Is Yoga Dead? Or Just Reborn?

Dear Yogis!

How has yoga practice been for you? I've had loads of positivity in my yoga life since the mid-90s: I’ve met amazing people; I’ve stretched, lunged and balanced with abandon. Crow Pose changed my life. New postures were harder and harder and so exciting. I look back on how lucky I’ve been. I now listen to stories about Asian yogis being made to feel like strangers in the Indian practice and uncomfortable in classes. Not only that, people who don’t have ideal bodies and eye-watering flexibility are being made to feel unwelcome.

Western appropriation of the Eastern practice is blamed. There are plenty of books, articles and podcasters filling time with content on this subject. For example, you’ll probably have heard the use of Namaste be questioned at the very least. I was introduced to a podcast called ‘Yoga Is Dead’ by American yoga teachers Tejal Patel and Jesal Parikh. They are very entertaining.

Tejal and Jesal show how the culture of non-spiritual, physical fitness came up around yoga. They say of the originators of Iyengar and Ashtanga, BKS Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois: “So these two architects laid the foundations for a culture where competitiveness and ego-driven athleticism thrive and only the able bodied feel included”.

OK. So why not just go to another teacher? I think there’s a reason that a teacher’s negative comments or insensitivities or purging all meaning from classes go so deep. I met a friend at the weekend who said her teacher’s comment was: ‘Trust you to get it wrong!’ Maybe the teacher was joking but my friend has never been back. A teacher told me once: ‘You always take the easy option’. Not a totally skilful thing to tell a carer of elderly parents!

Comments go deep because a yoga class invites you to be vulnerable. Aikido doesn’t, nor Pilates, Tai Chi, running or cycling. Yoga invites you to open up to your spiritual side and your inner ruminations, to find deeper meaning and higher purpose. That’s yoga’s conversation with you: “Come to me and I’ll look after the real you”. It’s no wonder people get emotionally hurt or offended when insensitivity is found in class.

Anyway, my conversation with you is “come and be looked after”! Come and have some calming twists and stretches. Come and take some time out for yourself.

For the Monday and Tuesday stretchy classes at 7.00, you can book in-person and online classes as usual, through my website. On the booking page you’ll find the options. You can book all the classes here.

New Class

I’ll be starting Friday morning one-hour, in-person-only classes soon: 8.00 Ashtanga and 9.30 Stretch. I miss that Friday morning positivity from the two classes. I miss starting the Ashtanga class with 10 minutes’ meditation. Being a carer keeps me at home so it’s time to press the lucky home studio into action. Let me know if you’re interested.

Zoom classes

Last call-out for the belts or bolsters or blocks that I handed out at the beginning of lock-down, I’m so pleased you made use of it but can I have it back? I made no note of names. Who knew it would take so long to get back together again!

Yoga in the news 

Runner's World Has: Pilates vs Yoga: Which One is Right For You? ‘Today’s Pilates classes focus on moving through shortened ranges of motion (think pulses), as well as performing isometric holds. Each exercise relies heavily on core strength and being able to maintain a strong, solid midsection as you work through each pose.’ “Yoga is important for runners because it offsets the constant repetitive movement of your stride when you’re running”.

The Style section of the The Sunday Times has:  The dark side of yoga. This bit got me thinking: “I have friends who practice kung fu, t’ai chi, quigong, karate – these eastern-lineage martial arts systems haven’t been commercialised like yoga. You go to classes and it will be a few quid for a two-hour intense session, everyone’s working hard and just wearing what they’re wearing. Why has yoga been co-opted into such a brutally capitalist practice and especially so in big cities?”

Come to class! Have a lovely week.