling you that wearing their cultural dress and spiritual symbols is offensive is to tell them: “no, it’s not offensive if I say it isn’t. I can wear it if I want to cuz other people wear other stuff or cuz I’ve fully embraced my cultural appropriation. and besides, it looks so good on me, so I will?” Seriously?
A person sharing their lived experience of racism and cultural appropriation deserves to be treated as real and frankly trumps your theory or wishful thinking. It just does. You can’t experience living on that side of things unless you actually do. And slapping them in the face a few more times by telling them their experience (and their willingness to share it) is wrong or some how misguided or it offends your ears to have to listen to it, is just re-affirming that racism and oppression. Surely some of you can see that, right?
If there are no People of Color or folks from different socio-economic statuses in classes, then that is NOT an accident, it is a SYSTEMIC problem, despite any one person’s belief in unity and all one. Systemic racism and oppression require effort on the part of those enjoying the privilege (ie White people, upper classes, etc) to dismantle them. I highly recommend looking up/getting to a live training on some racism 101 stuff, stat. Please, please. It will help us all understand so much more about what it really means to be “all in this together.” Being enlightened doesn’t mean living in a sunny bubble of privilege. It includes being able to look at reality and to sit with uncomfortable truths. And hopefully take some actions to change them.
Yes, it’s a shame that yoga has been used as a cloak for many things including identities, money-making scams, etc. The major fault here is that those examples are not yoga. Yoga is becoming in tune with your body; it’s a sport and hobby of self-transformation and growth. The examples you provided are poison to the experience and it’s so disheartening that such a scared practice appeals to dishonest folks as a mask.
I do hope that you consider practicing yoga again. It’s a shame that society’s grasp on yoga has deterred you from this form of self exploration and expression. I strive to advocate the health benefits and intrinsic rewards of yoga to “recruit” anyone interested in trying it. If we all step back to watch others damage or threaten a sacred practice, we’re only contributing to its demise. Let’s be a part of the change, for both ourselves and society!
Hi Kaylyn,
I do practice but now I’m very mindful of where I practice these days, I look for spaces which are more inclusive and welcoming…and not full of pretentious yoga “scenesters”.
I write about more of it here.
http://www.itsallyogababy.com/sacred-justice-where-yoga-solidarity-activism-meet-workshop-review/
I agree with everything else you wrote but not number 8. At least they recognize your country as opposed to just calling you Asian. Africa is the SECOND largest continent in the world with over 50 countries and in EACH of these countries, hundreds of different cultures and way of life but all you hear is “One of my friends is from Africa. I know you guys like ___”. People just group “black” into one when that continent is the most diverse on the planet and where all humans originated! You are probably also guilty of this too despite experiencing something similar.
“You are probably also guilty of this too despite experiencing something similar.”
Actually, I’m quite aware of what you wrote about re: Africa and cultural, tribal and national diversity of that continent. I have friends from Botswana, Guinea, Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, DR Congo, Algeria and Tunisia to know enough that there is no way on Earth I would ever use generalities and blanket terms to encompass all those diverse cultures. I think in some ways it’s even more pronounced for blacks because a white person sees a black person and doesn’t know that that they can be any number of nationalities from Africa, or from the Caribbean, or African American because of the diversity of the black diaspora.
The diaspora from the Indian subcontinent is just as wide, from Indians, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, Sri Lankans and Nepalese in South Africa/Uganda, the Caribbean particularly Jamaica and Trinidad/Tobago, and all those who immigrated into Europe and North America/Australia.
Ha! I love this. I don’t agree with it all but most of it I have been ranting about for years. I have not read all of the comments so forgive me if I am redundant.
What I did want to mention is that the majority of “gurus” out there, whether they be Indian or some white dude from Scandinavia, are men who, on some website, blog or even legally, have been accused of taking advantage of, abusing or degrading a woman or many women at some point in their gurudom. Two recent examples being the dramas with John Friend and Bikram. Who knew that yoga would create a community of megalomaniacs?! It’s such a pity because I always tell people that yoga saved my life. Sure it sounds hyperbolic but had I not had my practice during the most traumatic time in my life, I’m not sure I would be in the place I am. And funny enough, that drama was fueled by my yoga instructor ex-husband.
I don’t believe in this supposed “enlightenment” and find it interesting that for some reason, it’s reserved for mostly just men whose followers are mostly just women.
And just when you think it can’t get any worse, you hear of something called Orgasmic Meditation led by a group calling themselves OneTaste (yeah, even grosser) where a bunch of vulnerable, ignorant young (yes, white) women remove their panties and have a total stranger stroke them sexually (though they say it has nothing to do with sex) for 15 minutes in order for both parties to raise their awareness. And it’s only 175 bucks to learn how to do this! And all of this is under the guise of Buddhism. SMDH It’s disgusting. And yes, I’m being judgmental so I guess I’m not enlightened yet.
All of that said, my practice (which I do in the middle of my living room) is one of the most important things in my life and I am eternally grateful for it all.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts.
Hi BK,
I wrote about John Friend, and shady gurus here:
https://earthenergyreader.wordpress.com/2012/04/23/why-the-age-of-gurus-is-over-and-how-the-truth-vibrations-are-exposing-them/
and about Bikram here:
https://earthenergyreader.wordpress.com/2013/05/09/oh-how-the-mighty-fall/
Too many insecure or easily gullible women + A few men on the make with narcissistic personality disorder = Recipe for disaster….
I can’t reply to your comment below so I comment here.
The term OM and OMing (as they refer to the activity) was what lead me to check it out (I don’t do the practice, and I’ve only listened to Daedone’s book Slow Sex (she has a ted talk aswell), and read Holdorf who writes at elephant journal), under the assumption that it had something to do with aum/praṇva, but it does not; while it certainly take some cache from the association OM is simply an abbreviation and no hindu stuff shows up. If anyone it is christian meditation that has been appropriated to describe dhyāna etc., which is similar but for the most part a different introspective modality, but the ship that could reclaim the term sailed a century ago. There is (or was) a community (and shared housing) around the practice, and so there is the possibility of the sort of manipulation and abuse, but from what I read the affiliation was loose and centered around the practice, rather than a personality.
The “Orgasmic Meditation” folks claim no allegiance to Buddhism; it’s intentionally secular and philosophically unaligned. The practice is a 15 minute goalless, very slow stroking of the clitoris or penis with one finger. People are disconnected to their bodies which is why asana practice is so closely associated with yoga in the west, and now increasingly in India as well, and this is also what Om claims to offer.
Even if it is unaffiliated with either Hinduism or Buddhism, the fact that they took the name OM, which is a Hindu mantra, and appropriated it to O.M, Orgasmic Meditation, does not change the fact that is STILL cultural appropriation nonetheless.
OMG..haters will hate …transformation taking it’s steps..fake it till you make it.
and 20$ yoga also usually include beautiful designed studio, hot shower, free yoga mat and a towel …it’s also a lot of yoga studio’s donation based …it’s easy to give up, when it’s not your truly path i guess…cuz yoga teaching to accept others with they vision and even if it’s not same as yours.
But it’s always good to think, not just following,..and India should be proud to be inspiration ….it’s not competition..<3
Hey, you do have many points about yoga culture in the USA… but, that’s no reason to leave YOGA, its like you are letting all the bullshit be what yoga is. In fact your title is misleading and will make people believe yoga is actually all that yoga is not.
So, you also have this “I’m Indian” identity that really doesn’t serve you. Who cares about pussycat dolls wearing saris. A true yogi knows that saris are just as the same as jeans and t-shirts. You are giving meaning and being outraged by things that matter very little. A true yogi wouldn’t complain that yoga classes are very expensive and classist… he would just open a free (or cheap) yoga class in the park
BTW you just can’t judge the milenial science of yoga for what happens in bikram yoga. I mean, snobby and expensive yoga in a sauna… in a sauna!!! come on!!!
If you read the yogasutras of patanjali you will know what yoga really is: it’s a system of 8 steps leading to samadhi, the state of God/self realization. So, the first steps of yoga are yama and niyama which means observances and abstinences, which is like morality rules that are the foundation to all the rest of yoga. If something doesnt observe these, it’s simply not yoga. Only after these you have asana which is posture and which is classically called hatha-yoga, or yoga of the body. And then it continues with other steps leading to meditation and samadhi.
So yoga is spiritual, not pseudo spiritual. Problem is, you were trying pseudoyoga 🙂
Our culture and not yours – You have no right to appropriate our cultural identity when you have no respect for us as human beings, that’s about it really.
I cannot change my name to ‘Chung Lee’ and practice Kung Fu moves only to refute the Chinese man’s position who finds it offensive because it simply wouldn’t be my place to do so.
Greetings,
Although the link (below) is on a piece of specialised research about a yoga teacher training organisation in the UK, it does show what is at stake in ‘Western’ milieu of ‘Yoga’ you are describing in North America where people are longing to be perceived as belonging to a community of interest that seeks to control much of the contemporary commentary about yoga through blogs, journals, conferences and websites then ‘kicks away the ladder’ to non-english speaking students, ‘brown’ (your word) folk, those with disabilities and economically and educationally disadvantaged groups through commercial accreditation initiatives. Generally yoga is being served up on an axis of (crypto-Christian)/Social Democracy tho’ often wrapped up in petit-bourgois New Age / exoticism and pseudo-science. This explains the emails you are getting from individuals who have not yet had sufficient opportunity to acknowledge the products of such the oppresive ideology that is informing their practice. Judging by the regularity of overblown and quite frankly, ill-considered and aggressive opinion pieces like this provokes many may be ‘locked in’ to defending their own peculiar brand of dissonance. The ideology informing that model is (in the majority) Christian/Secular/Humanist/Spinozan. Much of it takes yoga as an objectified and objectifiable concept (theory/practice) but I think pretty much all of it is hypo-critical in the sense that the imperative for individual contextual analysis (like you see in these comments) proceeds from prior, group based psychology growing out from the genesis of ideas I have sketched in this response – not from what each sect or thought leader presumes (and promulgates) as a distinctive and authentic position, or view of a word rarely hear in these sorts of conversations – Dharma?
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Everyone starts somewhere. When I first stared yoga I was working as a personal trainer and group fitness instructor. I was only interested in yoga for the physical benifits and it wasn’t very long after I started practicing that I started teaching, but even just the physical practice has a strong influence on the mind and can start to “change” a person. 10 years later, I feel more aware more conscious, more connected to my spirit, more aware if my connection to everything else. I’ve contunued to learn and grow and i’ve just completed a two year Ayurveda practitioner course. I’m no expert on Yoga or Ayurveda, but I enjoy sharing what I know with others. I do a lot of free lectures but I do charge for my classes and consultations and even though I would like to do it all for free I need to make an income and I deserve to be paid for my time. You don’t have to go to fancy yoga studios to practice yoga. Anyone could watch the numerous free you tube videos and learn the practice. There are “fakes” and hypocrites everywhere in every religion, but again everyone starts somewhere. You seem personally offended, annoyed and even angry…. But we all start somewhere. We grow and learn about our true self with each life, we learn love forgiveness and compassion. Yoga in the west is also growing. Instead of complaining about why not help fix it?
Amanda – “Instead of complaining about why not help fix it?” – I fear you may have missed the salient point in a blog like this – which is “complaining about it” IS the first step towards fixing it? At least it makes what was once being ignored or brushed off louder, more visible and therefore capable of being articulated in courses, conferences, blogs, programs and so on. Protest is a legitimate response whenever a dominant ideology seeks to quieten dissent, in fact in some cases protest is only meaninful action. In terms of ‘fixing it’ – the only way to ‘fix’ this is to encourage marginalised individuals and groups to speak up just like this – not suggest they join the fold of passive, apathetic and generally cynical folk whose drive-by analysis only wants to evade serious debate on these more difficult issues that are clearly affecting the lives of many people. To see more clearly, there is an obvious problem with people in relatively privileged positions appealing to others to forgive and be compassionate. It rarely results in anything other than ‘poor you with all your anger’ and so on – or – ‘hey now, we’re all the same there’s no need to sound off about it’. well, to be frank both these function to further embed the rights and perceived moral superiority of the privileged, composure class and around we go again. The solution is to stop judging people for how they feel, but analyse the content of what they are saying – and although the tone here is obviously raw, there isn’t much you can argue about in terms of the oppressive nature of contemporary north american yoga culture for everyone that doesn’t fit in the direction of the physically able, white, middle-aged and (probably relatively advantaged) female?
I struggle with the issues raised in this article a lot, as well as many of the issues raised by the commenters. I’m an Indian-American yoga teacher teaching in a city in which yoga is still predominantly “a white people thing.” This makes me uncomfortable because of my own personal issues. I grew up being one of the only non-white children in my school/neighborhood, and I had some pretty scarring experiences growing up. I was an introverted and sensitive child and so these things made me draw into my shell even further. I have to admit that I don’t enjoy attending classes where I’m the only non-white person, and I really really struggle when I have to teach classes that have no people of color at all. I see so many comments by people who are offended by the idea that yogis should even acknowledge skin color at all. But I’ll admit that I do. I do because during my formative years, my skin color never went unnoticed and I often felt excluded because of it. So when I find myself in that situation, it triggers a very deep sense of self-consciousness. Of course, I recognize that that is part of my spiritual work that I have to do. But I know many won’t even come through the door (like my sister, for example) because they can’t get through the discomfort of that situation. It’s harder for us because we are Indian and yoga is supposed to be part of our spiritual heritage. We should feel safest and most at home here. And yet, sometimes…I’m just going to admit it…it feels like it doesn’t belong to us anymore. I know people will say that yoga is universal. It belongs to no one. And of course that is true in a sense, but it is also the best part of our culture and heritage as Indians. If that’s taken away from us, we are only left with the crap (which all cultures have). I don’t know how to describe it, but I can only say that it is an incredibly awkward feeling to feel on the outside of something that you grew up with. That is why the cultural appropriation issue gets our chuddis all up in a bunch. Though this article is written with a lot of anger, I would be happy if the general yoga community were able to respond to it with acknowledgement of where the anger comes from…with understanding and compassion even if the words feel like darts directed at you. If I saw some of that in the responses, I would feel that yoga is doing its job in the West. I believe that when the Indian teachers of the past came to the West en masse, they did so from a calling to spread the universal message of yoga because the West sorely needed it. All people can benefit from yoga, but maybe white people (and I’m sorry if that term offends) need it the most because (in general) they aren’t as grounded in spiritual tradition as most people of color (in general) are already….maybe.
As a teacher, who grew up reciting Sanskrit prayers and can pronounce them properly, I still find myself feeling awkward chanting in a class because I feel like it’s ok for a non-Indian to chant these quaint, archaic nonsensical syllables, but if I do it, then I might be pushing Hinduism or something because I, just because of my appearance, give the words a culturally specific context, instead of the new-agey, feel-good and dare I say, “white-wash” that other teachers give them. I’ve raised this concern with my students. Most of them assure me that they want my “authenticity.” But I still struggle because the whole thing feels surreal sometimes…to go from being ostracized to being fetishized…none of it feels authentic.
Cultural appropriation is real. It’s not fair to say that Indians wear t-shirts and jeans, so Westerners can wear saris and bindis. Like it or not, there is a real political dynamic behind both of those fashion phenomena which greatly favors one side over the other. If people could admit that, I would feel like yoga is truly opening people’s eyes. Unfortunately, I see that people use yoga’s essential teaching of oneness and unity to cast a lovey-dovey fog over real issues of oppression and inequality that exist and I don’t think that is at all the intention of yoga. I’ve had some really horrendous experiences with this in the yoga community. Gandhi saw oppression and named it and yet he still treated the oppressor as human and worthy of compassion and kindness. That was what made him a yogi. His eyes were open to the truth that all are equal and all are deserving of respect. Opening your eyes and acknowledging where yoga comes from and where it is going wrong will not mean you will be excluded from it. It will only make us all more connected in truth.
Just wanted to add…I’m not saying Westerners can’t wear saris and bindis…It’s a beautiful dress and I know people genuinely enjoy wearing it. I”m just saying that it’s not the same as Indians wearing jeans and t-shirts. Indians wear jeans and t-shirts because globalization means that jeans and t-shirts signify assimilation into a globalized (read Westernized) culture. But why do westerners wear saris? To look exotic. There’s a big difference between trying to assimilate and trying to stand out as unique, right? I mean, why hasn’t any Hollywood starlet worn a burqa to the Oscars? Or a hanbok? Or a buckskin dress? Or any other kind of culturally specific ethnic wear? Why sari? Because other communities might make a hoo-ha over their cultures being appropriated. Because Indian things being stripped of their Indian-ness is so commonplace, no one blinks.
Saris are not all fashion…not at all. They are traditional dress worn daily by millions of women who can do just about anything in them and have been able to to do so for thousands of years. They are very practical for Indian weather. The reason the other types of dress I mentioned are only worn for special occasions is because of globalization. The sari is going that way too for certain segments of Indian society (myself included). Sacheen Littlefeather wearing her traditional dress at the Oscars was making a very different statement than what a non-Indian celebrity wearing the same dress would have (and I doubt anyone would dare!)
I just see all this as opportunities for you to start your own classes in the way that you would like it. Proper sanskrit chanting, inclusive to all people, hey you can even do something like “friday at 7pm free class for people who can’t afford it”
Some people make a business selling saris, some people sell incense or buddha statues. People yearn for spirituality so they think if they look indian they will be more spiritual (like the hare krishnas)… I think its pretty much a compliment to the indian culture, being recognized as spiritual. Yet, in the ultimate sense saris are meaningless!!! everything in the material world is meaningless. This is what the course in miracles says:
“Nothing real can be threatened,
Nothing unreal exists.
Herein lies the peace of God.”
Of course the pussy cat dolls… that looks like “the system” trying to assimilate indian culture and make it be as meaningless as everything else it produces… But,really you see that all the time, that’s what the system does… like, seeing punk music on MTV… punk was the most antisystem, and it got assimilated. You just can’t attach to anything on the realm of form… It s like this story of the zen master, a disciple finds him peeing on the buddha statue and gets horrified and says “master what are you doing??? the buddha statue is sacred!!!” and the master answers “the toilet is sacred, the tree is sacred… where am I supposed to pee?” Same thing, either everything is sacred or everything is meaningless
also…
I once travelled to this amazing spiritual center in brasil. And there appeared an Indian guy who was casually doing business in the region. And he had this thing going on like “I’m from India, we know spirituality since we are children, we are the top in spirituality”… thing is, he couldnt open to the new experience because he had this identity of being indian and I could see the trap he was in.
So just be cautious of where this indian identity is preventing you from having fun in your yoga classes
Beautiful.
thought provoking, and i agree with some of your points. but defiantly not all of them. and here is my response http://ishtadevniwas.blogspot.com/2013/11/yes-im-white-yogini-no-im-not-spiritual.html
I’m going to post your article here just to show how the sorts of biases and assumptions which came out in your writing:
“I pretty sure he didnt think we were all going to be running around in saris with the “shiva’s tramp stamp” on our heads. (yes. an indian man actually wrote that in an article while dissing how white women had no place wearing a sari)”
First of all, I’m a she 😉
Second, “tramp stamps” are those tattoos which are usually on the lower back as per porn stars about 10 years ago, hence the name tramp-stamp. They are not on the head.
Shivani – I read your response but I’m afraid it is not a novel perspective, I actually suspect that your apparent naivety is no real solution but actually a part of the problem. Those angry dissenting voices that disturb you (or amuse you) or make you angry (your passive-aggression clouds your expression) doesn’t to me suggest that this issue is about you, no – Isn’t it about the dominant group who you may identify with? Yes, yes it is. You have in all probability benefited from a shared interest in neo-liberal/secular yoga organisations who are controlling and shaping the agenda for yoga in the media and so on. Firstly, I faithfully suggest you stop telling folk who aren’t interested in any of that how they should be feeling. You have an option to listen to them, and this sort of post is giving you that option, I suggest you take it. But since you don’t yet seem willing to accept the painful truth of your own cultures shortcomings right now and you are more concerned that your own ideology is defended, (again) neither your pity nor your sanctimony really helps us move on. Your response is fairly typical and only functions to prove the point here – that the group of white, physically able and relatively privileged women are not really ‘getting it’ – but not because it’s too complex to work out but because it undermines a largely unexamined ideology of neo-liberal secular tastes which so many of the lifestyles criticized here, (and perhaps your too?) are based on. Your response has a function – but it’s not quite what you hope for I imagine – it simply furthers the perceived rights and moral superiority of an identified, privileged, ‘composure class’ and so… around we go again. As far as I can see, the best solution is to listen to these voices. They are not asking for your pity, nor do they need you to be like them and wear the same clothes or speak the same language – the reverse is in fact true – we all need to celebrate our differences not situate the conversation on the worn out axis of Christian Social Democractic values and Secular, Humanist utilitarianism. The west has given much but so has asia – and I presume we don’t want either one to be subsumed by the other. It seems to be the majority of Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhist, Jains are (in the US and Europe too) outside the dominant class and all they are asking for is a little more respect, and because they are not seeing it (they are in fact seeing only plagiarism and a disassembling of their most sacred elements of a rich culture mainly for recreation and for profit) their behavior is escalating into more aggressive tactics – which I think is perfectly understandable. Try pausing in your dismissive judgments of people for how negatively they are feeling for a day or two, and take some time to analyse and appreciate the content of what they are saying – loom at the evidence – it’s all around us – in the jornals, in the teacher training, in the studios and at the expos – and then maybe try to get to the bottom of these differences. Of course the tone is often rude, and unforgiving but there isn’t much substance in your response that suggests you are the right person to change anyones mind about the clearly oppressive nature of contemporary north american yoga culture for anyone that doesn’t fit in the direction of the physically able, white, middle-aged and (probably relatively advantaged) female. There is enough room for everyone, please – you are tilting and windmills I think – try giving these voices the space you perhaps take for granted and I am sure we can all learn from each other and flourish together.
Mat, I want to thank you for your extremely eloquent and thoughtful responses and for being able to see through my disappointment with the “yoga scene” to what I was really trying to transmit with my blog post. These are heady and heavy issues which can easily be dismissed by the larger cultural milieu we live in particularly in North America, that’s it’s not just a question of “getting over it” and being “hung up on the whole race thing”.
Thank you.
Hello, thanks for the article. It was interesting.
First, I 100% agree with your distaste with the commercialization of yoga and Eastern philosophy. I laugh at people in general who only do yoga for getting fit or have zero interest in the ancient philosophy. However, there are also a lot of studios, organizations, and white people who spend sincere years and years truly studying the compete path of yoga and do so out of a sincere belief in those tenets. Just because someone is white or someone is Indian does not mean one or the other magically understands or studies yoga or any other philosophy. I know personally a lot of Indians who have never practiced or studied yoga once, not once. Do they know more magically because of their genes than a white person? Is that not racist or essentializing itself?
I have to take issue with the tone of your article and some of your statements. First of all, it is reverse racism if you go off about white people and show clear resentment towards a group. If I wrote an article of your length complaining about all of these Indians playing guitar or western instruments, I guarantee you that I would be accused of racism. If you are truly seeking truth and wisdom, drop this judgement of people with white skin.
Second, do not accuse Westerners of cultural appropriation unless you are willing to also stop using or allowing Indians to use, celebrate, or enjoy any European or North American creation. According to your logic, no Indian could possibly be a good piano or guitar player, because it’s “trendy,” they are “trying to be white,” and it’s “cultural appropriation.” I guess no Indians can be good football or cricket players because those sports come from other cultures. No Indians truly understand Catholicism or Christianity, because according to your logic, people can’t ever comprehend or master a philosophy from another culture. Do you see how limiting and offensive your tone is? And if you don’t like white people experimenting with Indian music or dress, then I suggest that you also stop listening to, possibly creating, and dancing to hip hop, rock, jazz, etc etc. Because that’s from the U.S. and not India. Lol. And, if its cultural appropriation for white people to wear Indian clothes and it “violates their culture,” then let’s demand that all Indians immediately eradicate all western style clothes from India or their bodies. No jeans, no suits, no skirts, etc etc.
Are you ready for your own logic to be applied to non-white people or is it just hypocrisy?
Please watch the videos I posted at the end of the article and read the comments here in their entirety particularly Lakshmi, Mat and Melissa’s comments. I think you missed the point about white privilege, how that is a SYSTEMIC problem completely but I guess studying from the lofty Ivory Towers at Columbia University, it probably never occurred to you, did it?…
I am British, but my ethnicity is Indian, and have recently got back into yoga. I cannot tell you how much I agree with you. What particularly annoys me is everyone chanting, ‘Namaste’, when that’s normally said as a greeting.
People chant Namaste where you are at? Really? Ok, I can see we have serious work to do!!
Hey, thank you, so happy to see the space for discussion and critical thinking this article created. I am in the process of launching a project amplifying South Asian American voices in yoga, not because I think we are more legit as yogis, but mainly becuase I think we have a stewardship role to play to intervene, for example, in the phenomenon of white yoga folks getting real comfy donning brown face. There’s a 5 min film we just released, with more to come, featuring the voices of all desi yoga teachers who are also American. I’d like to link it here, if you don’t mind. it’s called, “Dear White Yoga Teacher: Here are ten things you must know.” The film is embedded in a funding campaign page, full transparency. Meanwhile, def going to add your site to our blog roll of favs as we develop the website! http://igg.me/at/yogaequality/x/3916827
i’ve never gotten the whole industry aspect. When i wanted to learn yoga, i borrowed a copy of The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga (which spawned the original craze in America when it was published in 1959.) i organized a routine based on the suggestions inside, memorized it, and occasionally ran some of the postures by a more experienced friend if i wasn’t sure. My lifetime expenditures on yoga are $10, once, for a mat, and i can hold a headstand for a half hour.
When i talk to people who are really into paying for classes, wearing special clothes, etc. i like to tell them how it is not particularly uncommon in India for a person in a group yoga session to stop in the middle to take a phone call while smoking a cigarette.
A session that probably cost them next-to-nothing, where the studio did not demand frequent attendance, am I right?
Or, at least, where yoga was so much part of the warp and woof of everyday society; that it was no different from any other group activity; or it maybe was done in the outdoors.
Either way, this lack of hypocrisy is much better. If I ever take yoga again (outside my home), it will be at a mid-market (at most) full-service gym. Never a studio any more.
As a white woman who is hyper-aware of the annoying ways us white, privileged folk can be so unconsciously entitled, i thank you from the bottom if my heart for this article. Such a needed discussion. I couldn’t agree with you more. Btw, have you seen the documentary “Kumare”? If you haven’t, you definitely should.
Ugh, I could never do yoga in crowded, huge studio’s like you have pictured. I had no idea such places even existed! How can you attain clarity while packed in there like sardines in a can? How can you honour the light/divinity within each other when you have someone’s butt in your face? I practice yoga now mostly on my own or with a small group of friends. Interestingly, a number of us are refugees from ‘vinyasa power flow’ and ‘power yoga’, both of which remove most of the mental aspect and treat yoga as pure exercise. Shoulder injuries are rife due to the repetitive, fast flow. Now we are doing a slower hatha practice. Thanks for your post. I don’t think it applies only to yoga either, but to the entire ‘health and wellbeing’ industry, driven by media hype and the desire to look like a movie star. Where did the spiritual development and actual wellbeing go?
I agree with Aine. White people being cliquish (or any people being cliquish) is annoying. I can understand how completely sad and frustratingly annoying it must be to have true heritage being trashed by people in cliques who just see it as another ‘alternative lifestyle’ such as clubbing. In the belly dance community there are plenty of white divas who think they are ‘all that’ who end up putting others down for not being enough like them. I am white and I am ashamed at what other white people have done to the native American, Pacific Islander and African cultures by Christianizing (sterilizing) them and then after the years forming an appreciation for these cultures original ways. If white man didn’t oppress these people and their culture in the first place maybe they (natives) would be more amused by white people imitating them and their ways with hula, shamanism (Native American- not European), African dance and music, ect. Or maybe not. Why would anyone want people who did so much wrong and continue to be so ignorant representing a very important part of their culture in such a way that makes it seem like a club or a farce rather than the holy, healing and spiritual thing it is. Anyway. I know you didn’t mean for your article to be about white people ruining things. Just letting you know if you had written an article like that I wouldn’t blame you one bit. It’s not just brown or yellow people white people oppressed either- its other white people too. My own family immigrated from other white countries to avoid oppression and poverty. Still poverty and oppression here in America but not as bad as some places/times. I am glad yoga exists. I have constant body pain from Fibromyalgia which would be so much worse without yoga. Wish I could afford classes but yoga at home is okay too. I like it when other women speak up. It is almost always refreshing in a world where so many women and girls are still being oppressed by ‘the man’. Thank you for this article. i enjoyed reading it as well as all the comments. Still being read over a year later 🙂
Hello* I hope that the current state of “new yoga” is a step in the right direction from other activities that may not have served an individual or their community as well. While it may not be pretty right now, perhaps this is another step in societal evolution…
I would ask that you forgive westerners a bit. We come to yoga with our own warped paradigms/patterns of reality including: pornography / violent media / “spiritual-philosophical laziness”/ poor diets / worship of the stupid (actors/_tube) / short attention spans / ignorant of the “international” / an over-emphasis on money and “making it”-(using yoga as tool to do so). Guilty as charged. (This world is ready-made for us before we’re born.)
And, we do yoga wrong; in some cases I admit it’s nearly criminal– i.e. the pseudo gurus. But, nothing starts at 1, it all starts at 0. We’re at the halfway mark between 0 and 1 on our way to 100 (I hope.) All starts should be celebrated. (i.e. when a baby walks)
I think that the primary thing westerners are forgetting or never realizing is that yoga is free. You may practice it and teach it to others without charge. Communities can get together and practice it for free without pretension/class awareness.
Thank you for your article. It’s a positive thing in moving folks to a healthier life through yoga.
Also, what’s up with the Kama Sutra? Some of those poses are impossible. Just kidding.
Seriously, thank you.
Neil — that was so cute! And your absolutely right — we’re all suffering with warped paradigms — all is forgiven. Peace.
I agree, the western fetishization of the east is appalling. When I see all of these buzzwords and trendy marketing for Yoga, I cannot help but cringe. Real Yoga is possible to find in North America. You just have to go out of your way to find it. I go one of these “real” Yoga schools and I love it. Very honest, once a week, and the class is a source of motivation and education. My teacher emphasizes home practice and he is there to give his yogic advice for anything that is troubling you. I aspire to to teach yoga one day, but it is very hard to reach out to people who have been brainwashed by McYoga. You won’t find my school on any map because my teacher travels around the city. I may sound boastful, but I respect him dearly. I am very thankful for his presence in my life. I want to bring the message of true, honest yoga to people out there who are corrupted what they believe is yoga. It actually angers me at times, but I know that yoga would not want me to clench onto my indignation. I have to let it go and be positive. Ashrams in India do not charge a cent to teach yoga but they will turn you away if they believe you are not ready or have dishonest intentions. I wish the west could become more enlightened. Yoga is not a social club or an exclusive party. It is liberation from all these worldly illusions and it should be freely available to anyone and everyone.
McYoga, good one.
Thank you for this “expose”!! I unfortunately receive 2 subscriptions of Yoga Journal magazine (one courtesy of Kripalu after a visit) and I’ve grown increasingly sick of its “tantricity” (is this a word??) and I’m no prude. I am a full-figured curvy Black woman and I love looking at me naked, so does Mr. Man!;) and the advertisements of “natural” junk and fast foods. But I digress.
While visiting several studios I too have been hard pressed to see anyone who looked near, at, or like me! An associate of mine once invited me to a studio in Cranford, NJ where she is a regular, and to my surprise, actually both our surprise, in that morning’s class were 3 Black women, (us included) 1 Black male, and a Hispanic woman and 10 others – now thats a Unicorn! The instructor “Valereeee” did not help or even come near ANY of us and it was noticable. We were all “perched” in a corner and she taught the class as if it were ropped off as dangerous. LOL! I thought it was my imagination until we were all getting in our cars & a white Regular asked my friend what was the deal with “Valerie”, that she acted strange towards “your people”. My friend, said she doesn’t own any “people”. LOL! Then others chimed in that they thought it was their imagination and they felt it too.
Being a person of color (as we’re often referred as), the number of hats one must wear varies at any given time. If you let your imagination rain supreme, you’ll lose your mind wondering what some one thinks or is thinking about you. With that being said, it was clear that “we” weren’t welcomed there by “Valereeee” and it wasn’t even her studio. My friend, who knows the owner well, promptly called the owner and made her aware.
My visit at Kripalu was a very different experience. I was made to feel comfortable and welcomed. My only issue: The culture bandits!!! Kripalu has a session called “Noon Dance” where there is African drumming and dancing. There were white drummers with dreadlocks and people imitating and encouraging African spiritual dancing & chanting in a clownlike manner! Most of the participants appeared to being seizures, not dancing and it was becoming increasingly sexual with all the touching. The presenters did not once, give credit where due — I was pissed off and left the session as it begin to smell phermonish — probably due to the wearing of double-sided yoga pants — (whose idea?? yuk!)
In any event, I too have often wondered why people of Eastern background were absent! So its not my imagination after all?
I didn’t read the thread but I think the article has some really good points! Also – as a side note I am an Asian American but my family is from East Asia so I don’t have much authority on matters of appropriation in yoga. I’m brand new to yoga and I just got back from my first Bikram session and I had a great experience – but I’m very aware of Bikram himself’s attitude and behavior and I’m not a fan. His efforts to capitalize and “own” yoga bothers me, and it worried me before I signed up. I signed up anyway because I have a lot of injuries that my mom assures me will be healed by hot yoga. The studio I went to was small but very diverse, I didn’t count (lol) but I’m pretty sure there were more PoC than white people. I think after reading your post that I will be careful in the future about who I hang with and what studios I might go to, because I feel great after my session and I really want to continue to enjoy it and benefit from it while still trying not to get caught up in whitewashed notions and trendiness. It’s important, I feel, to always remain aware and self-conscious while choosing to continue doing yoga.
Hi Leonard! I’m ROTF over here! Going forward, I will put the letters, “PoC” after my name, looks very groovy. Seriously, I too felt great after yoga sessions, and not to gross you out or anything, but after each session, my “movements” were fantastic! LOL! — don’t stop practicing, get a DVD and practice at home — Peace!
I love this blog and comments that follow because it illuminates the issues I see in contemporary Western Yoga also. I have had a long fascination with “sinister” Yogis, and “gurus gone bad”, long before I really understood the full ramifications. Not only the “sinister” Yogis as being the male sexual predator, but even a female Yoga “teacher” manipulating her students, staff, underpaying, and even stealing via copyright infringement. (Yes I have stories.) Many (not all) of these teachers are selling a “shoddy bill of goods” as Mark Whitwell likes to describe this current state of Yoga affairs. A friend recently asked me why there are so many people enamored and following these false teachers like a pied piper? I said it’s simply because they don’t know any better. It’s the blind leading the blind. Yet for those of us who do understand, I think we carry an opportunity to help restore, or correct this projectile course. We can’t change what we don’t acknowledge. Yoga is not a state of “live and let live” but can often encompass being a spiritual warrior.
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Yoga studios are bullshit…
Do it at HOME.
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This was actually a comforting article to read. I have enjoyed yoga for years, but have found that I prefer solo paractice. The BBC documentary and the 60min article are certainly eye openers for many, hopefully more people chose to watch them. The culture of “look at me, I do yoga” is quite annoying. Many need to camaraderie of belonging somewhere, even if it’s a very twisted version of the original intent.
Excellent and insightful article. I hope many read and reflect on their own practice and what they are actually doing.
Thank you so much for this article!
I am going to try to share it on FB if you do not mind. I have been a long time yoga practioner (28 years) and I agree with 99.9% of what you are saying here. Have you thought of submitting it to Elephant Journal. Frankly, I need support. I have practiced yoga since 1986 – started out at Sivananda and it was simple, lovely and humble – just $5 and a towel on the floor and just a few students in each class. It was not trendy then, thank God. I have also taught yoga for 15 years, owned a Yoga Studio and frankly I was ‘bullied’ out of my studio by another greedy Studio owners who used “Groupon” and direct manipulation to push other studios under. I am not a victim, however, and it was ultimate my choice to close my studio. There is so much greed, unconsciousness and Narcissism in the yoga world it is mind numbing. I am trained psychotherapist and have observed a much more severe pathology in the Yoga World over the past 8 years and not quite sure what happened? My guess is that there have been a flood of 200hr TT teachers entering the market so the competition (Ego) and desperation has accelerated.
A few items you did not touch upon is that Western Yoga is also agist. I am 51 years old and many studios will not hire me although I have the most years of training and studied with top Yoga Masters for years and years. While I am not Indian, I agree whole heartedly about the projections that ‘white” yoga teachers projects onto “India”. It is complete sugar- coated, delusional nonsense. Most white Westerners are not politically aware and frankly have no idea what is going on in India. Often they are “shocked” when the fly in for retreats to find abject poverty, disease and children starving in the streets.
For anyone who has done any serious inner work, it takes years to transform, if ever. I agree that the “Guru Culture” in India is mostly a complete scam! It is obvious to any intuitive , well educated Westerner that these “Gurus” are making huge wades of cash from these “seekers” . Enlightened and evolved people do NOT chase money – period. They live in Truth and seek wisdom. Frankly I can see why some Indian people see these Gurus as running a sort of Ponzi scheme. There is no Widsom in being “Vegan”, doing Ashtanga for 3 months and claiming enlightenment. IN my view, it is all about running away, denial and attempting to circumvent the nature order of things.
I live in New York city for 16 years and honestly, my yoga experience in the 90s was pretty good – although I did not own a studio at the time. I moved to Canada in 2013, and frankly I was traumatized but the toxic and idiotic nonsense that the Studio Owners dole out here in Ontario. There is one “yoga guru” who is an overweight Black women and uses her studio as a platform to vent all of her frustrations and victimhood. She write blogs about others as if she is an 6th grade bully. As an example she charges 3K for a 6 month Teacher Training Program (having only 5 years of yoga experience herself) and then writes on her BLOG that her ENTIRE group of teacher trainees are filled with “drama” and she would not hire them at her studio! She wrote this publicly and had no awareness she just took 3K from all of these students. .
This kind of craziness goes on and on in our small Canadian city and it is almost comical.
I closed my studio and divorced myself from the yoga community and practice at home mostly.
To me, Western yoga has become a cult of Narcissism. There is no true Spirituality and I have only found one teacher in 25 years that I believe is the real deal. But lets not throw the baby out with the bathwater. IT is not “YOGA” that it is the problem… it is the Egomaniacal teachers and students that are the problem.
If there is a website for
“recovering yogis” let me know….
Sarah I appreciated your comments. Believe it or not there IS a website for recovering yogis and indeed it’s called http://www.recoveringyogi.com.
Enjoy 🙂
Hi Sarah,
Indeed, you are absolutely correct that ageism is a huge issue as well. But let’s face it, most of “popular yoga culture”, and I’m talking about the the very, very mainstream, suburban, mall branch of yoga is usually about a bunch of usually thin, white affluent women normally in their 20’s and 30’s who are doing yoga to get lean and fit, ideally to achieve a lithe, dancer-like body (which is that main standard of beauty in the Western world), in order to either attract a husband or lover since those are their child-bearing years. It’s all about projecting a certain image of being young, fit and affluent with a faux-Zen-like coolness. Anything outside of that “box” (i.e being older, a visible minority, LGBT, physical disabilities, lower-income, curvaceous or voluptuous, a few extra pounds, someone with personal issues like depression, etc.) is marginalised because that doesn’t fall in line with the mainstream image of “success” or “beauty”.
That’s a huge generalisation and of course there are exceptions to everything, but really *this* is the market segment which is driving operations like Lululemon, 200 hour yoga teacher training programs, $5000 yoga “retreats” in Costa Rica or Tulum. The spiritual context they operate out of is about as deep as the programming on the Oprah Winfrey Network…
I have a gay friend who is also a yoga instructor who now offers courses to senior citizens at retirement homes and absolutely loves it. I have another friend who offers curvy yoga classes for rounder bodies. They found happiness and their niche by getting out of the mainstream yoga scene. You’re also absolutely correct about the increased pathology in the yoga scene in the last decade or so. You can thank capitalism for that, I think. The market is completely saturated with persons who did YTT, paid big bucks for it and suddenly think they are going to be the next Sadie Nardini or Rodney Yee and have some cool lifestyle, leading YTT all over the world at exclusive spas, having magazine spreads about them in Yoga Journal and being featured on the Ellen Show and maybe become yoga instructor to the stars and are willing to tear down anyone or anything that gets in their way of becoming an “In-Demand” – yoga instructor. I know of a yoga instructor, who shall remain nameless, who for a while was directing the fitness program at a few places, someone who is trying to be a “yoga celebrity”, produced a few DVDs, been at Wanderlust etc. Well, when they found out that the classes they assigned to other instructors were having higher rates of attendance, they switched the schedules around so that they themselves would get those classes instead, so it would look like they were suddenly “in-demand” and “popular”. Studios are rife with this kind of bullshit.
This article was amazing. Thank you. Thank you so much.
It is all about ego and money with many of these new “celebrity” yoga instructors. Facebook and instagram is rife with them. Many claim to be healers, health experts etc. etc. They have all this expertise and knowledge with no advanced training or medical degree all the while hawking their DVDs, retreats to Bali and posting their cliche ridden slogans about love, wisdom, (i.e. you are where you need to be right now….) and other such stupidity. Sad thing is that they have followers who believe in this nonsense.
Hi, I stumbled across this article and found very interesting.
I am another person of Indian origin, hindu, but born and grew up in Australia, and have recently been immersed in the yoga community. At first I took a real pride in the fact that your average Australian (who can occasionally be a bit closed minded) was taking so much interest in our culture. But lately its started to make me feel a bit uneasy, especially the level of ignorance around hindu and Indian culture. I do feel yoga is a bit too exclusive, but I guess renting premises and expenses are not cheap, but this is happening in India too. Go to Mumbai, and all the people doing yoga are rich Bollywood types in the super luxurious studios.
I saw one girl who had an Om tattoo on her foot! you might think big deal, but we find that abhorrent. I still cringe when I see statue of Ganesh or Laxmi whom I have prayed to since a child, in the yoga studio, and seeing a girl wearing next to nothing bending over in front of it. My poor grandparents would have a heart attack if they saw that!
Lately, I have started to get the impression among this community, that yoga is cool, Indian names are cool, saying namaste is cool, tantra is cool, wearing Indian clothes are cool, Indian spirituality is cool…but Indians? NOT cool…so please keep your distance.
However, I don’t feel that is has put me off. I really love my Ashtanga practice, and my teacher. And maybe it is up to us (people of Indian origin) to help educate as best we can and try and keep it real….and the saying goes.
Thanks for this article. Sums up a lot of what I see going on.
Me, I live in London UK. In my observations there are many sincere yoga teachers and pupils here. But, as in any group you will always find people who lack something, integrity, sincerity, whatever it is…something. These people are just easy to spot. It doesn’t matter how they dress, what language they speak, it is plain to see. It doesn’t matter if they surround themselves with 10 people just like them-they are what they are. When I see that, I don’t join in. But when I see a place which is sincere, then I respect that, feel comfortable and join in.
I used to also think that places that were ‘spiritual’ would have people with a certain level of ethics, spirituality, but it’s just not the case. Maybe they want to learn this and are attracted in the first place, I don’t know. You can find ‘spiritual’ people outside of these areas, just getting on with the hard graft of living, building and protecting life.
I’m just going to “Thank You” for verbalizing what I was feeling, and I appreciate the great deal of effort you put into this piece and it’s links- Excellent work!
You ‘nailed it.’ I recently emailed the chant leader in ‘Eat, Pray Love.” She has a website with her paintings, music and her bio. In the bio she talks about her original teacher and how she lived in an ashram at age 16 and how she had become a yogini. Well…I was a fellow former ‘ashramer /devotee’ and for old times sake I asked her if she had any paintings of a ‘chubby Indian boy guru.’ (Guru Maharajah Ji). I thought it was funny…but she responded with a quote about ‘bliss’ from Joseph Campbell. I guess I just wasn’t spiritual enough to understand a quote from a true Indian mahatma. So, just to prove that I am a ‘realized soul’ I responded with:
“How often does a man ruin his disciples by remaining always with them! When men are once trained, it is essential that their leader leave them, for without his absence they cannot develop themselves.
Plants always remain small under a big tree.”
― Swami Vivekananda
Hello! Just wanted to say I appreciated your article, and it was harsh, but I still appreciate it. Thank you for calling out things like they are, and even though I’m one of those white girls, I hope my intention for loving yoga is not the same. 🙂
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I liked your article a lot. I started out teaching yoga in the military community and it was the bare bones of yoga – poses and breathing exercises (no Sanskrit, no chanting, sometimes not even music because it could trigger those who had come back from deployment). Now I teach at two studios and there is SO much pressure to put on a performance and it came as a big shock to me. Anyway, I appreciate your thoughts and voice. Hopefully the yoga teachers that see this trend and don’t condone it will start offering more community-based and donation-based classes.
Lama Yeshe’s book Spiritual Materialist is a good one. Ken Wilber also elaborates extensively on the challenges the wisdom traditions face as they move into a western level of conciseness in Integral Spirituality. The Century of the Self is also an interesting watch if your interested in where the western consumer attitude comes from.
Thank you for calling out the contrived who will probably deny that they are part of the problems and ignorance listed above. They’re see themselves as far too enlightened and in tune with their spirit to ever be so blatantly irresponsible. All they care about is what yoga does for their image.
“I too fell into the pseudo-spiritual aspects of the practice” struck the loudest chord in me after reading the entire article. Perhaps the greatest gift I have been given in my yoga practice is mindfulness and a truly greater understanding of myself. I found a community that lives and breathes inclusiveness and demonstrative service to others. Not all yoga communities are created equal.
Generalizing that western culture doesn’t “get” yoga negates the power that yoga unlocks within oneself, regardless of one’s cultural identity. Yoga is far more than asana – anana is merely one vehicle used to gain greater insight into oneself.
I’ve never worn a sari. Though I might if I ever visit India. I don’t have a guru. I have never worn a bindi because I would feel ridiculous (though I have worn a tilak after aarti, but only at the ashram). I am white. I was raised and educated as a Christian. I am not, now, Christian. I would call myself, privately, a Hindu. The bulk of my “practice” happens not on the mat, but in my life, and in reading the gita, the upanishads, the rig veda. I don’t consider myself an expert on yoga (but yes on anatomy), or sanskrit. I don’t pray in front of people, or have others chant with me, though I do pray and chant privately. I guess I feel…confused. I totally understand how much yoga is off track, the cultural misappropriation. But I also feel sometimes like I’m not welcome? able? to worship the way I do because I am western, was born to white, Christian parents. I guess what I’m saying is that there are those of us who are trying to follow the sanatan dharma, without trying to make it something “other” than it is.
There are better practices with real people who care. Bikram is not one nor the corporate yoga studios (Yoga Works, e.g.). I go to a Bhakti studio which works on donations only. Anyone is welcome and the instructors want to help heal not get rich. Don’t give up yoga because of corporate values in America. There are some great teachers out there.
I got this from a friend after an ashram experience. Thank you, thank you, thank you. I needed to read this. I don’t feel like I’m alone!
i hear you.
Is this not just a contemporary example of one of America’s samskaras: to take something authentic from another culture, gut it, make something new and different, but retain the original name and pass it off like nothing happened?
Likewise, while it’s unfortunate that most people seem to think that asana and yoga are synonyms, and some profiteers hold nothing sacred if it stands in the way of making a buck, aren’t these opportunities for others (You? Me?) to expand on their pursuits of yoga? In other words, per the Yamas and the Niyamas, how else do we develop virtues like patience, tolerance, sympathy, non-attachment but than to be confronted by their opposites?
As consolation, like Santa Claus, “God” knows who amongst us is actually practicing asana as part of their sadhana and who is merely stretching and breathing.
I think the majority of the commentators who seem to be going crazy over at EJ and EJ’s FaceBook page are missing the point completely of this article and are taking one person’s experience as gospel when it’s not, it’s just her experience of yoga and happened to turn out negative (gee, I wonder why…). Get over it. She doesn’t sound racist at all, she sounds hurt and it comes out as anger yet for a crowd that seems to constantly try so hard as coming across as “compassionate” and ” spiritual” I see very little evidence of it on display at EJ or in the FaceBook comments.
In fact, what the comments show up more than anything else is that she may be right after all! Things like white privilege, systemic racism, cultural appropriation to suit market forces are very real things but everyone here seems to be so deep down the rabbit hole that they can’t even see the forest from the trees anymore. Unfortunately racist systems of power always work like this: when the powerless speak up (i.e her and other persons of color) against the machine, the machine does it’s best to crush them and what’s hilarious but also sort of sad to watch and read is that her article just proved it and people have to look no further than the comments at EJ to see it. HA! HA!
Most of them need a reality check and I applaud the writer of this article and people like her who have the guts to speak out. The people who are super-angry and seem to have a bee in their bonnet, just chill out, the world doesn’t revolve around you even if you think you deserve it. And some of you need to get out of yourselves a little more and expand your horizons. Did you know for instance just last week Lululemon attended a conference on diversity in yoga in NYC, the very issues this article tackled.? Or did you know UCBerkeley also hosted a symposium on yoga, diversity and cultural appropriation 2 weeks ago? Get with the times
Maybe I missed a lot of comments, I did not see the angry ones, perhaps there are. And there may also be some who are hurt by this article. I’ve taught yoga in Hindu temples to mostly Indian classes. I was always welcomed. They preferred to call me by my Hindu name. How did race get into this? What race? Are we different? You would say I am white. My practice of yoga and any ‘appropriations’ of Indian culture you may see in me is entirely sincere. Yes, I use the name my guru gave me … may even legally change it. This is my path. For some it is a fad, not me. I was introduced to this practice as a teenager. I was doing yoga long before Madonna and I’ll be doing it long after the fad dies down.
I do see a lot wrong with yoga in the West, but I am working to change it. I’ve been to kirtans done as concerts where even the leaders don’t understand the words they are chanting. When I teach I explain the meanings of the chants. On the other hand, I’ve also met Indian born Hindus who admitted know less of their own religion than I know. Hinduism is not exclusive and it is finding its way into the Western world. I’m sorry the author the article had such a negative experience and I agree with a lot she said, I’ve seen it myself. I am not angry, but saddened by the article. But I am not giving up my practice because others are not sincere about theirs.
Pranams.
I think 40 years ago yoga did some good in this country. it changed the focus of the young from drugs to spirituality. Since then it’s taken on a life of its own. becoming mainstream, trendy, and diluted. When younger I spent two years in what’s considered an American ashram. I woke up one day to realize that I was more spiritually conscious than the founder, that’s a community was a political mess, and that no one was it adhering to what they were espousing. however, I did get a lot of benefit out of it. It gave me the ability to look at myself, see my flaws, and try to act in a better way. It didn’t fix me, but it did give me some tools.
Totally agree on almost everything said here, the only thing I want to mention is that it is also just a mental concept that it is a long and hard path to enligthenment (part 6 of the text). It will be as long as you believe in this, but on the other side, who is doing yoga to achieve illumination in the western world? In the end, it´s all about presence, there is nothing more to achieve than this.
LOVE AND GRATITUDE
Thank you for this article. One of my dreams is for yoga to be available to everyone, especially working class people who need it the most (I spent two years cheffing, and hospitality workers rreeeally need it). I first noticed the culture of affluence pertaining to yoga in Malaysia (where I started my practice) , and coming back to London made it even more obvious. I haven’t had the confidence to tackle this subject because of fears of racist accusations, and frankly, your writing is much clearer (I get too emotional. Still).
Thank you!
Reblogged this on flambeedbanana and commented:
She says what I want to say, but politely and calmly.
I loved this article. I have become increasingly disillusioned with the world of what I term “snobby yoga.” The ladies with their $150 yoga pants, the pretentious sanskrit chanting, who cares, I already speak 2 languages and none of them are dead languages. I am also sick to death of yoga studio instructors using the first 15 minutes of class for a personal soap box. I really don’t want to hear it. I am there for exercise and stretching. I feel trapped when they do this and with the rates currently being charged for yoga, I want my maximum benefit. It totally pisses me off to leave yoga feeling worse than when I arrived. The last time was it for me, my yoga studio owner took 20 minutes to tell us that there is no God and when we die that is all there is. And then devolved into the dangers of drinking coffee. What a waste of money and time. Thank you for busting the myth.
No No….
You can’t want to do yoga as if it is merely some sport that kids can do at school.
Yoga is an element of Hindu culture/religion. Think of it like confessions are to Catholics. It is a major element to Hindus all over the world
So if you think learning Sanskrit is too much for you, then please cease and desist from hijacking our Indian culture.
Go back to sitting at the bar and drinking beer or whatever you westerners were doing before you thought Yoga was cool
That’s the new age influence. Yoga isn’t spirituality but a practice to help you get in touch with yourself. It’s not the only useful practice the new age has corrupted with its ‘special’ egoism. Metaphysics has all but been distorted beyond comprehension. People in the US are very susceptible towards assuming other cultures as their own because we have a very young and superficial one. Very few people in the US bother to find out where they came from which probably has a rich, interesting culture on its own, they grab at other cultures which are shiny and trendy. That’s the US western mind though, invade and take over .They can’t just enjoy a culture, or participate in a educational way they have to mask themselves in it entirely. I hate to see anyone give it up entirely because the many are ruining it for the few. It’s not the Yoga, its the superficial herd mentality stampeding all over it.
Excellent, on-point article. Thank you for sharing.
Hello Earth Energy Reader
Being an Indian Yoga and Meditation Teacher I definitely definitely connected with many of the points you make in your article. Its been quite disheartening to see where yoga is heading in the West, living here myself. When I moved to philly I was so horrified by the classist nature of yoga that I started a nonprofit (finding freedom within) to bring yoga to all people of all classes, and that lack of real dedication to seva in the yoga community, rather the dedication to the ego is much more prevalent. However, as right on as many of your points are, I always come to the same conclusion. So what now? How does the paradigm shift into something that is more connected to the truth of the roots. As an individual teacher, I do what I can to encourage this inquiry in my own students, but everything is related to the evolution of consciousness and the needs of the civilization. So I have left my anger about it and just allow things to unfold as they are – perhaps the current need is to dive deep into narcissism & egoism – perhaps that is part of the process – and perhaps soon people will tire of the nonsensical chanting and trance dancing and begin the real search for authenticity. Working on creating the energy of authenticity within oneself is a gentle step to being the change one wishes to see (Mahatma Gandhi).
Thank you for your provoking article which was like a dip into my own thoughts about all of this. I haven’t had a chance to read all the comments but I am sure you have had a lot of high emotion generated from it. Peace.
And one more request for all your readers: THE PURPOSE OF YOGA IS TO MEDITATE! Don’t get stuck on the asana!!
Thank you for the thoughtful article. I too love how my body feels after yoga. I have also read a lot of studies about Yoga and the reduction of anxiety in children with autism, etc. Nevertheless I have also been put off by a lot of the marketing and shallow cultishness that I have seen. But then again I have also seen bodies completely transformed and healed. I think that, as with with anything good, Yoga can be blown out of proportion, cheapened, misunderstood and misused–especially when Hollywood gets involved. It can also be of great benefit.
I hear ya, but consider this: some of us feel failed by Abrahamic religion. Vedic religions resonate more with a number of people.
My (rhetorical) question to you would be “would you begrudge the ideas of Eastern philosophy to those of European descent?”
Not at all – meditation and yoga have incredible healing capacities and if Eastern philosophy can help people get there, that’s great. What I take issue with is the plastic “faux-spirituality” which has grown up around the yoga “scene”. I mean you see that everywhere whether it’s Sunday Christians or yoga groupies hanging on to every word by the likes of John Friend.
Not sure if it is begrudging when the reaction is to bastardization of a noble practice.
Funny story: After visiting Kripalu in the Berkshires, I received a complimentary subscription to Yoga Magazine. Recently, “Mr. Man” (my husband), after leaving the throne, said “Honey, is this magazine about yoga or soft porn?” I laughed — he had a point. The most recent edition features a woman, (at first glance appearing to be naked) being photographed underwater with a whale shark. He asked, “Why is she doing this and what does this have to do with yoga?” I replied that I did not know. LOL!
I teach yoga. I ducked out of “the scene.” Problem is you cannot separate neurosis from yoga! I think the saddest aspect is that yoga is truly beneficial, yet, here in the west, corrupted by greed. Just like everything else.
All the phonies who blow ‘Namaste’ up your butt; it’s frightening how their numbers are increasing. Yoga could support the construction of a more truthful life is everyone wasn’t trying so hard to be so f’ing happy and spiritual.
Just being more at ease in one’s self, with all that you are…and aren’t. Curse LuLu Lemon, Yoga Alliance, and all those ego-maniacal teachers who abuse the more feeble minded. They are sociopaths! There are some great people out there though, so don’t give up. There is value.
The majority of your article was a good read. Our version of yoga in the west is a bastardization of what yoga used to be about, but that is clinging to the notion that anything is supposed to stay still and be unchanging. Much like this notion of “you” and “I” or “us” and “them”. Just because there is water between physical areas does not mean that a culture cannot spread nor is it insult when certain practices are not done the exact same everywhere.
I saw a scoff about people saying “Namaste” as a chant, where is it written in stone that it “must” be said at a certain time and only at that time, especially when it does not mimic a “hello” or “goodbye”? It is an acknowledgement and is a humbling notion. Though if one does not know it’s exact meaning and they use it as a chant while trying to gain some spiritual awakening, why not let them use it? At least they are trying. Maybe instead of talking behind their backs, offer to educate them?
From the Buddha, remember attachment is dukkha. The fact that people outside of your culture like any aspect of it, shouldn’t that be something positive? I see a brown skinned woman in a sari without knowing the history of it, but I still see that it’s beautiful, she’s beautiful, and I like it. That’s it. If I decided to go get one, I’m not getting it to insult anyone and if it somehow did offend someone, the insult did not come from me. It would come from that persons view.
I do not like seeing what yoga is becoming here in America and I agree that those that could benefit from it most cannot get to it because of the price tag now associated, or to be seen as a good yoga teacher one must essentially go to school for despite the fact that those who created it never dreamed of such a thing. Just yesterday I ranted on a post from Yoga Journal about doing “x” poses to get “your best summer body”. I saw that and my jaw hit the floor. To me, that is an insult because that stimulates body-image issues that are so prevalent here in the west, but… I am not offended at people doing the poses for just physical benefits. They may not have an interest in the spiritual side and that’s OK as long as they respect those that do.
Suffering only breeds more suffering. Namaste.
Thank you for writing this great article Earth Energy Rider. I can’t agree more. I never had thought of making something so scared and personal practice for myself and other family members in India into a profession till I realize the deviation and Prostitization of my culture and sacred practice here by so called self proclaimed Yoga gurus here in America!
General folks have no idea how badly they are getting duped in name of Yoga!
Using terms like “Oming” or “not Oming” or tattooing Om and other sacred Hindu mantra and deities tram stamps and specially below waist area, can’t be more offensive to us.
200 hours/500 hours fresh teachers crops are growing worse than tumble weed here in California, where I live. These egoistic poor souls have no idea that in 200 hour no one can become a doctor or lawyer or professor, then how can they expect to become yoga master???
Chanting Namaste and wrongly pronounced mantras not make Yoga teachers. Its a life long Sadhna, still some of us don’t find ourselves to say “teachers” let alone Yoga Diva or Yoga God/Goddess!!!
I understand your frustration and feeling myself in same position as you were when you wrote this blog!
Hopefully by means of our Authentic and traditional Yoga teaching we can make some difference!
Write me a line or two if you find sometime from doing what you love most, would love to connect with you!:)
With love and healing Hugs!
Fellow Yogi
Rashmi
I have the same feeling , I have been practicing for over 40 years also teach for real seekers at my home. I refuse to get certified by any institution. This knowledge has been passed by grandparents and my parents running in family. I live in Canada originally from South Indian. This is one discipline no institution can certify anybody on earth as Yoga teacher, its only a personal experience and not an objective practice for some one to judge.
Its truly heartbreaking to see what’s done in N. America
This article is superb. I have always been sceptical about studio yoga. I was told to start doing a few basic core exercises after my discectomy. I then learnt that these were actually asanas. I then picked a few more from a friend of mine, who is a yoga teacher. I now practice daily for an hour, on my own. I, occasionally go to a class at my local sports centre, but for me, it is all about the health benefits that it brings to my lower back. In fact, I know very little about the spiritual side of yoga and have no wish to, either.
I, once, went to a few Bikram classes in London, with a friend. I thought the classes were quite expensive, and I found that my own practice, was more beneficial. I was then invited to visit a Satyananda Ashram in South London. The woman, in charge, was very rude to me, and basically made me feel, like I was not part of the yoga elite [thank god!].
Now, I just practice on my own, once a day, in the peace & quiet of my own space. It is free & I can take my time, in & out of posture. I also have more time to explore postures & have created a few of my own. In a way, I think Bikram is quite smart, for outwitting the stupid Westerner & making them part with their money. I am a bone fide, white Caucasian, but I agree with your comments about Westerners trying to become something that they can never be. My reasons for doing yoga, are my own, and based on the fact that yoga helps me to stay healthy. This is all I need…
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‘What is essential is invisible to the eye’ Anotoine de Saint Exupery
I relate to your views– you can see in some of the responses an illustration of the issue at hand. (Aggressive defense of Self-image at all cost)
I agree with your points and am on the same page -but I think my comments come at it more obliquely.
I am based in the UK, London so we are behind you in terms of new and strange manifestations of yoga (Spa yoga???)
I’m interested in viewing the yoga scene and its shortfalls within the cultural and societal context of narcissism and commercialization, which is the only way to view it, I believe, as it doesn’t exist in a vacuum (although it feels like it does). What I mean is that the non-evolutionary aspects of the yoga scene can be seen as a side affect of that materialist context. I feel somewhat pained for those newly and not so newly qualified teachers who have their mere 200hrs who have ‘covered’ the sutras but don’t know quite how to assimilate them. How can they-they haven’t had any true experience of Samadhi. They have read about it- but they are not grounded or being guided to a path of meaning and depth. No wonder there is a lack of maturity and insight. Their teachers have only a vague idea what it all means and superficiality reigns supreme with the paraphernalia taking pride of place where the truly ‘essential’ is missing. The words spiritual and authentic have been used a lot but I think a part of what your pointing to is due to a lack of understanding of these two aspects? Unfortunately within our culture self-enquiry, finding the true self/the atman is not really seen as paramount. The method/technique ends up becoming the goal – not the path. The practices, the rituals, chanting, mudras, mantras, the mere techniques are taken for the real thing rendering the path to truth distorted. Just as the early Christians would take on ascetic practices such as fasting or wearing hair shirts as a means of penance it becomes more about looking good and projecting a lifestyle than true engagement. If we look at it in the context of the materialist/narcissist culture that we so embrace then it’s no wonder that a practice that appears to be merely physical would not grow, take on and feed into that narcissism. The context of yoga and its meaning becomes somewhat lost in translation. I think what needs to be rectified is the travesty of yoga being used as a means to massage the ego, whether that be in UK, the U.S., China or Greenland is not relevant. I think we should be united by the culture and sensibility of truth and depth– and not divided by an east-west dichotomy, which under this truth-principle is a false one. So my point is not about whether we should or should not appropriate the tradition, but the error of using it to avoid attaining real depth, transformation and union with higher consciousness. Isn’t that the real definition of yoga by the way…
Wow, this is quite the article. I am currently studying to be a Yoga Teacher, though honestly I’ve questioned how possible this actually is living in the West. I actually stumbled across this article after a very hot debate I started in class last night. I posed the question ” How is it that there are so many Yoga Teachers saturating the West, when in India, it is considered a sacred calling where few are accepted into the fold (as far as I know, you are usually required to have a solid personal practice before even being considered for training at that level)..I’ve noticed most schools just accept anybody with money nowadays.” Well, little did I know that pretty much everyone in the room had only either JUST started practicing (as in literally within the past couple of months, and even then only a weekly session, so 8 times!) or did not practice very often on their own.
I was essentially called an elitist and questioned by the others in a way that left me near tears. One student asked me “Who has the right to deem anyone worthy of being a teacher??” Well, a true Yogi does! It’s ridiculous to say this sort of thing. It’s equal to applying to be a Doctor with a grade 5 education then expecting to gain admission to a top University without even a grade 10 student’s understanding of Math or Science! This never happens, EVER. So why is Yoga any different??
My teacher actually said to me “I hope to make as many teachers as possible in my lifetime, I won’t ever turn anyone away.” Whaaaat??? This really upset me. I don’t feel Yoga should be exclusive, however I do feel if you are working towards becoming a Teacher you should at the very least have a personal practice of some sort for at least a Years time. To me this is another twisting of the Yogic tradition, to make more money….teaching Yoga is an honor, not a human right. You are put in a position of power, people are vulnerable, and look up to you (and unfortunately, most Yoga teachers do not deserve this kind of reverence), you should care enough about your future students to make a point of having a practice of your own..and no, riding your bike is not Yoga!! So many people keep using weird references like that, or: “walking is my Yoga” I get that, but no: Yoga is Yoga.
I could go on forever, but must make one more point. I personally don’t care if your Indian or Asian, or whatever ‘race’ (I really hate that word)…are you kind? Are you well meaning? Are you honestly attempting to live a decent life, caring for those around you?? Well, this would mean you are in fact a good decent human being, that is what counts…the rest is just an illusion, costumes we wear for this lifetime…’I’ am not a Caucasian (meaningless word, which is just another way to categorize me so you can now put me in a box and call it a day without ever getting to know me). In order to create peace in our world we must stop the hatred and division. Of course we have ‘culture’ to respect and honor in others, however, it should not divide us. Well..I should say some of us have culture..honestly, I’m so blended (in my family we are English, Irish, Scottish, French, etc haha) I seriously have no defined culture per say, merely my love of the Earth and those who inhabit it!
I thank you for your words,
Namaste
I loved yoga but not a true enthusiasts as many are nowadays. I was introduced to Hatha yoga in the 70’s and enjoy the practice. I feel I am a visitor in the foreign practice and respect that it has been around for centuries long before it was held hostage by our current culture. On occasion I have been asked to lead a class- I share the knowledge I have gained but do not profess to be a true yogi. Your article spoke to me as I am a brown skinned latina and have experienced similar high-jacking of my cultural dances and music(Zumba). I am annoyed by the copyrighting of “new” forms of yoga. Ugh. Why so many labels? Respect what is so much older than us and do not profess to know the language. It is really annoying.
Interesting article.
I will start by saying that I feel I am very lucky that the Moksha studio here in Montréal I attend I feel is fundamentally built by a strong, hard-working little community. I have gotten to know the teachers, and many of them are very beautiful people, all working on themselves. Also, I’d like to point out that at least at the studio I am familiar with, there is the energy exchange program, so if, as you say, a single mother wants to practice yoga, she can work one 4 hour shift a week, likely which she would enjoy, to get unlimited free sessions. I am a student and this has made it possible for me to practice regularly.
I think we must remember that the physical asanas were originally, at least in my understanding, practiced as a way to open the energy channels in the body before meditation. The real journey starts there. I came to yoga after discovering the profound implications of meditation, not the other way around, and have always seen it as an extension of the mental practice.
The depths of yoga as a spiritual practice knows no bounds, at least thus far in my experience.
People seem to practice for different reasons though. It’s up to the practitioner if they want to make it more of a workout, to do it strictly for the health benefits. What’s wrong with that? I do not think that debases the original teachings. So, when we see people exhibiting extremely “unconscious” behaviour, (judgemental ego driven “spirituality,” or vegan naziism for instance) in Yoga communities, we must recognize that they are currently living in at least a partial state of ignorance, resistance and fear, and it is the time for us as observes to exercise compassion towards them, and not further judgement. Try not to add fuel to the fire.
I think without mindful based practices, which is where I feel the true spiritual insight and expansion comes from, then people will continue trying to buy “enlightenment,” which obviously can’t be bought. But that’s up to them to figure out… The information is out there, the foundational texts of yoga are available and the power lies within us all to practice them. I feel like the true wisdom derives from sitting and watching your own consciousness.
I personally think it to be tremendously exciting that these practices which were at one time meant for master and disciple, are now available to the masses. Of course there will be misinterpretation and even abuse of the teachings, but the yoga itself is so strong that the true seekers will not be affected.
It is disturbing to me that so many teachers are being trained in such a short period of time. Luckily, there are many resources to us available by profoundly influential yogis who have passed on, and likely always will be. Use your judgement on who’s advice to follow or to ignore. This is the same as in anything. Don’t follow ideas blindly. Like the saying goes, “If you meet the Buddha on the road, kill him!”
Your path is your path, no one else’s, and no one else can teach you your experience.
Thanks for opening up my mind to an interesting internal dialogue,
All best to you all.
Love it, thank you!! Totally agree, I do like using sanskrit names for the asanas, though…
Thank you for this post. It’s a really important discussion and I’m so happy to see how may people have chimed in. I agree that the typical western yoga class is frequently shallow, theatrical and oriented toward appearances. I also agree that it’s time for yoga in the west to mature, but westerners themselves need to mature, and maybe yoga, although admittedly imperfect, is helping.
It is annoying when fellow yogis behave ignorantly, but maybe going to class and being a little shallow is better than watching the Kardashians and binge shopping? Maybe it’s just baby steps, and and maybe we need to remind ourselves to be compassionate and patient. Where I have less patience is when it comes to teachers who should be more aware and responsible. With all the disgraced yogi gurus of late, maybe there is an opportunity for more female, sincere and ethical teachers to emerge.
Let’s not give up on yoga. Let’s just hold ourselves and our teachers to higher standards. There are legitimate, knowledgable, sincere and humble teachers here.
Thank you for this post. As an anthropology major who scratches her head over cultural appropriation and someone who practices yoga and meditation daily, I’ve always found this conundrum a bit of a mind tangle.
I grew up in a rural Australia–a culture that had very little to offer me spiritually or philosophically. Mostly people are very hard on themselves and others, and constantly beat themselves up for what things they cannot change. And so at a very young age I turned to philosophical texts from other cultures alongside this of my own. I read the bible, about existentialism, Western paganism, feminism and Eastern Religious texts….and took from a range of sources those things that I thought I needed to learn.
So, teachings from the Bhagavad Gita and various buddhist and yogic texts offered me a new way to see the world, though I always knew it was an adopted way. I taught myself yoga from a really, really old book (some of the pictures were hilarious), and loved the stillness it brought me, the way it made me see the Australian landscape anew. So it was my own combination of beliefs. For instance, the concept of mindful breathing really helped me through a difficult time, and while I referred to words like “prana”, when I wanted to get a tattoo to remind me of this lesson, I made my own symbol because I did not think it would be right to use sanskrit.
Now, I live in the city. I attend yoga classes and I see all the things you are talking about. And yet, I don’t know where you would draw the line. As much as I could defend the way I drew on Eastern spiritual teachings to make sense of my own life in a drought stricken community, couldn’t these people defend their use in their commodity filled lives? I’d like to think I’ve been sensitive about my appropriation–because, I acknowledge, that’s what it is–but am I really better than your “happy white girl in sari”? What do you think?
Is it in learning from other cultures but acknowledging the “unknowable” element of a certain teachings’ origins? The phenomenological sense of what it is to be from that culture?
Is it in cherry picking what works for you and not subscribing to anything for the trend of it?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
It’s an on-going issue and dialogue. I don’t think there are hard and fast and easy answers with respect to cultural appropriation vs. taking certain teachings for what you may personally need for your journey and spiritual development. I think with globalisation and because of the kind of access we now have, of course people will pick and choose what they may need to address certain spiritual needs. That’s for the serious seekers and those who are sincere.
The other side of globalisation of course is the market economy and how when the market economy latches on to something “new” (i.e in this case the yoga scene and lifestyle, magazines, clothing, food, paraphernalia etc.) has a horrible way of taking something which may have begun as something sacred in origin and just cheapens it and plastifies it beyond recognition. That’s when you start getting the revolving-door style 200 hour teacher trainings, done by kids who really don’t have a clue about India, and what real vedanta philosophy is really about but rather just want it as a mechanism to brand themselves and access to a particular lifestyle.
It’s a sad truth what you just said, Sister. But on other hand this is kaliyuga! As sad, disgusted and angry it makes to many of us Indians, particularly who are Hindus and yoga, tantra, rituals and spirituality is so sacred of them, it’s still meant to happen this way so many of us will finally be awaken and recognize our stand and role of this bramhaand. And guess what it’s happening. Little by little everyday.
But you are right this 200-500 hr teacher training nonsense should stop. You can’t make a doctor in 200-500 hours how can you make a yoga or tantra teacher in a such short time?! There should be compulsory to read and understand the Ramayana, Sri Bhagwan Gita, Vedas, Sankhayas and Puranas and if not Sanskrit, then at least Hindi languge should be compulsory for yoga and tantra teachers.
And for god sake these morons should please stop taking Hindu names as a fashion statements too! It’s not only insulting, it looks desperate too!
I don’t know if Hindi per se should be compulsory – there is a whole yoga culture in South India where people speak Tamil after all. I do think teacher training should be grounded in reputable teachings with serious consideration given to understanding what yoga is about from it’s origins and what it means to those people. From what I gather most 200hour yoga teacher trainings focus mostly on asanas and proper alignment, but it is changing. Some 200 hour teacher trainings are now starting to include chapters on diversity training, inclusion and topics like cultural appropriation are no longer marginalized.
I think the biggest problem I’ve seen are inexperienced and immature instructors. I hesitate to generalize but some of the instructors I’ve encountered and observed are just really flakey suburban airheads, who outgrew the mall and are now in the yoga studio, see the glamourous yoga lifestyle, travelling the world, doing retreats at exotic locations, having lithe, dancer-like bodies, being constantly surrounded by beautiful people, and want a piece of that pie. Zero spiritual insight. Zero maturity. Zero life experience. They very often have no ability on how to deal with say people with rounder bodies, how to adjust them, or don’t see anything wrong with placing a statue of Ganesha near the showers where people walk by completely naked and not realize how incredibly disrespectful that is (true story I saw this). The sensitivity and awareness just isn’t there.
Tamil, Hindi, Telugu, whatever is fine for substitute if they can’t learn Sanskrit. Other languages are easier way to learn in order to get to learn Sanskrit for many western tounges. And know what if any one of them actually cares then they put time on learning Sanskrit first because translation and explanation in English is really poor about all yoga, tantra, Vedas and other Hindu holy scriptures.
And yup can’t agree more about the “instructors type” you mentioned above. These airheads are usually from bale or gymnastic backgrounds and have no understanding of differentiating between yoga and gymnastic or dance type workouts. Heck in my field tantra they made yoga+sex!! And charge people $1000.00 weekend for that! Literally prostituion of an ancient culture and heritage by neo new age crazies who are destroying the essence of it!
And yes I heard the Ganesh in bathroom too! Few of my students I have to yell at when I heard ( sorry their is certain level of insult to my cultural and spiritual heritage I can take without channelling ma kali).
Please do not stop writing blogs and educating people and hopefully there will be time when people will learn the difference between spirituality and circus. And as for Indians out there they will learn too and hopefully take stands to come forward instead of running away from what they know and practice since their childhood and eventually teach the world real practice. For now Pranaam! Rashmi tantra
Hi..i agree with some aspects of your article..yoga has become very exclusive..and not everyone has access to it..especially financially. Working with the public sector in Toronto Canada..i do see it being offered more in low income neighborhood..and with seniors…
That being said i too am brown..born and brought up in the west…yoga was never practiced or even talked about at home..as for
Yogis..my parents always taught us they are regular people…and with a little more foresight always asking for something in exchange for enlightenment.
My own experience with yoga has been for fitness…and now in my continued quest for spiritually..having lost my mum last year to cancer and trying to barrel through the greiving process…I’ve had really interesting experiences through yoga including feeling my energy levels shift and a happier state of mind. I went through a rough patch of anxiety and depression..but feel that yoga has some how helped me move forward.
Reblogged this on Debra DeAngelo and commented:
This is thoughtful and insightful commentary on what’s happening in the yoga world today, and hits all the points of why I prefer to practice yoga at home, alone. That said… I have attended those clothing optional Tantra couples workshops, and found them to be life-altering and deeply valuable. And yet, I can see at the edges… there is a lot of money being made.
I really appreciate this writer’s detailing of the various cultures and regions in India, as well as her exasperation that Americans paint the entire country and culture with one brush.
It is very brave of the author of this article to sincerely express his views. Having attended yoga sessions on and off, I have noticed a disturbing pattern…that many of the instructors are white caucasion. I have also noticed that during the sessions, the caucasion instructors seem to give assistance first to the caucasion participants and lastly to the visible minority participants (or sometimes not at all.). I have also noticed how they talk to the different types of participants…more respectful and caring towards their own kind. It is these kinds of subleties that tell me how discrimination exists in the hearts of yoga instructors, while they reap the benefits of yoga….they practise the cultural benefits but do not associate with the people…hypocrisy.
Being a yoga instructor does not mean they have matured spiritually.
Her views 🙂
I think the problem goes beyond what color and race a person is. Looking into the history of the world it is pretty clear to see that “the practice of yoga” did not overcome the atrocities of suffering throughout those cultures who today give great speeches on equality for all.
I’m not into religion myself. I believe it is the root of evil and is what drives humans to bicker and fight as they do – no matter your color or what side of the planet you live.
Having said that though – the toxicity that has spawned from religion, runs deep in the secular society more than is knows. Also globally – but more so under religious control. That aside, Westerners have indeed assimilated and changed the concept as they have done with Buddhism. People are getting sick of the same old church mentality thus there is a HUGE amount of money to be made from such cultural diversity in whatever region. Sell it as spirituality and it’s way less threatening to those who wish to jump the fence – Yet as potentially dangerous as religion itself.
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Just my opinion – I agree about the westernizing aspect given, however I’d be careful how much you present in the light of US and Them – We the Cultural Owners Vs White People. The term White is way to generalized – Yet I get the point and actually agree from the perspective of the west taking something of worth and selling it off as something else. I can understand the frustration towards using the term White People as I would Use the Term Yuppies. Perhaps instead of me saying something like “The Oprah Winfrey Crowed” – I might do better to talk in terms of Shallow People.
None the less, we are both generalizing no doubt – and I agree with most of what you have said.
I’m currently looking to do some stretching for its health benefits. It might even help me with my own outlook and help me to better accept myself. Currently I am a white person coming off antiphycotics and the last thing I need, is to be surrounded by others who think they know best.
I thank You for your blog – I wish we could all get along. 🙂
Yes yes yes. Finally I have found likeminded persons. I love the practice and how well toned all muscle groups get. As Nurse practitioner and a massage therapist I see the benefits that routine practice brings. What has been referred to as the OW crowd, or the whites, …I have referred to these over indulged, bored, affluent, super skinny, name changing, shallow….they are the incarnates of the VavavaValley Girls. So the challenge remains. It reminds me of being a Christian and having a strong foundation of faith and being surrounded by crazy bible- thumping zealots who keep passing the basket around.
I landed up here after googling the phrase, “I Hate Yoga.” As others have felt, I agree with somethings which are spot on, and disagree with others. While on this, I thought I could share my experiences undergoing a 200 Hrs teachers’ training course here in a city in India. While I thought this could be a great way to expand my skill set into something which is not attached to a desk, and learn something new about myself, as the days are slipping by, I am finding getting to my studio to complete my remaining 43 hours a real chore. I have skipped roughly ten days just imagining those faces at the studio and preferring the comfort of my quilt and bed. It all seemed fine initially, but as time progressed, I found the teacher to be incredible racist, judgemental, and biased in all forms. We were 8 of us in class, 4 expats from Europe and America, and 4 Indians. Except me, perhaps, everyone else was well to do. I come from a working class home. The course cost roughly 1300 US dollars, which is a lot of money in India. Almost my yearly salary. Thankfully, my father agreed to fund this course as i have been going through a massive rough patch with employment opportunities. The teacher told me I could learn this and teach at her studio as well, once qualified. But the thought of it horrifies me after getting to know her over two months.
The entire course was somehow geared towards satisfying the caucasian housewives. The teacher was sickly sweet to them, shared stories of her travel abroad. She would eat, think and act up like them. Though all of expats come from simple homes back in the west, and have a strong culture of spirit of inquiry. They are very grounded and know their relative affluence in India is not an excuse to put on airs. I think I survived the course so far cause of them. My Indian compatriots (including the teacher) are all elite, and had extremely classist notions and strongly right wing sentiments. Also huge beliefs in pseudo sciences like “wearing glass bangles to cure carpal tunnel syndrome.” They all looked like they were dabbling with Yoga so that they did not have to bored be at home. The country club reference is spot on, cause all i hear is about travel abroad, how wonderful their kids are, and how amazing their husbands are. I am single, unmarried and sue me for enjoying talks of current affairs and pop culture more. I did get over the resentment though, cause I understood that maybe for these women, this class was an outlet.
But the teacher turned out to be quite the wonder. Much after we registered into the course, she declares flippantly that these teacher training courses are a scam. 😐 For 5 weeks during the course we had to hear tales of how she was wronged by people, how her daughter thinks she is the best thing since sliced bread and how she gets used by others. We were subjected to tales of how her friends don’t realise the importance of Yoga, and how they don’t come to her despite suffering anxiety, depression etc. And had to watch her walking around mocking people’s postural defects and declaring them twits for not wanting Yoga. And drinking smoothies for lunch and eat high protein peanuts. and wearing clothes from these “handmade, organic clothing” stores all over India which cater to the Indian elite.
But what finally broke me into hating the class was how despite saying, a Yoga teacher must never get personal, she got personal with me. I was denied books from her library for a presentation, while all others were loaned them. She interrupted a talk I was giving for a class credit, at the top of her voice. She then proceeded to tell me my information sources were wrong, because I had to resort to the internet. Once she told me contemptuously, I can’t do a seated-twist pose with, “you won’t be able to do it”. I knew she was referring to the fact that I had a large tummy. She even made me switch from demonstrating standing poses for a trial class with another student, saying her practise is much stronger and gave me extremely slow, tai chi like floor exercises and shavasana.
Yeah. I know I am overweight. But that’s no excuse to tell me I can’t do something. She proceeded to tell me vegetarians are whacko, paleo diets are THE SHIZZ, and wanted to “knock some weight off of me”. She frowns on carbohydrates. Seriously? Most Indians are poor. And carbs are the cheapest source of survival for most of us. I thankfully live with my family. Or there’s no way I could even afford to feed myself or clothe myself with my peanut salary. And because I am mostly vegetarian, she put me on an all egg diet for an entire week, by which time I wanted to egg her house (What will you eat mannn, you’re vegetarian). She would repeatedly, publicly say shit like, “if you’re trying to lose weight, you can’t eat sugar” (I was eating pomegranates after 75 minutes of Iyengar Yoga), and asked me what I was eating at a group lunch ( at a 5 star hotel. :-|), and then flippantly told me, “you must stop eating grain” when I told her i was eating Fish. She reads all these crazy books by Americans and declares that as ultimate nutrition knowledge which she imposes on others. These women shop at luxury five star hotels through their email lists, and their one time bills at upscale supermarket stores come to my monthly pay.
The witch is fat phobic. She used to be overweight when she was much younger, and well, with all the yoga has become fit. But that isn’t a reason to put down others struggling with weight issues. When a student asked if overweight senior citizens can be introduced to yoga, the teacher again dismissively said, “Just ask them to lose weight.”.
In the class, she actually whacks me (thankfully not very hard), when I am faltering on a pose. I have never seen a more deeply insecure, messed up woman than this. Actually, I have. The rest of them are her students and fellow teachers who have the most incredible negative body image and personally screwed up lives. Despite all the talks of yoking of body and mind, I doubt anything has entered their minds.
Every day is like being on the Real Housewives. I cannot wait to get done with this bullshit, earn my certificate and stop seeing all these messed up people. And you’re right there too. They hide their true, scared selves under this facade of imported lululemon clothes and manduka mats. Indians as such are insecure about our nationhood and culture. But this is another level of pretending to be white. Another poster notes how painting her toes was the breaking point. And I fear that in a few months, so am not even venturing there. All the teachers at this studio are slim, spankingly well dressed with manicured hands and feet, she fervently believes in looks since the teachers up front demonstrating. Some of other teachers themselves come from crazed out homes where their mothers are overbearing women who tell them to dress nice, talk nice and be chosen by nice men. Oh, and the reading material of her course was lifted from other books, and written in some bizarre colonial Indian language.
I would love to use Yoga for allied exercises to Gym or long distance running. But I can safely say, I Hate Yoga and its cult of scary elitists.
Thanks Sharada. I’m posting your comment in full because I think many people forget that classist and elitist bullshit also exists in India and the divide and economic differences between the (wealthier and preferred) West and (neglected and under-funded) East as well as (lighter-skinned, Aryan) North and (darker-skinned, Dravidian) South and even between castes, and given how “Shining India” has now been designated as an “investment destination” by Western media, I think this kind of stupidity has gone global and you’ll see more of it there as well. It’s everywhere and unfortunately yoga has become another vehicle for it, even in Mother India.
What’s interesting to observe is how something which first started in India, has been bastardized in the West to some degree and yet the reflection of the bastardized version is now being reflected back and emulated in the country of origin. Like I’ve been saying, it’s not the yoga by itself which is the problem. It’s the fake, synthetic “community”, “market” and “scene” around it which has developed around it and that includes the shady gurus, sketchy/immature/unskilled teachers and instructors, the wealthy clients and their various neurosis and the weird hybrids coming out of that matrix.
what you said.
I haven’t read through all the comments, or had a chance to watch the videos posted so this may be totally redundant.
New Ageism. Yoga has basically become church for new ageists. I love doing yoga, I find it calming, a great stretch and workout when the teacher is good, but I detest some of the teachers for all the preaching and random “words of wisdom”, which is really just a bunch of nonsensical statements!
One mini example I can think of off the top of my head: “The intelligence of your brain can now communicate with the wisdom of the rest of your body” when talking about relaxing your neck….
Anywho – thanks for the read – I enjoyed it on this slow afternoon at work!!
I wanted to chime in on this discussion a little. I laughed reading this, I agreed with every ounce of it. I found this article because today I thought to myself “I am so sick of self-righteous pretentious 20 year olds telling me ‘Namaste’ as if they’re Buddha themselves”.
Yoga is beneficial for the mind, body, and soul. For your well being. Centering oneself and trying to look inwards, is important. But I fear most Western women have not even an inkling of a clue about what enlightenment really is. HERE is what Buddhism/Taoism/Hinduism IS NOT – Materialism, Clothes, Shoes, Stuff, Stuff, more stuff, shopping, advertising, SELFIES on your cell phone 10 times a day, constant addictions to technology, facebook, instagram, twitter, SELF GLORIFYING yourself as a sex goddess and showing off your ‘hot bod’ from Yoga on all of your social media for some kind of daily ego-trip; constantly seeking re-assurance in how ‘above every one else’ you believe you are through your social media because you read a few poems from Tao Te ching the other day (give me a break), and on and on and on.
@Sarah we must be in the same small Canadian city because I know the woman you are talking about!
There are a few charlatans out there! I had the fortune of finding a really good yoga teacher with whom my husband and I practiced for some 11 years. When she moved away we continued at home on our own. But I like the structure of a class and continued to search for a class that I liked. I fond a variety of teachers who were more like army drill masters than yoga teachers. I tried Bikram and the teachers here in Adelaide were a bit like Nazis. It was an awful experience (never mind the pool of sweat) where the teacher SERIOUSLY yelled at me more than once for allowing my moist ankle to slip out of my dripping hand, but I persisted for 3 classes then walked away. I now find I can practice at home using my Illustrated Light on Yoga book, by the recently departed BKS Iyengar, as a guide when I need a new move. I will still attend the occasional class but my body tells me what it needs and my heart knows when I need to sit silently for 10 minutes. Dig.
Hi! I thought I would come back here to write of my experience with the 200 hour course in India, which I had written about a little while ago. I recently grew very demotivated and my body simply stopped cooperating. So I decided to go to the instructor and asked her to give me my certificate at least, or some sort of acknowledgement that I had finished 150 hours. I told her i don’t want to teach and don’t intend to use it but just keep it as personal achievement. She proceeded to tell me “I have to maintain my standards and if you do a chaturanga and a head stand in the finishing sequence I will give it to you.” I talked to a few others who did my course, and turns out she gave away the certificate to one colleague who was a few hours shy of the 200 hr mark, and is just as weak and working hard at achieving push ups and the head stand. The instructor happened to lie to me that this colleague had achieved these tasks. She gave away the certificate to someone who has a very advanced practise but did not complete the 200 hours because she had to move away. Both colleagues are white. The inherent racism in my Indian teacher baffles me. While she makes us Indians work hard and cheats us. She did not even pay one of my teacher friends roughly 1200$ in salary for two months and after making her work for those months, she declared she had cut her salary by half. I do not have even have a receipt of the 1300$ I paid her. but because I gave her cheques, I have a record of the transaction. If that hadn’t been the case, I guess I could well lose the money. I am going to do whatever it takes to get the certificate out of her to move on and focus on other forms of exercise which are not such a scam.
Is this actionable in court?
Enquiring minds want to know … I hope you sue the yoga pants off her in whatever court would be its jurisdiction. This happens all the time in America. Yoga teachers get registered under minimal standards despite even ambitious prerequisites (such as demonstrated ability to hold a headstand half a minute) to entering these teacher registrations mills/pyramid schemes … and you could prove discrimination …
Dear Sharada, you can rightfully feel upset how the situation presented itself to you. But you are missing the point and your approach is also flawed so you get wrong results. If you think just paying and getting a Yoga teaching certificates makes one a teacher, that’s the biggest fundamental flaw in thinking. There are dancers & gymnasts who can get certified in 1 hr. if Yoga was just about display of some complicated posters, its unfortunate but most of the teachers you come across at least in west are from fitness, dancing or gymnastic background and they get a certificate to teach Yoga. Both the parties who give and take these kind of certificates are worthless and cannot be classified as Yogis. Its your personal practice and you certify yourself when you truly know you are capable to deliver this knowledge in a Dharmic sense and not for a job or earning. If you are rewarded monetarily by sharing this knowledge accept with all humility, but never sell yourself just for a certificate, its just a piece of worthless paper. I am not just blabbering, this is my personal experience. With my 40 years of experience and personal practice, I never thought of teaching Yoga to make a living. I was destined to teach people because they ask for it, and realise you want to share it, circumstances compel me to teach and people will come searching for you.
Big studios wanted me to teach with them but always asked if I can get certified, my answer is NO and will be always. But people have not stopped coming to learn from me.
I hope you take your steps with wisdom and not with anger. Money may not be the only resource you will lose but you mental peace, energy and health also is disposed away with such silly pursuit. There is a great lesson for you to learn I hope you see that.
You don’t need an approval of your practice.
@Shubha I hear you. And I completely agree that certificates do not make one a professional. It is wonderful that you have found solace in Yoga to the extent you have. But having undergone the kind of derogatory experience I have at the course, I have no intention of being a teacher or involving with Yoga ever again. I do not even believe in Yoga now. 1300$ is a minor fortune for me and my family who are not exactly of well to do means, and I neither have a receipt or at least some form of accreditation to show that I have completed at least 150 hours as a personal achievement. It would be literally like giving all that money away which can fund an entire 2 years Master’s program in India. If my body is not cooperating, and I am simply unhappy going through the course and wish to discontinue, and if she can give away her certificates to others who have not completed the stipulations, my bone of contention is how do I get discriminated against. When I used to practise it at home, it was a simple, peaceful affair. But undergoing the sham of a course and losing such a huge amount of money to someone who is ten times more elite in the name of business, is just such a demoralising experience.
I realize I am late in commenting, but I wanted to thank you for such a well-written, detailed article. I found this article by Googling “yoga without the woo”. I am a grandmother on disability who was told by her doctor that I need some – any – form of low-impact exercise. Since random people in my life kept recommending yoga, I did some emailing around to the various studios nearby.
What I found was puke-worthy.
Everyone charges an insane amount of money for classes, and no discount is given for disabilities (though one studio stated that if I had MS – which I don’t, btw – the MS Society would pay all but $60/month of their fees). $60/month! What person on disability has that, or more??
No one was even willing to ask their students if they would consider carpooling (I explained I do not have a car but would be willing to contribute gas money and so on).
Basically, the attitude was “if you cared about your health you would pay up”.
Poor? Not their problem.
Disabled? Not their problem.
No transportation? Not their problem.
Yeah I know my problems are not theirs but at least they could have discounts for people who need them, or some willingness to help a potential client find funding/transportation/etc. They could even try to get Medicare/Medicaid to pay for it – heck, they pay for acupuncture and chiroprachty, both of which I consider “woo”, why not yoga?
Then the emails would end with “hugs” or “smiles” or “namaste”.
Sickening. But typical middle-class nonsense.
Great post, by the way.
Yeah, it’s crazy. Studios are closing all over the place. It’s not a sustainable model — going for the well-heeled and/or giving mostly college students discounts, just so they could run their cash-cow teacher-training mills:
http://realisthenewgood.com/2015/01/16/get-a-life-yoga-kill-the-studio-paradigm/
If you want to see this phenomenon in its fullest form you should visit Mysore India. Yoga there is only for the most privileged, with the lineage of Pattabi Jois charging over $500 a month! The “local” Indians ( who still pay the standard few hundred rupees) are segregated from the wealthy foreign people, but the rich Indians who can afford the diminutive are allowed to be in the same room as the white people.
Great article! I know its a bit old but still relevant in our society, I live in Portland where its 80% white and minorities usually stay within their circles.
I’m Hispanic but because of my mutt heritage I can fairly blend in with society and have no issues 99% of the time. However I’m usually the only non white person wherever I go, and that’s kinda depressing.
WELL SAID!
BRAVO!
As a white woman American who has no familial ties to India, it took me all of a few sessions of yoga class to catch onto the fact that these white American ‘yogis’ do not a lot more than capitalize on a bastardized, sanitized version of yoga; there is no nation ANYWHERE on this Earth that can fuck up a deep spiritual practice and cash-out on it quite like America…they’ve made it nothing but a ‘work-out,’ an excuse to limber themselves so they can put their legs behind their head to impress their boyfriends when they have sex, or whatever else they feel they need to do in order to make themselves ‘better’ in their twisted view of the world.
I DO try to practice yoga on a regular basis at home, and it has afforded me profound spiritual experiences that’ve brought me to tears. Yoga is something that is personal and private to me; I am not a flexible person, I have chronic pain in my muscles, and anxiety, and yoga has made those issues quieter. Honestly, I know how petty this sounds, but I don’t obtain those benefits in a class full of people who are going to Starbucks afterward; it’s nothing more than an exercise, like pilates, and it pisses me off! And the teachers…at the very least, they could learn the REAL NAMES of the postures and share them! How could a person ever believe that Ms. Perma-Grin Vegan Hippy Douche is any more enlightened than the college freshman sitting beside them?
I totally understand your points…all of them. I know you aren’t saying ‘only brown people can practice yoga;’ you’re pointing out that the practice has been turned into a hey-let’s-mindlessly-try-on-the-practice-of-another-culture-we-know-NOTHING-about-and-pretend-we-do-then-be-sanctimonious-about-it CIRCUS by rich white people, and you’re RIGHT. Thanks for saying that, because somebody needed to!
Yoga was not intended as a fitness regimen. In case you have read Pathanjali’s Yoga Sutra, he mentions asana once as ” asana is one which makes you comfortable”. It starts with Now, the Yoga sutras…
That Now is a state of mind which comes when you have no desires. If you still desire some thing, then that now has not come.
You still need the world and are feel that world has some thing to offer. I am not condemning the attitude, but like this: When you or I were a kids, toys were the most fascinating stuff. Now, its not that you have renounced toys, they dont interest you any more, because you have grown up. Like that Now mentioned in the start of Yoga, is a stage when when what this world has to offer becomes like a toy to you. You are no more interested in this …..
The problem for western mind or all the mind is because, all minds are products of western education, is that every thing has to happen instantly like 2 minutes noodles
The fact that you dont see Indian in mediation camps etc is that they currently seek wealth as they have become a poor country. When Yoga was invested, India was rich, the wheel has moved now.
The west is rich now and they know money is not giving them peace
For a poor man tomorrow is a hope. For rich man its boredom
So if you really want to understand yoga, first come to the point of now, when yoga can be meaningful. If you still are attracted by whats world going to offer, then move to Pilates.
Thank you for your blog post. I have not taken the time to read what everyone has written – though I will – but I can somewhat relate to your frustration. When I see a yoga owner showing off her new Tory Burch bag and chatter on about her hip problems throughout the class, I know I am not going to follow her no matter how beautiful of an asana practice she has. To me, yoga is a very personal experience and asana is only one limb on the path. It’s a shame that Americans have ‘westernized’ yoga to the point that few understand that – and yep I’m talking about those teachers who think you still have to do poses in your fifties that you did in your twenties. Our diets and lifestyles do not accommodate this especially if you come to your personal practice later in life.
What I’ve taken away from yoga – it’s good to go inside. It’s good to be quiet and just sit sometimes. it’s good not to strive so hard for everything and really live in the present (my dog is the absolute best example of this!) It’s good to be kind behind the scenes and not in a showy manner . . . to take care of the poor and less fortunate not only with a couple of donations received here and there but to give freely . . .to not judge by color, religion, age or monetary caste system but to explore and experience freely, that is yoga.
You’ll have to trust a white, freckle-faced girl with this but trust me, Westerners have messed up Christianity too. 🙂
My ex is obsessed with yoga. His whole life is yoga. When I would talk about global issues, he would say, “I think the main thing is people need to evolve.” It dumbfounded me because his solution was people needed to do yoga to evolve. It like he was a member of a cult. There were pictures of Shiva and Krishna all over his place and he would even meditate (eyes rolling in the back of his head) in public places, like waiting rooms. I’m pretty turned off by yoga now.
I googled Yoga.i fully expected to see the REAL names of the positions, etc. & was highly offended to see all white ppl & names that were Eurocentric. I am Black Canadian Muslim. Exploring Yoga bc I have health issues, it was not for recreational or fun purposes that I was seeking Yoga info. I love this article! It spoke to me & I’m so glad I happened upon it. Whites everywhere need to see this. They need a lesson from all others on how to stop patronizing, offending, mimicking!! & diminishing our experiences of self-authenticity.
Thanks to the author! Applause
Great article! In my Instagram, I started following with following 1 celebrity yoga, then I added one more, then another more as I found them inspiring…but in the end, I realized that the posts of handstands and those crazy backbends are just to promote you to their workshops. Nice gimmick, but a bit too much…
What did you think? That they were personally going to email you with yoga practice tips or encouragement? I knew that from my days with sports teachers and coaches over the internet. They appeared to take a personal interest in you over the iVillage message boards (which is where I started to get my feet wet with social media, a couple years before Instagram), inviting email queries from you personally. The result: crickets.
Yoga is no different from a highly technical sport. Nobody does anything for free. Yoga is commercialized, commercialized, commercialized. Except for a few holdouts, probably born and bred in India
I needed to add this–Tantra is not just about sexuality.Tantra has two meanings, one is–one tool or technique. Second–one which expands consciousness. The word is grossly misinterpreted since one does not look for the esoteric meaning of various symbols (which are erroneously worshipped in India as gods and goddesses). The half man/half woman Ardhanarinateshwara is about having both passive and active aspects within us – such as the sympathetic and para-sympathetic nervous system, testosterone and estrogens etc. Kali is another symbol which is grossly misunderstood but is an excellent example of matter and energy,time and space,the world as a great burial ground (since people are dying here every second) etc. I digressed a bit but thought it necessary to add. I would never surrender my independence to any Guru since those true Gurus like Jesus, Ramakrishna and others don’t exist any more, but one ancient treatise – Vigyana Bhairava Tantra gives 112 methods of awareness. I believe this existed before Buddha appeared. Best of Luck to all.
Dear author,
I hope I am not too late to join this party. I am also Indian, and I am also extremely disillusioned with what Yoga is in the West. I live in the US. Most of my friends do Yoga, and most of my friends constantly bicker and complain to me to participate. This includes my girlfriend, who is French. I am extremely upset for a couple reasons
1. I too am very offended by this cultural appropriation. There is a difference between understanding and integration vs. monetization and creating “new” types of yoga (I saw this “Bio-feedback yoga” post above and I think that’s a great example). As I’m sure you’re aware, there are a few schools of yogic philosophy with each of them being unique but simultaneously together in their goal – spiritual enlightenment. I will not lie to you and say the health benefits do not motivate me to do yoga, but my primary motivation for doing this would in fact be the spiritual benefits. This is what is missing from essentially EVERY SINGLE “school” I’ve researched.
2. I am extremely skeptical and even disappointed and scared to try yoga with anybody who is not going to emphasize the spiritual points of the practice. This is the piece that upsets me the most – the other day I was talking to my roommate about yoga and how I will not be trained by some “white girl” who thinks its cool because it makes her body look sexy when his girlfriend blurts out “OH you mean like chant and shit? Yeah we do that too [at our class]” I think this is the ultimate example of what hurts and offends me the most about yoga in the West.
3. I finally found some Baba Ramdev videos on YouTube and I was pretty excited to do them. My Hindi isn’t perfect, but I was able to understand the majority of what he was saying. I saw somebody above mention how Ramdev has monetized this business as well and I must say I respectfully disagree. I think he is one of the few (since Iyenger’s death) who truly cares about what yoga is, with his business being something that could theoretically help bring back the important aspects of it.
4. While we (my girlfriend and I) were trying Ramdev’s stuff (I struggled significantly), my girlfriend mentioned how she does not like him because he is going too fast. I agreed, but I adamantly refuse to be taught by some white girl or guy who gives no shits about the spiritual importance of it. I saw another person mention pranayam – this is something absolutely lost on any of my friends who do yoga. None of them know what it is!!! Long story short (and I do apologize, this story is quite long) we got into a pretty big argument and now I am trying to figure out how to learn yoga properly.
What suggestions can you give for where I can learn? My culture, my heritage, and my spirituality are important to me.
Thank you very much.
**tl;dr**: Where the hell can a guy go to learn authentic yoga??????
John,
There are many non-Indian teachers who are authentic, have the academic credentials, are not serving a “lifestyle yoga” like many studios offer. Like I indicated below, there was the late George Feuerstein, a German Indologist (for some reason Germany seems to produce the best Indologists going back to Max Muller, Heinrich Zimmer who was Joseph Campbell’s teacher and others).
Feuerstein passed on in 2012 but the school he founded in Canada is pretty legit. I understand they also offer distance learning options.
http://www.traditionalyogastudies.com
Dear John doe: here’s what you can do: Look for a teacher who’s actually enlightened. Forget about culture, look for a teacher who has something to teach. If you want to learn about culture, read a book, or party with people of your own culture. If you find a teacher who is actually enlightened, then culture will take a back seat, and it wont’ matter if your teacher is a white chick or not.
Thank you for this wonderful article. I can definitely relate. I have been doing yoga for 2 months now. I loved yoga and tried to learn more about it by reading and googling about it. But every time i go to the studio i meet so many people who are insincere both students and teachers. I will continue to do yoga and hope that i find people who are not insincere.
Thank you for this article! I was looking for a ‘no bullshit yoga book’ and landed on this page.
You describe what I feel around certain yoga studios but couldn’t quite put a finger on myself. (I’m from Holland btw) I love doing the yoga practice since it’s a good workout. But there is a narcistic vibe surrounding some yoga studios and yoga retreats these days, preaching ‘entitlement’. I have done both. Narcism is not loving yourself or other people. While I think that exercise is important, emotional emptiness cannot be solved by just doing non stop yoga and devoting your life to it. To me, love is to respect yourself but also others by being genuinely open to criticism.
To illustrate: the studio I have been to is good in teaching the poses, but it also radiates ‘love’, ‘ohms’ and ‘acceptance’. When I look at the teachers from a distance I get the impression that they are walking away from their own latent problems and instead convince themselves that they’re solved by devoting their lives to yoga. When you address criticism, they’re not open to it. Instead, we all love each other and who doesn’t agree is a hater (MY interpretation). Why do I say this? Because I recognized myself in them. I want to tuck my head in the sand, live a protected life and not deal with my own emotional issues. It’s hard to pull yourself away from this kind of warmth when you’re in a vulnerable place.
I’m still struggling with this dilemma, finding a good studio that teaches well but not be brainwashed by their own hype. I admit, I’m just a human with my own narcistic tendencies sometimes!
But back to my original question: can you recommend some no nonsense yoga books?
I’m not a yoga scholar or someone who studies it as deeply as others but one person who was extremely legitimate was the late Georg Feuerstein – his books are excellent. Feuerstein was also a highly respected Indologist so he had the background, history and lineages of yoga down cold. He’s definitely a good starting point.
Yup Just a regular guy read a yoga book and took the poses with me, through the military, poverty, school, work. Though I always got the feeling allot of these yogis were full of s. It’s good to know I wasn’t trippin, Still gonna do the poses never needed a class though.
Dear EER,
While you bring up many good points in the article the fact remains that we as humans are all looking for something that is missing. Yoga, spiritualism, religion, drugs, sex, money, power or even extreme sports are some of the ways we seek to connect to something beyond ourselves and find happiness, enlightenment or peace.
I own a Jivamukti Yoga Center in Jersey City with my partner Austin for the past 18 months. We have over 70 classes a week and like any business we face the challenges that any business owner has – money, employees, keeping a clean and safe environment etc. We both had other careers and opened the center because we wanted to provide a place in a rapidly growing Jersey City for people to come that would give them a few hours break away from their problems and daily challenges and potentially have health benefits too. We also have musical events, lectures, book signings and workshops on a wide variety of subjects. Our center is blessed as we have many Murti that have been gifted to us and have allowed us to create a temple-like environment. We also are proud to have a large brown population that frequents our studio and that population continues to grow.
For the past 18 months I have faced the similar images of bigotry, hypocrisy, insincerity, that come flooding into my mind. As a result, I have had to become a much more compassionate human and try to see myself in everyone who struggles. I have learned to love our students and teachers in spite of or perhaps because of their shortcomings and know that we have changed lives here for the better. This has been and continues to be difficult for me.
I disagree with your Sanskrit comment because even dead languages can give us insights into other ways of thinking and perception. When there are words that cannot easily be expressed in the language that we speak, we wonder why it was important to have a word or phrase that says that thing or represents that concept.
In closing I’d like to say that in order to provide this service, it costs us about $14 per student per student per class to keep the space open and running, and while that may go down as the student population grows, it will be some time before we see any major profits if ever. We provide as many deals and incentives and sales as we can for those on a limited budget.
I hope you find your path whatever that might be. It is very good that you still practice. Please come and visit us in Jersey City if you are ever in this area. We would love to change your perception, if even just a little.
Namaste,
Bobby
Jivamukti Yoga Center Jersey City
While I agree with some of the sentiments in this article (that yoga is becoming a trendy past-time in Western culture, that yoga can become cultish and focus on false-gurus, that the price of the classes restricts its availability to everyone,etc.), I think that the author could have provided a more balanced article by being more fair and compassionate in their criticism.
Now, I’m white and middle class (lower), so I am probably one of the people that this article might depict as practicing yoga un-authentically. However, I, and many of the people I know who practice, started doing yoga not because it was fashionable, but because we were in a point in our lives when we really needed the calming and grounding elements that yoga provides. It wasn’t that we just decided to get some fancy workout clothes and hopped into a class. In fact, it is a rather large financial splurge to treat myself to a yoga class once a month, so a lot of practice is just done at home. Also, we didn’t think we could just “Om” our way to an easy enlightenment, or follow some chic guru and get all the answers. We use yoga as a way of calming our minds enough, and distancing ourselves from this hectic Western-world mentality enough, so that we can try to find our own answers. And I don’t think there is anything wrong with people using whatever tools they can (yoga, meditation, etc.) to help themselves be more peaceful and understanding.
Another point made in this article was cultural appropriation/mis-appropriation. Because I am only me, I can’t fully understand what other ethnicities feel when they see a part of their culture being used by people of other cultures, but I can see how they might be upset. However, please remember that people are all trying to find a way of improving their existence, and that if your methods resonate with us, we aren’t trying to insult you. We are simply trying to find a way to live in this difficult world.
Finally, pretty much every yoga studio I know offers free days and classes, so while this article does make the valid point that the average working person might not be able to afford a year’s membership, there are almost always options open that are free or have reduced rates, so that that anyone, no matter what their finances are, can take part in yoga classes.
Preach! This has been my orientation, also. I was never the person who had “latte money” rattling around in my purse. In face, I have plans to ditch cable TV very soon. Living in an expensive part of the U.S. makes peons of most. Only the mass media makes it seem that we ALL are keeping these SoHo exclusive exercise boutiques in business—or for that matter, even Yoga to the People.
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@Hanumanbob
Sanskrit is not a dead language. There are remote vilages in india where you find great vedic scholars who have learned through oral tradition who still speak sanskrit. In fact there are villages in India where even non hindus speak sanskrit. There are still many yogis in india away from the bustle and din of cities who still speak flawless sanskrit. I would say it is the politics in India that attempts to keep the language dead. Curious to know why my previous comment was not posted.
I am from that place born & raised , there are twin villages in Karnataka: Hosahalli and Mattur. These are in Shimoga district in Karnataka. I live in Canada now. People have to wake up and all these arguments on this Blog about Yoga is childish. Visit one of these villages and understand Yoga and ancient wisdom,
everyone speaks Sanskrit here. Its not mat Yoga but their lives revolves around this ancient wisdom
Check this link: very interesting
http://undiscoveredindiantreasures.blogspot.ca/2012/05/mattur-village-where-people-converse-in.html
Exactly shubha this is what i was pointing out. I have seen a few yogis who live in forests(In Ahobilam in Andhrapradesh and chaturtagiri forests in Tamil Nadu both south of india) and practice yoga in seclusion. I once went out to the 2nd place and to my surprise found a group of Westerners from Shivananda yoga from Rishikesh also there. I guess they were all from America based on their accents. I was planning a week away and staying in the hut of a real yogi whom i had known for years. These group of people also wanted me to introduce them to him and i did so. They, with the help of my translation conveyed to him that they wanted to learn yoga from him. He said that it would be difficult for them to do so, but they persisted. Then the yogi accepted. But for the 3 days they were there he only asked them to get up early in the morning (3.30-4.00am), bath, collect wood for cooking from the forest etc etc. Just hard physical labour initially. But the 2nd day these people accused the man of misusing them. They said they expected to learn asanas, pranayama etc and not do menial stuff. By next day they had become mean. The yogi called me and asked me what was all the fuss these people were making. I told him. He said initially you had to practic Yama and Niyama a of which patience and humiluty or the cornerstone. But this was not acceptable to these group of westerners.
So in reality, it is really really difficult to practice true yoga. And the practice is intended only for people who enter the Vanaprasta ashrama(Stage of the forest hermit). It is a far cry from the mat/yoga-pants yoga being practiced in the west and also by the Indian urban elite in glossy studios. Real yogis don’t teach people so easily. They test your eligibility to the utmost before taking you up.
Makes the “Wax on, wax off” ethos of the Mr. Miyagi character in The Karate Kid, look downright commercial in comparison. The work the kid had to do before he was taught. So the martial arts, similar. And, even still, Shivananda is one of the relatively spiritual, old-school kinds of yoga …
But, then again, learning yoga for “free” is some of the concern here. The spiritual tourists/retreatants are not immune from the lure … of the free – if not of the “local color” … An Eat Pray Love orientation, to some extent.
This points up as to one big reason why yoga is not taught for $free – and even more so that “energy exchanges” are no longer in fashion like they were … it doesn’t solve the concern but it does point up enough of the differences …
I’m not sure you should speak to or make analogies to martial arts if you have no experience of such. As a martial artist of some extended experience and time, It’s my perception that your comments are off the mark. The Karate Kid WAS learning martial arts the entire time he waxed vehicles; in fact, deeply so, and not just (nore most importantly) on the physical level. I have been involved for a good while in both martial arts and yoga and I can tell you that the two are nothing alike on many levels. In fact, some of the non-corporeal aspects are as far apart, at opposite poles, as any two things can be.
Btw, in this corner of the world, there is much yoga being offered for free. You could experience it pretty regularly without cost at different locales and with different guides. There is also a strong but not fully tapped commitment to paying forward to allow ‘community contribution’ of activities, food, etc. We are perhaps fortunate in this. But the ethos of yoga would seem to lend those who engage in it to develop this approach both in the West and in the East. It’s a little surprising that this isn’t already an endemic part of the landscape.
Btw i do not practice yoga and i had gone to learn the Vedas from him
I think there is a lack of clarity about yoga and many people who could benefit from yoga are intimidated or freaked-out by the crazy stuff. Yet seekers will find and read Iyengar and Krishnamacharya. I am doing my small part to make yoga more clear to Americans and have a created a free 20 minute yoga practice at http://www.yogapilots.com. No Sanskrit, fancy pants or lifestyle required. I tried to make it practical and clear. I would greatly appreciated anyone’s feedback on the practice.
Seems like a lot of self-righteous, judgmental BS in the article and the comments here. Everyone should just be what or who they are, and experience a practice in a whay that resonates for them, and not subscribe to some dogma or set of sacred cows. In the end there’s no ‘right way’ to do anything, and no ownership of some pathway or point of view, except for what speaks to and what works for each person. If it’s not your cup of tea, fine, find your way and those who can connect to what you want to be about. But stop judging others and setting up a superior/inferior dynamic. Indian culture has come a long way from tight embrace of cast structure and condescension, but clearly there’s still a good bit of the journey left to go.
p.s There’s nothing surprising about a sea of white exploring yoga and subcontinental culture/spirituality in the West, than a sea of brown doing so in the East. That’s the genetics of the population. It should be exciting that many non Indians are interested in exploration, and an engaging teaching moment! maybe don’t sneer at/condemn people who have less awareness: share what you know and spread what you want to see. You don’t have to put down to build yourself up, you have so much to offer the unknowing. Even if they’re goofy and clueless when you do so. They’re just unconsciously incompetent. If you want to see more skin colors in Western yoga practice, take action – create/participate in a yoga co op or collective; bring to life community and urban yoga on a sliding scale basis; help foster pro bono yoga sessions for urban single moms and their daughters or parents and kids. It’s so easy to knock what is going on; instead, be involved in creating the solutions to what you don’t like. Don’t wait for others — show the way.
Well tiniertina, i too had to work there when i learned the Veda from him. Hard work. The scariest part was to collect wood from the forest in darkness at 4am. This is were the concept of the “Guru” and your total surrender to him comes into picture with full force. Probably difficult for a person brought up in a western ethos to accept. I guess they were lured by the “authentic” nature of the yoga that was taught. Yes shivananda is one of the relatively spiritual, old-school kinds of yoga as you say. But unfortunately in many centers even in India you find only western students are a majority than Indian. Also to some extent they have diluted the actual discipline you need to have for actual yoga practice to suite westerners. Just to clarify this guy was an independent yogi, not from Shivananda. The westerners were from Shivananda
PREACH, SISTER! So much love for your post! I was snapping my fingers at every point you made, because you said word for word what I have thought (and felt) for many years! And it isn’t even just Indian culture, there are many ethnic cultures that are completely bastardized by American media.
I used to feel angry and pessimistic all the time, and it was so unhealthy. After a few years of living in the U.S. though, I learned how to cope by simply laughing it off or rolling my eyes at all the cultural appropriation I witnessed. I would take photos of racist products that clearly stereotyped my culture, and learn to laugh at their ignorance, instead of feeling only hurt.
But sometimes, this shit still gets to me, and, when it does, you have pegged down exactly how it feels and why it’s wrong. I have so much love for you, hugs from one minority to another 🙂
Thanks, great read – Don’t try the yoga retreats in Ireland then!
https://rediscoverireland.wordpress.com/2015/07/19/why-yoga-retreats-in-ireland-are-a-load-of-bollox/
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I think its disgusting how these sad white people in the West are literally HIJACKING the Hindu/Indian culture for their own gain….
Its not like the poor of India gain anything from these sad, depressed souls chanting Om and doing Yoga.
They should be ashamed of themselves, especially when you consider how racist Americans, Brits , Australians and Westerners in general are to real Indians….
I think its very sad and I cringe when I see Non Indians literally convinced they’re Indian – but dont live with the baggage of having brown skin and an accent
Well written. I enjoyed this. I am so sick of people thinking yoga is about how ‘good’ your down dog is or how well you yoga. It makes me want to throw up. As always it is about the journey inside. Let’s be honest, most people are afraid of looking inside because most times they won’t like what they see. Thank you for this article, I hope more people read it!
Thanks for this well written piece. I too am Indian and love yoga because of it’s health benefits and I feel much better for doing it, but now I just practice it at home. I’m based in the UK, and you’re right, yoga, spirituality, meditation, healing in the West is generally for the rich, hedonistic and narcissists. The hippy, musicians and festival culture is all interwined with it too. I’m feeling disillusioned with it all at the moment.
The tipping point was meeting someone who portrays themself to be spiritual, a healer, tantric, musician, poet, vegan (loves animals) and a yoga teacher (who spent a year in some yoga retreat in Thailand). So you would think wonderful person right? Wrong! All the above traits plus a few more came out.
Ha! Right on and so true! As a skinny, white chick who has reaped much physical and emotional benefit from Jivamukti asanas; I too have witnessed the ridiculous underbelly of the yoga scene. I’ve seen yoga instructors storm out of rooms I’m jealous rages when visiting yogis took attention from them. I’ve seen rappers and surfer dudes take up yoga because yoga class is the new ladies’ night. I’ve seen clueless white chicks set up Bikram shop in studios with carpet and steam generators (three months to mold infestation) and if I hear that one more Mary Smith anoint herself Magdalena Ganesha I will dry heave. That said, like everything that attracts groups, from Catholicism to online college, there are both good and bad eggs in the bunch. I’m going to keep on getting what I can out of the good eggs and try not to get sucked into the bad. Thank you for a great read. You speak the truth. Namaste!
Namaste!! I am ethnically INDIAN (BHARATIYA) and I totally agree with the article, there are many fancy flavor of YOGA (which is authentically pronounced as YOG or YOGASAN) coming up, like Bikram, Hot, Hanging, Mountain, Beach, etc., because with only 200 hours of lesson and test you can be an instructor and are ready to open your own studio. And I can only watch the slow destruction on the concept of YOGA by the money minded people.
Just one correction, INDIA was not unified by British it was done before by Chanakya and Chandragupta Maurya, Bharatvarsha was the stretch of land from now what is now-Afganistan though to the Eastern part, we do not have enough documentation as our ancient books were destroyed by different invaders
Interesting article and discussion, although I have to say that the yoga world described here is quite different from my yoga world. I’m a 200-hr certified teacher and lead classes in an adult ed program in rural Michigan, where the average age of my class of 12 regular students is probably 75 and at any given time I have students with double hip replacements, artificial knees, rotator cuff surgery, severe arthritis, and any number of other problems related to aging. No chanting, no “Om’s”. “Savanasa” is the only Sanskrit word I use, and I don’t even attempt to get my students to achieve “perfect” alignment because none of them could come close. We do meditation at the beginning and end of class, practice pranayama, go through modified versions of many traditional poses, and I watch them like a hawk for safety issues.. We have fun, the students get a workout, I manage to introduce a little yogic philosophy, and it all seems like a good fit. The students pay either $3 or $5 per class and I get 70%, so in a good month I make $400. I’m 66 yrs old and on Social Security and pension, so I can obviously afford to subsidize the cost of the classes to some extent. When I read that people pay $1200 for a yearly studio membership, or spend thousands for a weekend retreat on some island, I just roll my eyeballs.
Well you lot are a bundle of laughs,thanks I won’t be taking up yoga anytime soon.
Hi there
I read the whole article and started thinking about all the issues in it. I’m not sure anyone has a right to claim they own yoga, does anyone actually know the exact origins? Yes it came from India, but does the mean only Indians can practise it? In that case we should only stick to customs that come from our own country and wear only our own traditional clothes. A lot of people in India wear western clothes, should they then stop that if westerners can’t wear saris? some yoga classes are expensive definitely but then if they don’t charge money they won’t be able to hire premises or pay rates or have a phone line? If a studio is in central London or new York then the prices will reflect that. When I go to a yoga class here in Ireland i too notice not many ethnic faces, but that’s because it’s a white country! I don’t think you should blame the White people for that. Maybe it has lost it’s original meaning but it has gathered up many new meanings that I think are very important these days in modern times. For example helping sports injuries, back pain, people with cancer, new mums, pregnant women, the list goes on and on. Yoga is amazing helpful and therapeutic and maybe not everyone will reach enlightenment doing it, I’m sure this is also the case in India? Isn’t it practised competitively there too? Surely that’s not very yogic. Hasn’t it got one of the highest rape rates in the world? Definitely I agree with the poseur side of it, people in very skimpy outfits and showing off all the poses they can do while people gawp in awe, but I’ve met some brilliant teachers here in Ireland who have found great insights into life and been given tools to help them become better people. Not perfect people but better, if more people got into yoga and got that from it then the world would be a better place. You don’t have to twach yoga in prisons to be a good yoga teacher, but you could do a bit of karma yoga to give back, helping others is central to the principles. It’s what it is today, some good and some bad but it’s still a great thing to get into, have fun with it and don’t take it too seriously, be your own guru and teacher. I’m not sure is be into wine yoga or anything like that. That’s maybe going really far down the wrong road. Naked yoga too, doesn’t appeal to me! Unless you are a nudist then it’s normal but otherwise it seems silly and gimicky. And commercial. But where does offer a true authentic yoga experience? Does such a thing exist?
I am an indian and i read your whole article . Your passion for yoga is one thing, your arguments is one thing, your opinion here is one thing. Westerners do not give anything free ( in most cases) like we Indians think yoga is free.It hurts me as well sometimes but if you do not loose your focus you can yourself develop own yoga studio and show the world what is real!!
I’ve been doing Yoga for almost a year. I’ve been doing it primarily for weight loss and for my blood pressure. I am a plus sized woman so I definitely don’t fit into the mold of most practitioners of Yoga. It has helped me a lot. As well as relieve a lot of my daily stresses in my life. I agree the prices for some of the studios are quite high. I managed to get a discounted deal to take some yoga classes at a studio and I love the various yoga classes available. It is sadly part of Western society that yoga is like most things something you have to pay for. However, I don’t intend to become a westernized East Indian, that’s not me. I am proud of my Irish and Scottish heritage and will continue to be my own Western self. Just a western individual that likes Yoga.
I think you have disabled comments but will give it a try anyway. I am a white girl who found Kundalini yoga before yoga became The Thing in North America. Perhaps I am not brown enough for it, but for me it felt like coming home and it is a practice that likely saved my life and has enriched it continuously ever since. I was fortunate enough to have a fantastic initial teacher (also a white girl) who was devout and committed to the holistic approach of yoga.
I, too, have had a problem with it as it became the next big thing and so commercialized but have just stayed true to myself.
I get all of what you are saying, but I do want to note that the reason I love Sanskrit and chanting in Sanskrit is because that brilliant and generous initial teacher instructed that a sacred language is one where the vibration of the word creates the meaning within the body via its resonance. I loved that! I don’t know if it is The Truth or not, but for me, the practice was set apart as a beautiful practice and the idea that something like that should be discarded culturally is tragic to me.
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Humans always going to get duped. Its his desire of magic makes him gullible and weak.
Secret to power is Honesty. Every human is honest up to a level. We are not hardcore honest enough to lose ourself.
Until then you will get to stick to anywhere.
When you have arrive, You will realize , you know more than any human in the history.
How?
It is a state when you will have no question or answers.
You do not need yoga or meditation or anything for that matter
Find why you have question , find why you are looking for answer
My understanding is the Yoga Sutra’s were written in Sanskrit. That’s a pretty good reason to learn Sanskrit, in my opinion. (I also believe western Christians would benefit greatly from learning Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin as well as actually educating themselves as completely as possible in the history of all religions, not just their own). There is merit in seeking out and establishing a solid cognitive framework regarding any authentic spiritual tradition, practice and/or technique (it is possible the organized, politicized versions of the Abrahamic traditions are almost entirely void of these. On purpose. ) And even though any and all concepts are merely mental constructs, not all mental constructs are created equally. Some inspire one to practice. And practice is the realm in which direct experience occurs. Genuine spiritual practice is about piercing the bullshit and attempting to EXPERIENCE reality. To be. Unfortunately, like you said, there’s no real fast track. Relating directly with reality as it is arising requires sustained effort. My words will fall hollow if one has no direct experience with which to correlate the concept. That’s why we meditate. Asana’s are designed (after several other extremely important foundational practices) to lead to prolonged meditation. Our body IS or karma. It is our congealed karma. Our body and cultivating the capacity to experience reality directly, intimately, and for sustained periods via our bodies IS the path, the journey, and the result. We start where we are. And for most of us humans( brown, white, yellow, red pink, or, blure) where we are is…. a hot mess. Our external perception of reality is highly distorted. This little me, this little you is a lie. But it’s a lie that feels damn true. And real. And solid. We actually have no idea who and what we are, let alone that we are the ones creating all this, do we? Exploring the inner terrain through prolonged meditation is actually the beginning of the journey to truth. AND ASANA’S help. They just do. So what if a bunch of people have objectified and distorted and green slimed it all up in their own minds? OF COURSE THEY DID! That’s what EGOS do. Everything becomes a thing and once it’s a thing you’re fucked. Period. No one actually believes they have been spoon fed dogma and that what they believe makes them good, cool, healthy, worthy of love, whatever….is just good old spiritual materialism and the ego playing with a new toy. To bad. But….and this is a big but… if one honestly seeks truth, the ego can’t distract you forever. To me it’s not about any of that hot yoga, llulumon spandex, chai tea drinking, hummus eating, birkenstocks wearing, sportin dreads but driving a hummer bullshit. Monkey mind might think it’s all about yoga cruises and findyourhippiesoulmate.com. but it’s not. And who gives a shit what monkey mind thinks anyway? If I told you youre gonna practice, wake up, and then there gonna kill you, would you do it anyway? Red pill or blue pill? You didn’t ask for my advice but here it is: Keep coming back to your body, your breath, and to your practice….whatever it is. And don’t stop. Ever.
(I wanna say Namaste right now. Cause I’m an Asshole and it’s funny. You know it is. 😜)
Isn’t yoga about your own personal journey? If your getting something out of it, and you feel as though it is helping you live out your life in a more positive way, I say go for it! Yoga is about no harm to yourself and others, no judgement. My view is that more and more westerners are doing yoga more frequently and it is becoming very popular. In a general yoga classI have learnt so much about myself; calmness, connecting and understanding my mind and body, and these are lessons we all need to take. I think this yoga craze potentially may make many of us become more present and change this world for the better. Not sure why it has to be looked upon so negatively and harshly.
As an 18 year old starting out my “search”, I attended classes at my local yoga studio as a way to stay in shape and relieve stress. What ended up happening was shocking to say the least. In no way am I saying that a male yoga teacher is super human, and is exempt from having physical desires, yet I found both the male and female teachers to be extremely egotistical and immoral in their behaviors. Luckily I did not get trapped into their emotional and/or sexual advances.
As a Jewish young woman, I was never asked about who I was, but instead, these “leaders” were focused on converting their students to their narrow definition of what “right” is. The “conversion” was subtle. It was all in the name of inner peace and “world” peace. As time went on, you started slowly to make friendships and connections in the class. Upon closer reflection, you started to see that many of the teachers and colleagues were plagued by drug addictions and family traumas that were still tormenting them. They used yoga now as a band aid instead of really working on their character traits.
Our Jewish faith shares the beleif of ultimate surrender. This surrender is to G-d. Never to another man of flesh and blood.
This was a lesson I learned upon seeing people give up their lifesavings and entire life times away.
Does that sound right?
This is more prevalaent than we care to discuss.
I think it is just the tip of the iceburg.
We will hear of many more stories of people realizing that no person should attempt to control or force anyone to do anything that they do not feel comfortable doing.
This is the place where they abuse the most. They claim, if you are uncomfortable doing this, then it is a sign that you should come out of your safe place and do what i am suggesting. Its a mind game.
These somehow were the leaders we were supposed to look up to.
I started to see that their speeches and their actions were very different.
Your goal was to be “who they were” and anything else was strongly frowned down upon. I have half a lifetime of experience in the yoga world.
I attended the BKS Iyengar Teacher training, and when I requested a religious exemption since I could not write my exam on the Sabbath, the “yoga master” smugly said, well then you can take ti tomorrow during lunch, knowing full well that it would mean I would have to miss eating the next day.
Kindness and “ahimsa”. Not the best way to treat anyone, let alone your student who is paying you with her hard earned money to get a certification.
After all of those experiences I have found my own personal connection to G-d, and feel connected to other people of all faiths. I see that there are people who like controlling others. They get pleasure in putting other people down. It is a shame that many of the yoga “leaders” have been brainwashed from the outset, they have no idea how limited their mindsets are.
Forgiveness and prayer are important, and I do pray for those lost souls who are stuck in yoga cults or any type of cult that claims it will “free” you. No one else, nor can any group you belong to, free you from your limitations. That is totally your work. and thank goodness, I found mentors along the way who were there for me. I pray I can help others who are finding themselves. Thanks Leah
great article. i really enjoyed reading this. thanks for sharing!
Great article. We need more awareness of this plague because the followers who are wasting so much time, energy, and money following “gurus”, who are not spiritually advanced themselves and only looking to profit, are only doing themselves damage by creating more maya and getting themselves further away from the spritual progress they are trying to achieve. It’s very sad. There should be certain things that are off limits to the capitalist system and spirituality is one of them.
Little bit of a limited researched article when the biggest con artist in yoga is bikram with what they charge for training excluding pranayama and meditation and these classes holding the most students within them with no instruction other than on the physical asana..yet directed by an Asian yogi? The west have ruined yoga yes but this includes Asian people themselves involved in the industry X
Last I heard, capitalism was race neutral ! LOL
Great article! I completed my yoga teacher training in 2004 and 6 months later dropped the sanskrit and the felt uncomfortable with the level of reverence to a culture most students and teachers knew nothing about. I love yoga, i teach fun classes that encourage people to let go of competition and laugh at my crap jokes. i hope I make a comfy space for a comfy practice. That is more spiritual in my eyes than any cultural references.
Sadly this led to me distancing myself from the local yoga community and their weird new age bullshit. I couldn’t take them seriously. It also, more amusingly, has led to several odd confrontations with traditionalist students.
One who asked me earnestly on her first day, ‘But how do you cope with the flooring issue?’ (the room had tiles not floorboards). She didn’t come back.
Another guy who told me the sanskrit for two poses during the class and then at the end of class where I say “Thanks guys’ instead of namaste, he loudly proclaimed ‘NAVASANA’. I cracked up, he never came back.
Ah well, you win some you lose some….
We talk about a lot of these issues. To me, the biggest root issue I see in this article is this fear that yoga has no value if it’s not authentic. Let’s just assume none of it goes back more than a few decades. So what? If you make friends and get plugged into a sense of spirit, does it matter if it’s authentic or not? all the ways of accessing that sense of the transcendent are just tricks, like crossing your eyes until you can see those dots on Magic Eye turn into a three D image. But the trick works. Being there in that place is real, event if it takes you believing in some two bit fake, she really got you to that place.
Hey, I’m fairly cross-eyed. NO amount of wishing it were so, gets Magic Eye to work for me. Ever. My gaze never, ever softens. I can barely use many binoculars. I need actual 3-D glasses and a movie to see things emerging from a 2 dimensional image. When you’ve lived long enough on this earth (in my case, well over 50 years …) you will see that every one is different. Some eyes (including 3rd Eyes) accept no substitutes, or shall we say, blatant substitutes.
I arrived at Bangalore around 1971, and stayed at the ashram or was at the ashram for 3 months, Sai Baba was a enigma, I could not get what I thought of him, it was confusing, around about 1992 by chance I read in the Age Newspaper he Sai Baba was exposed, straight away I got it the mystery now uncovered,he like all the Guru ult were all somewhat fraudulent, the basis of the Western mind having been conditioned by there culture were susceptible to cults and so called mystics? the Western societies had become so indoctrinated with materialistic ideology, the point is the whole of Western capitalism had gone on a path and now almost all is lost.
Sai Baba was a crook to the day he died. My ex tried to convince me he was somehow magical or an avatar by recounting a third-hand story about how Sai Baba “magically” made a ruby ring appear and gave it to some devotee of his. I tried to show him that was done by sleight of hand and this educated engineer who is among the top 10 in his profession in the world (if not the top 3) became incensed and could not step outside his belief in the “holiness” of this charlatan. My ex had a ‘fro for years specifically because he was modelling Sai Baba.
His brother-in-law, also an engineer, had actually not lived with his wife and family for decades because Sai Baba sent him to a foreign country to MAKE MORE MONEY FOR SAI BABA, and specifically WOULD NOT allow him to bring with him his wife and children because it would cost more money for him to support them there than it did to keep them in India. He lived in a rented room for decades and sent most of his money to Sai Baba. Really really horrible person.
Pyewacket, I understand your frustration, I know scientists and highly esteemed individuals and qualified people were and I assume still are convinced by Gurus like Sai Baba, in the 60s, many such as myself having gone through WW2 in London, became traumatized not so much by the bombing of London but more so the adults became a mystery as to the taboos of this peculiar situation.
As a result, many looked for the answer of what is the nature of man? individuals as RD Laing, came to prominence, it has been some time to work through all these individuals who seemed to know.
To outline the condition I now live in and what my psychological situation is too complex to state here, what I can say is the general situation today is overwhelming insomuch as corruption is so extensive that it is a feat to remain sane within the context of worldwide insanity.
What is your opinion on transcendental meditation? I am totally confused.. I hear good and bad… Christian non christian… I have no idea who is right
I know lots of people swear by it, but honestly most major cities these days offer tons of different workshops on how to meditate, at community centers, Buddhist temples etc. that I just don’t think it’s worth a few hundred bucks to learn TM. There’s a bit of a culty aspect to the TM movement which also makes me a bit weary.
Meditation will take you so far and will allude you as becoming a path to higher consciousness, this is not to say can have some benefit for th of being indoctrinated by the culture you e adept[. the problem with all so called spiritual paths is the problem of what we are conditioned to believe or the programing of the brain as to what is? unless you have gone to the brink of insanity and returned with some effort existence will remain elusive.
The present leaders politically and those who are gurus are all part of the of the delusion, why? the desire to become a star of prominence are for the most part deluded, what these individuals desire is the satisfaction of persuading the unenlightened that they have the answer.
There is something to be said for reflection and contemplation in terms of is other than the assumption of what is.
If we look at philosophers such as Locke who had a input of the American Constitution and guns, the problem with his ideology is he had no idea what could become a problem with a serious armed population and automatic weapons and the problem of governments having resources of such fire power such as nuclear shells and tanks? for example that although his intention was of a moral ideology and question, it is beyond the scope for this philosopher to grasp the future conditions and possibility of the problem of technology.
As we consider conditions such as Brexit? the young we are told have been compromised by the older British citizens? the problem with the young is they have not lived long enough to realize the corruption of most if not all world governments, the elders are smart enough to have experienced more time to know? barring those who are incapacitated as often not taking on problems of a society that is in a serious condition as a result of propaganda and cruelty for the few whom are obsessed by power.
You article was entertaining, funny and somewhat true. I’m an indian man and started doing Yoga a few months ago as a gift from my sister. I love the practice now and enjoy the company of the people in the studio. I’ve learned to laugh at life because it’s not that serious but it’s funny seeing people that are not indian, chanting the chants I remember hearing at poojas, but I think it’s beautiful that people that are not indian find some value in something not native to them. Everyone is trying to find some sort of pleasure or meaning in life and that’s great. Lots of people where I live go to expensive retreats to be quiet, drink 20 dollar turmeric milks and talk about chakras a lot, but these same people have found some measure of peace that works for them. Thanks for your article, it was well received
The problem with Westerners or what ever you call them is they love outside cultures and look for meaning outside there culture, it is a misnomer to think it is somewhere else? the colonist thought indoctrination creates this illusion, a major problem within the Western culture is the drug called money, it has all the trappings of what drugs create, although not identified as a drug is the the worst drug, it is so extensive that many individuals look elsewhere to find “themselves” as a main problem they have no time to listen to another point of view that challenges the assumptions of what is? but when it comes to say a Indian guru or some other exotic brand be it Tibetan or what? usually the guru has to have a peculiar voice aberration to sound convincing, the propaganda in the West being all consuming and lies stick.
It is hardly surprising individuals are confused and resort to oddities such as the sort of teachers that for some time having become imports from abroad to show us the way, it may surprise some to think the author of this letter would include RD Laing, Rum Das, Trumpa, Krishnamurti, The Pope, Sai Baba, and a myriad of those who are supposedly to be the lights of consciousness, the work to question our societies regulations of what is assumed as normality or correctness is far from the truth.
Is it of surprise Westerners seek solace from outside there culture to “to get it”?
I started yoga at ten following along with Richard Hittleman on a black and white TV set with my mother. I’ve practiced ever since at many different studios. Now I practice mostly at home because I can’t find good studios anymore.
In the worst example the teacher here in Portland, OR, a young woman of about 25, was much more concerned with choosing the next song on her phone for her yoga class soundtrack than she was about the quality of the practice of her students. If her students were uninjured while holding their positions it was due to youthful resilience. There was no correction happening. It was a free for all.
Not all studios are as bad as that, but still I have found the faux spirituality, the forced calmness and the lack of professionalism – the lack of good, solid teaching – simply astonishing.
Over 45 years I have watched yoga divide and specialize. It’s very American to latch onto a special ‘style’. It’s very important for people to identify with their particular type of yoga. Unfortunately good teaching seems to be going by the wayside.
This winter I plan to take a teacher training course. I’m retired and I have the time. If even just part time, I’d like to bring back some of that old fashioned no-nonsense Hatha Yoga.
Readers can assume your state of advanced spiritual attainments warrant that long ago you would have been a good teacher if yoga, having said that the good old days are all but a mythology I think, with Iyenga, and Light on Yoga, I suggest he was a fairly advanced not only in Hatha Yoga but also his ego, having left many injured and no book has addressed this issue, what we must take into account is that although the Universe is relatively infinite in scale, there is only one dimension larger than the Universe? that is Mans ego, having no limits on delusion of self.
Thanks for writing this post. A lot of what you said is why I have stopped teaching and have looked to other various practices for personal growth. And to those don’t understand, I’ll only use the word “privilege.”
Turtlehiking, also thank you, I am not sure of what you mean by personal growth? can you give a example of personal growth? my view is, if personal growth a sort of industry such as a course or workshop that requires a fee that is significant in cost one must ask the question? as to whether the course or in the name of a religion or otherwise the individual running this has a motive of financial gain as a main motive or are involved for personal power? even so if you are aware of this and comfortable with this then go ahead.
Second point, where ever you are as a individual you are faced with the intrinsic peculiarities that require a solution to existence that is difficult for any to give the key to unlocking this riddle of enlightenment?
Third point, you may know? or you may not know that you do know? you may well be a good teacher for many at the level you are teaching and whilst pursuing self development is no reason not to teach.
The word privilege is important as to what this means also corruption is well worth consideration.
Personal growth in terms of mental, emotional, and physical (especially being a chronic disability). So this carries into your other 2 points. Thank you.
although i do not disagree with much of what you said, i hear a lot of anger and judgement in it, particularly as it pertains to the color of people’s skin. My advice is do your journey and allow others to do theirs. it will all work out in the end.
I wrote this post in 2012, some things have changed and some have not.
Thank you for this. Yoga is destroying my relationship. The vanity involved and the self righteousness has changed my once loving and caring fiancé, into a self involved, preachy vain yoga monster. It has driven a wedge between us because I’m “not on the path”. I am a blue collar construction worker struggling to make a living, I work very hard for honest money. Now, I am being held to a standard my fiancé sees at all her yoga classes. Rich, fancy clothes and cars etc. I have grown to resent the white yoga culture, developed a hatred for $150 yoga pants, anger at the sight of mala beads worn as a fashion statement. I meditate and always have since I can remember to center myself in this stress filled world, and was blown away when my fiancé had the nerve to tell me, I was doing it wrong. This article has helped me find peace in a world I feel completely alone in. I understand the amazing health and mind benefits that yoga offers, but am sick and tired of the high horse that some ride.
Thank you
The Hippie movement suffered the same fate? the Hippies started well in terms of ideology of stuff like make love not war! however fashion or the outer husk took over with long hair, beads and the outer garb of the look? and yoga is the same becoming a club, back in the 50s and 60s yoga had the same problems and I remember Arthur Balaskas, was a hit on British TV as a yoga teacher having put a lot of stuff up his nose and just could not keep his private member under wraps any skirt was fair play, eventually the police took up with him and he got charged with drug offenses, its all happened before, beware of those who claim they have got it.
The debate about Yoga being a legitimate career is interesting. I have an ex-girlfriend who is a yoga teacher. I am sure she sponges off her husband and really doesn’t support her family with the little money she earns with Yoga at the YMCA. It’s not a sport, let’s face it, corporate powers will pay millions for pro-football and baseball etc. Finally. Yoga does not support injuries and healing the way it has made itself out to. I injured my back. Yoga is too dangerous and actually can harm you if you have Spinal Steonis. It’s actually dangerous for bad backs, shoulder injuries. The yoga industry has told a lot of white lies about the benefits. Besides being able to do impossible poses there really isn’t any. Don’t listen to paid for ads on PBS. Yoga is questionable. Sorry it’s true.
As I have written before Yoga I mean such yoga practice as Hatha, has no book that I know as a serious publication of injuries which is numerous.
I suggest yoga is often about individuals who having doubt about their autonomy decide to become involved in a cult as a signal to those around them as a superior ideology and they become convinced or not they are superior as a human being to others, you may find individuals such as a teacher of yoga in the early 70s as Balaskas on British TV all so amusing in time to think all what a sham? or shame?
I attended as a viewer the author of Light on Yoga? performing yoga this is back in the 60s, I suggest all teachers since WW2 are all suspect one thing they fail to grasp is today’s world? there focus is entirely on themselves and a failure to understand the world we live in today.
I’m a westerner and white and I must agree. I love yoga but I won’t break my bank for these yoga places that are hear because they trying to make a mint off this trend. It’s ashame, because this a beautiful practice, that has really helped, but then again I got very lucky to meet a lovely man named Mahesh, who works for Aldi and in his spare time teaches a yoga class at the YMCA. He could make more money elsewhere, but his class isn’t trendy. He doesn’t burn incense or candles, it’s not hot, and he does not speak in a calming voice. He’s actually kind of loud, he laughs a lot, and that kind of laugh that you know he’s truly enjoying life, and he makes you work, no excuses! This is exactly what people need, a place with a class where everyone supports one another and you look forward to going, because no one cares if you are wearing lulumon or sweat pants, and you work hard even if it’s just to hold the pose for a second longer than you did last time. It was a great experience! But I know that this is not how most places or classes are, and that’s just a shame. Also I do want to note that this class I took at the YMCA was very diverse, especially considering there is not a huge population of non white people, but we had Japanese, Indian, and African American people, young, old, and inbetween, men and women!
It is true—you could find the yoga in anything at all; I had to give up yoga for the most part, in favor of cardio. I had to give up working at a regular full-time job, in favor of writing. You can find the yoga in anything. Yes, even karma yoga … putting yourself out there in the world, with no expectations …
Well put tiniertina, I love you.
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I took a yoga class in my friend’s living room in Mumbai. His mom was a yoga instructor and taught classes to people in the village. She welcomed us and we were the only foreigners. I told this story when I came back to America and this was the response of a Caucasian female ( I am Filipino btw):
Girl: That is so cool. But where does yoga originate from?
Me: ummm..India
Girl: omg I didn’t know it was an Indian thing!
Shake my damn head!
Anyway, I would love to find a legit yoga teacher next time I go India. If you have any advice, I’d love it. Thank you. Love the post!
There are no legitimate of yoga in India, there are teachers that have varying types of yoga and all relative to what is so? the highest teachers will be found in the West but these teachers would be unknown as such.
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Western teachers have always tried to bring a new paradim of Yoga, because any new trend sells! they have tried to create a profession , job and what not crap out of it. These models cannot define Yoga they are bound to fail and to those certified Yoga teachers who claim to save the world will be filled with guilt because what they teach in studios is some bunch of exercises and nothing close to Yoga, Because Yoga cannot be taught in those studios. If one is true practitioner of Yoga and such discipline is very private and personal. So these certified Yoga Instructors have no authority to redefine what Yoga is and Absolutely have no right to misrepresent this ancient discipline. Yoga is not a practice it is a disciple . I even feel nauseated when these people try to pretend chanting Sanskrit mantra, even they cannot pronounce ‘NAMASTE’ as it should be. Any kind of stretching and exercises will make you feel good, a simple walk in fresh air is even better, it doesn’t have to be labeled Yoga. As always some Indians are having identity crisis are quick to imitate West, so such phony Yoga teachers are showing up in India as well.. If you are a true seeker the journey will be private, personal and not easy. Having said there are still few real teachers left on this face of earth, who can only guide you.
Fuck yoga! Go for a goddamn run, hike, or walk round’ your block. I hate the cultural appropriation around yoga. “The great white enlightened yoga instructor!!!!” Drop em’ off in SW Detroit and they’ll learn about diversity real quick if they don’t gentrify Detroit!!!!!!
This was a well written article that entails the problem with western yoga adherents in general, particularly the inclusiveness of it all.
In fact I have even seen yoga establishments operated by white folks who have none to hardly any Indians there and these establishments are actually in India particularly in Goa – One of these places is called Purple Valley Yoga Centre, you can check it out for yourself and see what I mean.
It defies belief that these places haven’t been scrutinised and called out for their despicable behaviour and it seems so bizarre that the same people who espouse beliefs such as ‘We are all one in this universe’ could display such covert racism, it’s so contradictory and inconsistent with the ethics they claim they stand for. The cultural appropriation aspect is a little more complicated, in fact it threw me in to deep research on what my heritage meant to me as a Punjabi Indian.
I was surprised by how many cultural practises and customs along side other things such as attire and cuisine that I intuitively felt propietorship over didn’t actually have origins within the subcontinent for example mehndi designs originally came from North Africa and the shalwar kameez from Arabia and Persia respectfully. Samosa’s along with the tandoor oven were introduced to India by central asians, the harmonium that forms a fundamental aspect of North Indian music was actually brought to India by the French.
The Dhol which signifies one of the most fundamental aspects of Punjabi heritage actually derives from a Persian drum called the Dohol, in light of all this it quickly became evident to me that the lines between what exactly is cultural appropriation and what isn’t become very blurred. So many aspects of various North Indian cultures have derived from Middle Eastern origin that we can’t literally make out that we have full cultural propietorship over them in the same sense that we can with the Sari. This is in stark contrast with South India who’s identity is largely untouched by Mughal influenced like the North Western regions are.
With the Bindi and people giving themselves Sanskrit names it can be seen from different perspectives, the Bindi has both a religious and cultural significance obviously as a representation of the ‘third eye’ – Because of it’s religious significance it isn’t worn in Pakistan at all even though most Pakistani’s are culturally identical to Indian Punjabi’s whereas in Bangladesh where they are Muslim
it is commonly worn merely from a cultural aspect.
Extending the discussion of the use of the bindi along with sanskrit names it depends on the question of whether anyone can be a Hindu? This has no straightforward answer because well first of all Hinduism isn’t actually a religion but is rather an over simplification to denote the various spiritual philosophies that originate from the subcontinent that although carry the same basic tenets differ vastly to one another, there are some sects that are strictly against idol worship.
There are some priests who would never agree that a westerner could be what they define as Hindu, to them you have to be born into the varna (caste) system with it’s various gotras (sub sects) but this isn’t the case from the perspective of those like the Hare Krishna’s where anyone can be. The term Hindu itself derives from the Mughals whom called the people of the Indian Sub Continent ‘Indu’ referring to the land which inhabits the Indus River why all this is relevant is because if None South Asians can be ‘Hindu’ then giving themselves Sanskrit names could be considered perfectly acceptable in the same sense that a convert to Islam gives themselves an Arabic name, throughout India the many Christians and Muslims never adopt Sanskrit names but Anglo Saxon and Arabic names.
I think the problem here is that many of these people have a tremendous amount of respect for the cultural customs and art that have origins within the Indian subcontinent which starkly contrasts with their tremendous of disrespect for Indian people whom they wouldn’t associate with on an interpersonal social level due to their perceived inferiority of Indians, it is the polar opposite with westerners who have a fascination with Japanese culture where their respect for the culture is synyonmous with that they have for the Japanese people.
The problem is that these people have inadvertantly made Yoga all about them and have imprinted their own identity on it when in reality it should be about everyone, either way at least it’s always going to be a miniscule demographic.
Hey there
Interesting points to ponder, no doubt.
Afterall, people look for anything that may connect them at a deeper level, somehow.. Overemphasis on ethnic issues will not make it, though. Many tend to feel attracted towards opposite traditions or races to cover a gap in their own. Goes back and forth, specially in a globalized society. The essential values of Yoga are all good. How earnest are your motivations makes the difference. All else is a byproduct, period
There is “treatment” happening in India
the priest will throw you from 10 storeys high (there will be a trampoline sort at the bottom)
People swear this treatment works.
Same thing with Christianity and why and how it became popular.
The authors bottom line is “unfairness”
are you saying if “your motivations are earnest , then the-fall-10storeys” should work?
Yes! I started yoga in a country area in Australia 15 years ago. It wasn’t a craze her like it is now. Then I moved to the city 3 years ago and began attending studios. Whoa… yoga has changed/ is really different in high density areas. I couldn’t understand what it was at first, but after a lot of investigation I’ve reached the same conclusions as you have.
I am white and started with Iyengar yoga. It was taught by a white lady who didn’t teach chanting, quote yogic scriptures or say namaste. In my own time I read about the 8 limbs and yoga as a lifestyle which I’ve made an effort to practice. It’s hard to describe the discomfort I feel in the yoga classes here.
Firstly, predominately there’s a lack of experience and understanding in a lot of yoga teachers here. They can teach beginners and perhaps intermediate asana, but, anything beyond and you’re on your own.
Second, the teachers don’t feel particularly interested and engaged with individual student’s experience. The classes aren’t designed with an individual focus in mind. They just want to get students through the door and pack the room out.
Third, the chanting and Sanskrit use is awkward. I love the feeling of aum (probably because I love singing). But, I’ve never been directly taught by an authority about what it means, specifically why we do it, where it began etc. I know when I do it or when I say namaste that it doesn’t belong to me. I haven’t been taught the meaning behind these words from someone who truly knows! I cringe inside every time I do it. So I’m not saying namaste anymore. ‘Thank you’ feels right to me.
Fourth, exclusivity, the endless workshops and the ever increasing prices. Money! Is yoga really about the accumulation of money? Because that’s what drives the activities of some yoga studios. And yes, why is everyone white in these classes? The city I live in is very diverse, but it’s not reflected in the classes. I could be wrong but I feel like it’s not a welcoming environment for all cultures. It’s set up by white peoples for white people. I don’t believe this is the intention, but it’s the result none the less.
Fifth, ignorance? In the west we practice white people’s yoga. Are we fully aware of this, though? If so, shouldn’t we embrace that and stop pretending that we have a good understanding of yoga’s ancient practices and roots? How long have white people been practicing yoga? Maybe 100 years. How long has yoga been in existence? Tens of thousands of years… We can’t grow if we don’t acknowledge what we don’t know.
For me this is the elephant in the yoga room. White people teaching yoga asana along with misappropriated cultural practices. It’s ingenuine and feels wrong.
Thank you for writing this article. I am studying to be a yoga teacher. But, I don’t want to be exclusive or disrespectful. Any suggestions would be very appreciated. I’m thinking if I teach what I know and feel comfortable with, at a reasonable price, it’s a step in the right direction? But, I’m aware that I will need to continue searching and training with advanced teachers who have a respectful practice themselves.
I am Indian, Tamil, Married to Telugu. Living in Canada , business for 10 years.
I have learnt one thing. I should “not look at” certain things.
It is the three monkey statue.
There are so many things going on around, and we need not look, hear, say every thing.
Right across from my therapeutic massage clinic there is this “vitality” center coming up.
Owned and operated by a Russian. Teaches Hatha (?) yoga etc. Sells pastries (??)
Salt caves (???) Shakes (???? WTF-1) and then WTF-2, WTF-3 etc etc
(I hope) today will be my last day looking into, hearing, saying things which does not need my attention. Injustice, Unfairness , circle of Influence and circle of concern?
Thanks for the article though
I did see some links but I will not seeing all the links.
Iyenga and other Gurus exported pseudo spirituality and many Westerners fell for this novel story line many having never recovered from this disease, the problem people have is the now completed establishment having now convinced the human race the answer lies in money is now accepted as the answer.
A few in the West who are enlightened, the political system has completely suppressed any contact with these individuals.
Wowee! The connection of Ayurveda and Yoga? Gone lost? To practice yoga requires an understanding of the self. We have lost the Samkhya connection of which Ayurveda and Yoga are clearly connected. And we have limited connection with what we put into our bodies and the effects this has with our yoga practice based on Ayurvedic wisdom let alone the effects of a multitude of Yoga schools and the best fit individually.
The only way out is in. Just use it to make yourself great. Fuck’m
Trump also has the same idea to make America great? is he a yoga teacher, what is meant by great?
Wow, I knew that Sikhs were great people but seriously, love this article. Only point I want to add is that sometimes Yoga practices in India are based on Western interpretations of sankritian(?) philosophies, but I can’t speak on that clearly because I have never been to India and I’m not scholar, it’s just what I’ve heard. And anyway, your point on the cash-cow is much stronger and a much more valuable interpretation of the situation. People are obsessed with their aesthetic image, and that’s all carrying a yoga mat and wearing the special pants is all about. You don’t need special pants to do yoga, or to do any kind of exercise for that matter, the whole idea is superficial. There are many philosophies and teachings from ancient Sanskrit that people could benefit from, it’s just unfortunate that this is the path that they have taken.
Thank you for this article it was a breath of fresh air!! I want to take a teacher training program but I’m afraid of the gimmicks out there. I’m doing a lot of research to find the right school wish I could go to India and learn from the origins and get the actial facts. I kind of doubt some of the north American ethics.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences.
Just thought to let you know that there’s a lot of academic work done in the last decade about the roots of yoga (what you might call “real yoga”) and the “shift” that has occured since yoga was popularized\westernized\commercialized etc.
Also I’d like to share that I’m conducting a PhD research at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on the topic of Yoga and Women (I’m focusing on the Iyengar Yoga Tradition but research also the historical background from the Vedc period till today).
I am also a yoga practitioner, who teaches yoga. I have studies Sanskrit (I was wondering what exactly did you mean by “dead language”) and Tamil and have a real interest in the vast culture of what today we call “India”.
Hope to read more of you
All the best,
Agi
Hit the nail on the head with this post.never fell for this high and mighty yoga BS,,as well as the Buddhist corporate mainstream bs either.(though I do participate in our local Shin buddhist sangha…..-its my science for my mind-but would never call myself a buddhist..im not that dedicated))…. I have great instructor at our local YMCA… low key, and just pure and simple yoga ..I do it for my health…thats all–dont do it for anything or anyone else..when see these big conferences and these expensive retreats on the ganges and etc… its quite a turn off ..But to each their own…
These are the problems with commercialized yoga and it makes me sad 😦 The real yoga is about calming the mind and helping the body to be healthy and you can do it anywhere, the classes are not necessary. I have no interest to go to expencive yoga classes but for me yoga alone outdoors is really helpful (also there is a saying that the yoga teachers who trully want to share their knowledge and help others to feel the benefits of yoga should never take payment of the teaching).
Reading all of this and most of the comments and then realizing that this was written in 2012 is very interesting. So much has changed but some things have remained the same. Especially with what’s going on politically so many ideas are being challenged and criticized- I personally think it’s super important to always question.
First off, I am half white but I am very light skinned so I am aware of my privilege that comes with that. I am not afraid of being made to feel uncomfortable with articles/blogs posts such as this that are meant to point out that harmfulness of cultural appropriation.
Not everything can be positive and full of love & light…especially when we are shining light on some pretty difficult topics that deal with centuries of oppression and the trauma that comes with them. With light comes the the illumination of the darkness.
Just look at all these “yogis” getting their feathers ruffled because this post made them uncomfortable for just a moment. Ha! It’s going to be one rough road to enlightenment if you think that the whole thing is paved with gold my friend.
It is okay to feel uncomfortable! Negative feelings are okay as well and pretending they don’t exist/refusing to talk about them does not help anyone. The whole “positive vibes only” thing is clearly just another marketing technique that only brings us farther from the truth.
So to my fellow white people: LISTEN TO WHAT OTHERS HAVE TO SAY! We are not being attacked we are being told to pay attention. Drop your guard and try to look beyond the scope of your own perspective.
Thank you for opening up this discussion and even though I am 5 years late to the party I’m glad this resurfaced because I definitely needed to read it.
Warmest Regards,
Sarina
love your blog, keep well.
You mentioned Moksha in your article, and I feel obligated to leave a comment because Im doing a work-trade thing at a yoga retreat in United States as part of my travel itinerary, and it’s owned by the owner of the Moksha yoga studios in Chicago. I’m making arrangements to travel elsewhere because I feel like the owner is trying to induct me into a cult, and he likes being a yoga teacher because he wants people to see him as some wise guru he’s not. He only appears to like people who boost his ego, and has shown an extremely alarming lack of concern for the health, safety, and well-being of anyone else. And yes, he is super white. So I completely agree, the yoga community is full of ego-driven narcissists who claim to be wise and all-loving, but are just like the rest of us. I don’t know much about yoga, as much as I enjoy it, but I do know that using it to boost one’s ego is the exact opposite of its intended purpose.
The yoga I having success with is bed yoga, do as little movement as possible to conserve energy, to reduce consumption, do not purchase music or any purchases other than quality food, avoid jet flying, avoid holidays, avoid sex, drugs, only purchase clothes from op shops, resist government expenditure regard military as evil, do not believe in any gurus and any one advising how you should be, avoid psychiatrists, friends, and any persuasion ideology, do not believe any thing the government tells you, if lonely get a beagle or a dog that’s not a pretty thing such as pugs, give up all religious texts, all those who are spiritual people, only believe your intuition, question your intuition a to whether its conditioning or your inspired thought.
Yes, I agree that the situation in the world of yoga has become a money spinning circus. However, there are still sincere practitioners out there, and worthy teachers, although hard to find. It is your choice to walk away, or hang on to and cultivate the good that still exists. Nobody said that it would be easy.
I think you are confusing neoliberalism and the rise of greed, selfishness and lack of integrity with issues of race and “cultural appropriation”. There are countless examples in history of how traditional Indian, Chinese and Japanese healing techniques have influenced and developed thanks to each other. It is also well known that Krishnamacharya borrowed from European callisthenics. We all have a human body with a common biology and energetic system. It is up to us to discover how it works and how to use it, and that goes for everyone, regardless of race or culture. It is true that westerners might have different requirements due lifestyle issues such sitting on chairs, leading to stiff hips. Traditionally, Buddhist initiates would not be allowed to start advanced meditation practices before undertaking rigorous phisycal preparation because it was understood that one had to prepare the vessel and strengthen the nervous system in order to withstand advanced internal practices, otherwise sickness or mental instability could result from the work.
Don’t turn the issues created by distorted minds obsessed with profit into superficial, divisive issues. Issues that have been there for a long time. Theos Bernard already wrote in the 20s about the corrupted state of yoga. It’s just that we live in a time when the veil had finally been lifted and we can no longer keep ignoring it, whether black, white, yellow, green or purple. And honestly, if someone wants to dress in a sari with go-go feathers, or a flamenco dress with cowboy boots, or Letherhosen with a Mongolian hat…..just let them be.
Its not to me to find a worthy or sincere teacher it is more to the point to find any one whether they follow yoga or any known discipline? it is to find any a individual who follows the highest path of truth, sincerity, insight and so on, it is limiting to think only those who are following a ism, is where it is at.
I am pushing 60 and disabled. Several times over the past 10 years I have tried various allegedly “free” yoga classes, only to find them being taught by privileged, anorectic 20-to-30-something Drama Queens who just HAVE to be the center of attention. And most definitely NOT FREE.
At one “retreat”, sponsored by a local buddhist group (I am Buddhist), the “teachers”, who were holding this in their studio, asked the group to identify yourself if you didn’t want to be touched for “correction”. As a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and survivor of rape as an adult, guess what, I don’t want to be touched. Just to admit to this in public in front of a bunch of strangers required a certain amount of courage. I raised my hand – I was in the front row not 3 feet from this woman – and she nodded at me, as if acknowledging me. Note I said “AS IF”.
So there I am, hair down in my face so I can’t see anyone approaching, open because I trust that I don’t have to be on my guard because THEY SAID SO, and the next thing I know, someone grabs my butt. This immediately caused a panic attack and I had to leave. I did not return for the rest of the “retreat”. The next thing I know these people have CONTACTED MY PERSONAL PHYSICIAN about the incident. When I demanded to know why, they crapped on about how they were “concerned” by my “behavior”. When I pointed out that THEY had caused the incident, I was told that they “could not be expected to remember every single person” in the class and they bore no fault in the incident.
Please note that I was the ONLY class member who asked for the consideration that THEY OFFERED. The only one. And RIGHT in the front row.
Now had they NOT offered, I’d have been vigilant to my surroundings instead of open and relaxed, and this woman would not have been able to sneak up on me and grab my butt to start with. I trusted them. And when THEY screwed up and did not follow through on their promise of consideration, they turned it around and made it MY fault and demeaned me by labeling my “behavior” (eg having a panic attack when someone unseen grabbed me in a sensitive area after having been promised that this would not happen) as “problematic” and “concerning”.
Since then I have several times tried again. Every time I attended a supposedly “free” class it turned out to be NOT free as they stood at the door with a can afterwards demanding “dana”. Suggested dana – $20 to $40 for a 45 minute class. Newsflash: It isn’t dana when you stand at the door and make comments to people who try to pass by the can. It’s a FEE.
On one occasion, I attended a “free” class that was hidden in an office mall with no signs indicating where the class actually was. I drove around for almost half an hour looking for the right office in this “complex” before I finally stumbled across it. No signs visible from the parking lot. “Suite” numbers were obscured by the roofline and various architectural “features”. So I was about 5 minutes late for the class even though I had arrived early at the complex. The woman upbraided me in front of the entire class for being so “selfish”, then (again), demanded “dana” on my way out. I just walked past her and never returned. She was full of new-age bullshit, I wouldn’t have returned anyway.
And then there was the instructor of a class offered by the Rec department of the University where I was working on my doctorate shortly before my disability caught up with me and felled me for good and all. THAT woman loudly exclaimed her surprise that I, being so fat and old and all (I was 49 at the time), was so flexible, because you would think from looking at me that I wouldn’t be flexible AT ALL!
I was, in fact, more flexible than anyone in the class with the possible exception of the 20-something instructor herself – in fact I was still in better shape than ANY of them, despite my extra poundage, which is a result of an actual metabolic disorder, not from popping bon-bons I keep hidden in the chandelier all day long.
Seriously. Ostentatiously fat shaming your most flexible student while supposedly “complimenting” them. That has got to be a new low. And I was PAYING for this class – this was before my disability and I could still afford things like this on occasion. This woman got a salary from the university and we all paid a class fee. It wasn’t free for me, or anyone else in the class.
Recently someone got on a forum I occasionally read and whacked on about her “fat” yoga instructor and how no one who looked like “that” should be allowed in a class, let alone teaching it. The vast majority of her fellow yoga whackadoodles just piled on with the fat shaming – of a woman who was apparently all of 15 lbs over what these anorectic entitled Heathers thought she ought to be. Fat chance – and I use the term with intent – they would tolerate someone like ME in one of their ultrasleek classes. My god, a 60 year old woman who has “wrinkly skin like an elephant”, carrying WAY more than an extra 15 lbs due to my long illness and inability to exercise like a fiend any more to keep my weight down. Of course I would get no credit for the 65 pounds I gained during the worst part of my illness and then lost again with much effort over the past 5 years. Fat people should be neither seen NOR heard, especially in Heather-infested yoga studios.
Only once have I not been made to feel inconsequential and stupid by a yoga teacher, and that was in a class sponsored by the Parks & Rec dept of the city I was living in at the time. Wish I still lived there.
So yes. The “yoga” culture is a toxic amalgamation of ego, money, and cultural misappropriation. Not to mention sexual misconduct, fat shaming, and body-dysmorphia-inducing judgmentalism.
I do understand your point but leaving Yoga because you saw it’s bastardization doesn’t mean you should quit it. Yoga really prepares your body for meditation and yes it doesn’t require a lot of money. You do require an ethical teacher. People offering yoga for huge sums of money in any form asking for hundreds of dollars are not the ones setting the right example. I am sorry you went through it. Society isn’t perfect but Yoga is a science if learnt properly will give you excellent benefits.
Couldn’t agree more – sad misuse of a fine discipline. I have avoided most Yoga classes because of this. What nonsense some practitioners talk and surely it never was meant to be that way. I’m not of Indian heritage but I really do sympathise with your sentiments here. Shame it’s largely become about money.
People, you go to seek and learn Yoga in places where Yoga is absent ( Yes, you don’t find Yoga in Studios) and you complain!! Isn’t it hilarious. Ask right questions and you will find right answers
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I agree with what your saying, I have a friend from India who told me true yoga is free and taught to who wants or needs it in her home town.
I personally love yoga it has healed me after many surgeries, and centred me in storms, I am sad though as you say it has taken on another face.