Yoga may have been born thousands of years ago in India, but when it crossed the shores to the United States, it underwent a dramatic change and as with so many other traditions became, like French fries or Pizza, an uniquely American staple. Mass marketing, fashion, secularism, the class factor and its feminization, have transformed this ancient tradition in its adopted land. Yoga has taken on distinct flavors across the U.S., something like the Northeastern Ben & Jerry ice cream, the glamorous Hollywood, and even the Southern pecan pie. Many yoga practitioners of today are a product of that marketing machine which has turned a dhoti-clad, or naked yogi’s simple lifestyle into a $27 billion enterprise according to Statisticbrain.com, pushing everything from yoga mats and yoga pants to smoothies and prenatal exercises. In a typically American twist, an Indian yoga instructor is suing several rival gurus for copyright infringement involving various asanas and the heated environment of classrooms. Some critics say in American hands yoga has lost its soul. Other critics like Christian evangelist Pat Robertson call it “demonic.” Call it what you may Western practitioners say they’ll adapt what works for a stressed out society, because yoga may have been born in India but it is an ever-changing, living tradition, just like many other art forms, or even religious beliefs and practices.
In the ultimate analysis, it is a win-win lifestyle, it works both for American pocketbooks and well-being.
Yoga in America
Over the last 50 years or more, yoga has become a household word in the United States. While no exact survey is available, it would not be too far from the truth to assume that every mid-size town in the country has at least one yoga center if not more. As for large cities, yoga centers for spiritual healing or physical fitness are big business. This is despite opposition from some quarters within the Christian and Hindu communities. That opposition has fizzled and the common woman (or man) on the street has embraced this ancient Indian practice, sanitized by the marketing machine to fit lifestyles, mostly of the rich and famous, but quickly gaining ground among the middle-classes.
Meanwhile, India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has galvanized the global community into observing an ancient Indian tradition, but within that culturally diverse country, controversy is swirling around what particular asana hurts religious sentiments of one community or the other on the eve of International Day of Yoga June 21. The matter has gone to the Supreme Court even as the Surya Namaskar asana has been dropped from the itinerary of the high profile event headlined by the Prime Minister, a passionate yogi.
Yoga’s history in the United States goes back more than a hundred years with illustrious teachers like Indra Devi, who glamorized yoga through her Hollywood connections. A Russian emigre who changed her name, the audacious Indra Devi (1899-2002) learnt the craft under legendary yogi Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, returned to the U.S. where she taught the likes of Gloria Swanson and Greta Garbo and came to be known as the First Lady of Yoga, according to the latest biography on her by Michelle Goldberg entitled, “The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi, the Woman Who Helped Bring Yoga to the West. In the late 1800s, Swami Vivekananda was also among the first ambassadors of yoga in America, opened his Santi Asrama in Northern California where yoga was taught along with many other tenets of Hinduism. Following him, the three yogis most revered by American practitioners include Krishmacharya, B.K.S. Iyengar, and Pattabhi Jois. They taught the earlier generation of American yogis, including the Beatles and Hippie generation who were seeking some elusive peace they believed was embedded within Eastern philosophies, among them yoga. That generation imparted and is imparting the now ubiquitous mind-body philosophy and turning it into numerous kinds of practice – from physical fitness to pure meditation and everything in between. The youngest cohort now in their 20s and 30s have grown up with yoga as almost a household word, and some have taken lessons at school or tried it out at their local gym. For example, a foundation started in 2011 to honor Pattabhi Jois’ legacy, has been funding public school yoga programs in some parts of California. Today, each student in the Encinitas School District takes 30-minute yoga sessions twice a week as part of the school curriculum, though they can opt out Charismanews.com reported.
Thus, today’s American yogis and yoga teachers are the product as much of Indian tradition as of the American marketing machine and rapidly advancing social and technological change.
Who Owns Yoga?
Some Christians contend the whole practice of yoga is contrary to their beliefs and some Hindus protest the West’s cultural appropriation of it. In a recent lawsuit n San Diego, California, parents objected to yoga being taught in public schools because it was inherently religious and went against the constitutionally mandated separation of state and religion. The court ruled against them noting that every iota of religious language had been exorcized and that it was a secular, physical exercise. Parents are appealing the ruling.
Some Hindus accuse yoga practitioners in the U.S. of divesting the practice of its Hindu elements. But practitioners argue that it’s not about religion but about spirituality. Andrew Tanner, a yoga teacher who owned several studios in New York and New Jersey and now runs one in Framingham, Massachusetts, says he once jokingly told his parents he was “a HinJew.” Brought up in a very secular and liberal household, Tanner says when he first studied yoga in 2000, he assumed it was part of a spiritual practice, but didn’t associate it with a religion. That’s precisely what self-styled Hindu evangelists object to and want to “take back” yoga from Western pollutors.
Yoga is practised in so many ways in the U.S. — those approaching it from a secular perspective and others plunging into Hindu spirituality. “Yoga Alliance’s position is –we respect various traditions. But we see yoga as a living tradition. Westerners’ minds are very open on how yoga can be transmitted,” says Tanner.
There are significant differences among regions in the U.S. in terms of how yoga is viewed. In the Bible Belt yoga is seen as a part of Hindu religion while in the Northeast people know it comes from India but are not turned away by its connections to Hinduism. “Hindu Americans think that’s cultural appropriation, but we feel no one owns yoga,” Tanner asserts.
Upward Dog
Meanwhile, the practice of yoga is growing by leaps and bounds around the country. Just one non-profit claims it has a 63,000 yoga teachers registered with it, meaning one for roughly 4,000 American adults, if the adult population totaled 250 million. Most American yoga followers are thrilled about observing an international yoga day. The cynical might argue that it is yet another ploy to increase and expand clientele, but a number of followers and teachers told News India Times yoga’s benefits are proven and it makes more Americans healthy physically and spiritually.
A survey aptly entitled “It’s Time to Say Namaste in the U.S.A.” put out by the Virginia-based non-profit Yoga Alliance, shows more than half of all Americans, 56 percent, want to learn yoga. the survey conducted in May by Wakefield Research for Yoga Alliance also showed 63 percent of parents vs. 56 percent of non-parents are interested in doing yoga; that among American adults under the age of 45, 63% are interested in doing yoga compared to 49% of those ages 45 and over; and twice as many women as men currently practice yoga. 62 percent of women are interested in doing yoga vs. 48 percent of men.
Yoga While Black
There is, however, no denying that yoga has not penetrated most minority communities, particularly blacks. However, yoga is growing in the Bible Belt, going by Moira Anderson’s experience at her River Rock Yoga studio in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. While it may not be appreciated to the extent it is in the Northeast or California, it’s reach is expanding she contends. Whatever its roots may be, her clients want the benefits and they go ‘deep’ into it. “The stillness and ability to go inward is inspirational whatever its roots may be,” Anderson says. But she does stress its Indian roots during her classes. She sees it as an ancient practice from India offered to anyone to search for their own spirituality. She has many African American clients, but concedes white students dominate the scene.
Ava Taylor, founder of Yama Talent, a company that helps yoga gurus grow their business, blames the media for appropriating yoga as a white, affluent lifestyle. But things are changing. “Six years ago, I was told we can’t put a black person on the cover of a yoga magazine because it won’t sell. But yesterday at the drug store I saw a black person on the front page of one,” said Taylor who is African American.
In 2012, in an article in the Black Entertainment Television’s website the author asserted that the white world of yoga was not an authentic representation. “Yoga in mainstream America has a color problem. But if you scratch the surface of yoga’s glossy, well-hydrated veneer, you will find that there are black yoga teachers trumpeting the value of yoga’s mental and physical benefits,” the article said.
The color divide however, has more to do with class than race, and about turning a profit. Yoga studios are usually located in affluent areas attracting a white clientele. But they are gradually springing up in inner cities. The Urban Yoga Foundation in the heart of Harlem in New York City, was founded by Ghylian Bell, an African-American yoga teacher. It has been able to fund yoga programs in schools reaching tens of thousands of inner city kids through funding from the city and donors.
It Works
American teachers have tried to translate and honor yoga’s origins and there’s a “thirst” for knowledge about yoga among students, practitioners say. However, some teachers are more comfortable than others with the spirituality and make changes accordingly. “I see it as an art form. No one can appropriate an art form. No one can control taking a cultural expression and building on it,” Taylor contends. Like ballet can be classical or contemporary or even funky, yoga can be changed and there is an audience for every kind, she says.
Critics from the Judeo-Christian or Hindu tradition have little chance of setting back the clock for a practice that produces concrete results, those who practice and teach yoga say. Taking a concept and distilling it to its simplest form so that a harried mother of four or a kid from a troubled family can understand it is a positive thing.
“Because here’s what we know — that the science of yoga works and creates a healthier body, mind and spirit,” says Taylor.
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