YOGA TODAY
Ayurveda as “alternative” medicine? We are told that innocent gurus came to the West to spread the message of universal peace. How often are we taught that prior to Swami Vivekananda’s riveting speech that introduced Yoga to the United States at the Parliament of World Religions in 1893 that he was chased by white suprema - cists? Colonization has done far more than ruin landscapes. It greatly shifted the tone of how Yoga would be spread and later transformed. This and so much more is omitted in our learning of Yoga and Yoga history in the West. I could not do justice to the vast and com- plex colonial history of Yoga in South Asia in this article, but sim - ply want to point out intentional omission of certain truths. The spirit in which Yoga history is told is comparable to the spirit of the American Thanksgiving story, which claims that colonial his - tory of this land was based upon ideals of harmony and mutual re- spect, when if fact it was based upon genocide and cultural erasure. Many Desis, those of the South Asian diaspora, don’t know (or per - haps we turn away from) the many painful aspects of our histories. We have never read about our histories in American history books. Per - haps Yoga history is so vast, varied, and ancient that it may be easier to focus on the distant past and the cultural richness that is also our histo- ry. Perhaps we are too proud. Perhaps we prefer the myth that we are a “model minority” and would prefer not to lose this privilege upsetting the status quo. Perhaps our parents were working to survive and may not have known themselves or chosen not to teach us for our own emo- tional protection. Instead, we wind up in debates like Gwyneth Pal - trow stating that she is responsible for Yoga’s spread—debates devoid of all context—when in fact, there are bigger elephants in the room. I once had hoped that showing compassion, learning and teaching Yoga would counteract some of that anxiety and fragil-
ity that circulates in these conversations, but I’ve come to real- ize: unless you understand the functions of imperialism and co - lonialism either through study or through being marginalized yourself, chances are you will, intentionally or unintentionally, approach cultural, healing, natural, medicinal, and spiritual arts and sciences with a degree of entitlement and inherent racism. To put it simply, with regards to cultural appropriation, I cannot write one more tweet or puff piece. It’s my view that learning history is essential alongside mainstream wellness education if we are ever to have genuine, meaningful, reciprocal cultural exchanges and have the courage to re-envision an equitable and honoring context for practice. In addition to sharing Yoga sessions and Pranayama through Baltimore Yoga Village, as well as Ayurvedic consultation as part of Village Life Wellness, Anjali Sunita creates courses for dialogue inclusive of Yoga history and philosophy. Anjali writes the blog villagelifewellness.medium.com and can be contacted through www.villagelifewellness.com. IG and FB @villagelifewellness. She is a graduate of the Sivananda Yoga Dhanwantari Ashram Yoga teacher trainings, the Ayurvedic Institute, and Oberlin College where she studied Theater and History with a focus on Gender and Colonialism.
PATHWAYS—Summer 21—81
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