Is yoga for everyone? Reflections on a history of elitism & cultural appropriation
“Cultural appropriation is the unacknowledged or inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices, ideas, etc. of one people or society by members of another and typically more dominant people or society.”
Yoga is often romanticised as a practice devoted to equality, a way to realise the fundamental ‘self’ is the same in everyone. This is expressed in the Upanishads beyond as the principle of atman - an eternal, unchanging core of selfhood, that persists even between ‘lives’.
But, ironically perhaps, this idea developed within the Vedic system, that also described the caste system. The Vedas describes the very ground of existence - Brahma, represented by priests or Brahmins as the head, with the warrior and ruling caste of Ksatreyas as the arms, down to the legs - traders - and feet - labourers - and those beneath this, the untouchables.
Trade between East and West plus colonial rule, created new systems of oppression, the consequences of which are felt to this day in both culture and economy. With this background, the teachings of yoga started to be known, and later exported through teachers such as Vivekananda who travel to Chicago in 1893 for the Conference of World Religions.
From this time on yoga has moved East to West and back again, a living moving tradition being absorbed and adapting to different cultures. Often cultures that did not fully grasp the complexities, intricacies and fundamental differences of the philosophies of yoga.
Now that capitalism has its teeth firmly on ‘yoga’ we see new forms of cultural appropriation, subjugation and the idea that ‘yoga is for all’ proposed by a narrow, privileged group.
To find a yoga that is accessible, rooted in truth in non-harm, we can try to take stock of where we are now.
We can recognize that yoga’s past is not without violence - women and non Brahmins were forbidden from chanting the Vedas. And yoga grew up both within this Brahmanical culture, and outside of it - amongst the Buddhists and Jains of the Shramana Movements. The Shramana Movements rejected the elitist ideologies of the time and we have accounts of the Buddha debating and advocating the equality of all.
Violence, alongside times of tolerance, also existed between these competing groups or ‘religions’. But nothing compares to the violence of the colonists material and cultural abuse. And even terms that we take for granted like ‘Hindu’ comes from the colonizers from the West, lumping together a complex, multicultural peoples as one homogenous group. The term Hindu refers to those east of the Indus river. Nothing more.
The philosophies, practices and traditions that we have inherited from India, Pakistan, Nepal, Tibet, Bangladesh - the varied forms of yoga and meditation, are so valuable, so profound and such a rich resource, that we need to honour and acknowledge them. This showing of respect, honouring one’s teachers or elders, is so foreign to many of us from the West. And the complexities and intricacies of the philosophical traditions tend to be ignored.
In place we have a yoga which is stripped of its depth, but available to earn money through the promise to ‘look good’ - body beautiful in gorgeous leggings.
Nowadays science is proving so much of what the yogis knew through the power of their meditations, so that yoga is validated anew through a scientific lens. But again one which does not always give credit where it is due and almost seems to believe that what is explained is valid, whereas seeking to understand consciousness - the root of most yoga philosophy and practice - is not so relevant!
As ‘yoga’ becomes absorbed into mainstream culture, more and more people who aren’t connected to the practice’s roots are taking it up. It serves as a prop for physical and mental health to support a system of oppression that is at odds with the underlying premise of non-harm and truth. Or recognising our transcendental nature.
On a day to day level as teachers, we can make steps to make our yoga honest - if we call it accessible, then to whom is it accessible and how. Postures and practices can be adapted to meet a wider range of practitioners. The way we chose to depict yoga will appeal to different groups. And we can reach out to those doing good work to include more diverse populations, such as Yoga Roots in Bristol.
We can use the current knowledge around cultural appropriation to deepen our understanding of yoga’s heritage and practices, and how they relate to building a more equitable world.
One of the most recognised cases of cultural appropriation is the use of the word namaste. It has been made out over the years to be a spiritual term used to end yoga classes, but actually namaste is traditionally used in an everyday setting as a greeting - not a message of conclusion or parting to end a class with. So instead of concluding with the word namaste, we might like closing class by simply bringing the hands to the heart in Anjali Mudra and bowing your head in a sense of honouring your students and the practice.
Sometimes it can feel overwhelming or frightening to check if we’re doing ok in terms of cultural appropriation but reaching out to those around us and connecting to part of a bigger movement can help us feel supported.
At Bristol School of Yoga and our sister community we try to stay informed, and share yoga in a respectful way.
The online resource that we are in the process of creating will give us the chance to share more widely in an ongoing way with the yoga community so we hope to be a part of a wider conversation and shift in the culture of yoga, allowing us to share the rich cultural heritage in a respectful and more equitable way.
As ever please let us know if we need to do better. And humbly I hope I have not offended anyone in writing today. Thanks as ever to my teachers in this - the Yoga Roots guys, Aliya, Suralini and my many teachers over the years in India.
Further reading
If you’d like to further explore the topic of cultural appropriation here are some resources that may be helpful:
Bristol Yoga Roots Project: Working to make yoga more accessible in trauma informed way to those who may be affected by racism or lack of resources for yoga
Caste, Decolonization and Liberation: A podcast where J Brown Yoga Talks with Sheena Sood
8 Signs that your yoga is culturally appropriated and why it matters
Recorded Lecture: Yoga as Neoliberal Spirituality: Personal Growth, Self-Care & the Quest for Liberation: A talk by Dr Andrea Jain (Indiana University) at the Centre of Yoga Studies, SOAS University of London on 26 March 2019
Why white people need to stop saying ‘namaste’
Yoga in America often exploits my culture - but you may not even realize it