Fake, Evil, Spritiual, Commodified; What's the Truth About Popular Yoga?

[cbayer]

http://religiondispatches.org/fake-evil-spiritual-commodified-whats-the-truth-about-popular-yoga/

BY ANDREA R. JAIN JANUARY 29, 2015



Title: Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop Culture
Author: Andrea R. Jain
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Release Date: December 8, 2014

What inspired you to write Selling Yoga?

Near the beginning of my graduate school career, I had the opportunity to travel to Rajasthan to research Jain traditions and came upon the Jain Shvetambara Terapanth (a Jain sectarian tradition) and its guru at the time, Mahaprajna, who was famous for having introduced a new form of “Jain yoga” called preksha dhyana. My inability to grasp the contrast between the world-, society-, and body-negating ascetic ideology of traditional Jain monastic thought and Mahaprajna’s active advocacy for modern conceptions of universal peace, physical health, and psychological well-being, led to many years of research, which culminated in the publication of Selling Yoga.

Upon my return home to Houston, I explored the Terapanth center in my own city and realized that preksha dhyana, in many ways, reflected a larger transnational pattern. In its propagation I was certain I was witnessing an attempt to establish continuity with a global yoga industry in which popularized varieties of postural yoga reflect dominant consumer demands and desires.

In order to understand preksha dhyana’s relationship to the larger yoga market, I found myself trying to account for postural yoga’s popularization in urban areas across the world. As I broadened the scope of my study to include postural yoga generally, from Rajasthan and Houston, I set out to follow postural yoga through a series of associations and relationships to physical sites in London and throughout the United States and India, on websites and in publications, and to other contemporary areas of cultural production, such as yoga studios and public parks.

The result was a comparative study of modern yoga, its popularization, and its intersections with consumer culture.

more at link

[carolinayellowdog]

1. Thanks for posting this-- now on my list of new books to read

The embrace of yoga in the West, starting in the 19thc, is a particular research interest and I had not yet heard of this book. Sounds like an excellent companion to Mark Singleton's Yoga Body (2010), also from Oxford.

[cbayer]

2. Sounds like a great story, doesn't it.

I remember when yoga was considered kind of strange. Things have really changed.

[2naSalit]

3. Interesting

yet a take on a rather specific form of yoga. There are many forms of yoga, though. Most include some aspect of bodily exercise and will suggest that most westerners only have a grasp of some aspects and seem to ignore the deeper meaning of what the physical aspects are supposed to facilitate.

Americans seem to gravitate toward anything that they can simply buy rather than anything which requires commitment and the discipline to fulfill such commitment. There's always someone who is willing to cash in on this aspect of our social quick-fix desire/mentality. Capitalism requires forfeiture of commitments that are not based on acquisition of wealth because it has become a religion in itself... the "almighty dollar", etc..

In Krya Yoga, for instance, there is a physical aspect which is more a manner of disciplinary preparation for the more spiritual activity that is meant to quiet the brain (and all outside distractions) in order to access the mind of the soul or rather the connection to what can best be described as the universal mind... which is the ultimate goal. (I use this as an example since it is the one form of yoga that I understand the best.)

I'll have to read this whole book to find out to what extend this concept is understood by the author and what they are trying describe about it.

Thanks for bringing up a new text to read.

[cbayer]

4. I don't think most western practitioners know or care about

various forms of yoga or the other aspects of it that you describe. They see it as a stretching exercise that feels good and doesn't make you sweat.

Pretty much every town has a "class" and I have been to quite a few of them. I can't remember a time when any of the spiritual aspects were ever even brought up.

[2naSalit]

5. Same here.

The real deep stuff is too involved for the superficial aims of our society. We want what we want and we want it now regardless of what is involved with actually obtaining the objective unless it can be bought or obtained without effort or consequence. Including peace f mind or a certain level of spirituality and freedom that can be obtained only by recognizing the deeper aspects of life. We ask, "What is the meaning of life?" but want someone to tell us the answer rather than actively seeking it, especially if it requires changing our routines developed for the material benefits of ignoring the depth of our existence.

At least, that's what I think about it.

[cbayer]

6. People seek out their spiritual selves in different ways.

Honestly, I have used yoga for exercise, joint stability, core muscle strength and to reduce stress, but I have never gotten into the spiritual aspects of it. It just does not speak to me in that way.

One of the things that fascinates me about religion is the way it is used by so many to explore the deeper aspects of life. Sure, there are those that never think but just swallow it whole, but most religious people I know are active seekers, even if I don't agree with their paths.

But you are right about so many people. Just check out the self-help shelves in your local bookstore. Thousands of books about the path someone found helpful that is unique to them. But others want it to be their path as well and will try just about anything.