YOGA TODAY
Through A Yogic Lens: Is It Really Cultural Appropriation? Or Something Deeper?
prayer beads? Should I wear bindis? Should I or shouldn’t I speak Sanskrit names in classes? Frequently the onus of education lands on an isolated South Asian practitioner who will be either pedes - taled or gaslighted for her/his/their opinions. If the opinions are unwanted, a troll will pitch in the obligatory, “If you are so unhap- py here, you should just go back home” or “Nobody owns Yoga!”. Identities Not Trends It is not a coincidence that a conversation that frequent- ly begins with cultural values, meanings, and practices quick- ly devolves into debates over citizenship and ownership. In an article entitled From Patañjali to the “Gospel of Sweat”: Yoga’s Remarkable Transformation from a Sacred Movement into
BY ANJALI SUNITA
We’ve all seen it: the deity tattoos, the turbans, self-appointed spiritual names, goddess circles, Yoga business courses, pornograph- ic Yoga pose selfies, events described as “tribal” galore. If you like Yoga or are of Indian ancestry, you will have been berated with these aesthetics through the algorithms on Instagram or Facebook. In the past decade, discussions about cultural appropriation have moved from academic and legal spheres to mainstream political con- troversy. On the far right of the cultural appropriation debate, you have defenders of artistic evolution and free market self expression, fearing censorship by the “culture police”; and on the far left there are those seeking acknowledgment of roots and cultural values, re-
sisting “cultural cleansing” by assimi- lation. Is it really so black and white? Savitha Enner, a Maryland-based Yoga teacher who was born and raised in India until the age of 27, presents a bigger picture: “Every country has an aspiration… and virtues, and values, and actions… the way you act usually; there is the culture. In India, one of the main val- ues for your life is making your life sa- cred. That means, if I am a farmer, I am going to treat my farmland as my god, so I have rituals, pujas, prayers, festivals, a few times a year to worship the farmland, because that’s where I get the fruit of my labor. If I am a stu- dent, I have prayers, pujas, and fes- tivals a few times a year to celebrate
a Thriving Global Market , recently published by Administrative Science Quarterly, Kamal Munir, Shahzad Ans - uri, and Deborah Brown report, “Yoga went from a movement underpinned by a religious and meditative philoso- phy that took years to learn to one that advocated weekend courses to become a Yoga instructor. Yoga postures were copyrighted and franchised. The repre- sentation of Yoga in popular discourse, and the values associated with it, also underwent transformation. Its image went from pictures of Yoga gurus med- itating in loincloths to athletic women in acrobatic poses that represented a blend of ballet, gymnastics, and Yoga. Many of these women emerged as the new gurus serving as role models for
books, knowledge, writing instruments like pens and even computers. If I have a job where I service the country…one of the sayings that will be put up on a building would be ‘your work is god’…even your car…because that is the mode of transportation. So pretty much any - thing that is useful to you is sacred. By that definition, we can extend it to Yoga…how do you treat things that are sacred to you? You are going to treat it with gratitude…humility…love…. Nobody has to tell me Yoga is sacred, or not; it just is. The more useful it is to you, the more sacred it is to you. So you do not have to ask anybody about whether I should say ‘Namaste’ or not, whether I should put up a deity or not. If you think Yoga practice is sacred to you…act accordingly, act in a way that feels that Yoga is sacred to you and it will be fine.” Between all the pithy memes of digital activism, Indian practi - tioners are painted with the same brush, a monolith of cultures and perspectives. Some question whether digital activism truly honors diverse values of the diaspora and ancestors. Savitha’s perspective shows there is a wider range of response than what we see in trend- ing click bait. The danger in it is that those who are looking for a single Indian person to approve and validate their behaviors as well as those who romanticize Indian people and cultures may take her statement as justification for any action they wish to justify, rather than genuinely inquiring into one’s relationship to the sanctity of life. Frequently online, at best, we sit at the surface. Well-wishers seek- ing not to offend will ask for a list, a never-ending education of do’s and dont’s. Do I or don’t I say ‘Namaste’? How do I wear and hold
urban middle-class women the world over.” Once inspired by Hindu philosophy, led by ascetics who provided an antidote to the individu- alism, greed, and consumerism fostered by capitalism, the meaning and values of Yoga were changed to meet the market. They outline how the Yoga movement was first “de-essentialized,” untangled from its socio-historical context, then syncretized with markets; and lastly, borrowed codes from related movements, in this case, the New Age and fitness movements. Part and parcel of capitalism, they note that movements seeking to infuse markets with moral values often end up utilizing the market mechanism and support from mainstream actors to scale up, even if it comes at the cost of diluting their founding ethos. At the center of many debates around cultural appropriation is the publication Yoga Journal , as it provides a perfect example of the capitalization and whitewashing imagery associated with Yoga me - dia, excluding or marginalizing the image BIPOC. The very first ep - isode of the viral podcast Yoga is Dead , Tejal and Jesal call out Yoga Journal’s response to the American Hindu Association, when they complain that Yoga Journal doesn’t reference Hinduism (www.yo - gaisdeadpodcast.com). To them, Yoga Journal responded that Hin - duism “carries too much baggage.” Jesal and Tejal provide a second example of the whitewashing imagery, when Yoga Journal agreed to put Jessamyn Stanley, a full-bodied queer black femme on the cov - er, but then seemingly threatened by this emerging market for larg-
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PATHWAYS—Summer 21—9
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