Final Thoughts: How Capitalism, Belief, and Practice Influence Western Yoga

16 journal entries later: here I am.

 

When I signed up to take this class, I anticipated a challenging semester, one that would test my preconceived notions and enrich my studies with the history and beliefs behind yoga, as well as better inform me about the practice as a whole. I knew about two types of physical yoga — Hatha and Ashtanga — only one of which I had ever knowingly practiced.

 

Even so, I did not realize the amount of work that could possibly go into researching, practicing, analyzing, and dissecting the vast amount of history, philosophy, and general information surrounding this practice. From the moment Dr. Greene emailed our class with an assignment linked to a podcast entitled “How White Women Killed Yoga,” I knew I was getting much more than I bargained for in the best way possible.

 

Beginning with the history of yoga, I was unaware that the physical practice as we know it is still fairly recent, under two centuries old. The actual origin of yoga, including the philosophical components, is truly unknown. The first few weeks of class, we learned about the physical culture movement which began at the end of the 19th century and flourished in the first few decades of the 20th century. This movement coincided with the development of postural yoga and influenced those who wanted to become strong and beautiful into adapting this form of physical activity.

 

This is just a snippet of Western Yoga History — in the East, the Brahmins were enforcing the Hindu caste system and insisting that those at the lowest levels live out their Dharma, believing that they are assigned a single purpose in life and must carry it out; for if done properly, they will be placed into a higher caste in their next life. As Gandhi worked to rid India of the caste system, his fellow Brahmins fought against him, enforcing the cycle of familial trauma that comes from having your entire life pre-determined from the minute you are born, literally.

 

The theory of embodiment, the eight limbs of yoga, and the interactions between mobility, disillusionment with established religious institutions and the growth of consumer culture were also topics we discussed in depth, and they all provoked thought on a deep level. How do we define yoga in the West? How is it defined in general? Is it a religion or not? On what level has yoga fallen into the capitalist pit trap that Western society feeds off of? These are all questions I find myself asking on a regular basis, and though I do not have all the answers, I am far more critical of ideas, theories, and practices I come across now than I was prior to taking this class.

 

One topic that had a profound impact on me was Tantric Yoga. We were introduced to the topic early on when we watched the film “Naked in Ashes.” The tantric yogis were eating flesh, living in cemeteries and shunned by a good deal of what should have otherwise been their community. Surprisingly, when I speak to people about tantra, they often assume I am talking about intercourse. While Tantric Sex is a sect of this body of yoga, I believe that the association with sex and sex alone is misguided, driven by the obsession Western society has with the topic.

 

The fact is that tantric yogis do everything in extremes because they believe that sensory experience is fundamental to their development. The idea is to go towards the feeling, whether it be pain or pleasure, and experience it fully. In other forms of yoga, the body is seen as an issue that needs to be overcome — one such example being Yoga: Discipline of Freedom, the Yoga Sutra attributed to Patanjali, which emphasizes the fact that we simply do not exist. In tantra, the body is essential, and the only way that enlightenment can be achieved is through this vessel.

 

Prior to discussing my takeaways from my asana practice, I want to highlight two points that I had not considered before. One is that “our mindset is our reality,” that we consider there to be bad emotions and good emotions, but at the end of the day there are just emotions, plain and simple. Likewise, there is no good or bad karma, there is just karma: action. This genuinely surprised me, as I have always thought about karma in the Western sense, perceiving it to be akin to good or bad luck that is distributed based on how one treats people.

 

In terms of my semester long asana practice, there are several major differences and similarities between my experience of yoga now as opposed to when I first began. Beginning with the differences, I have become critical of the commentary and knowledge of many instructors, questioning where they are pulling their speeches from and what they intend to accomplish with them. Dr. Greene said during one class that it was easy to make us, as both students and people, feel something. With authority, a foreign language, some fancy words and a universal message, it is not difficult to appeal to the masses and tug at the heartstrings of humans deprived of community.

 

Being social creatures, one can see how that desperation for community emerges, especially during a global pandemic such as the one we are currently experiencing. While I typically tend to be skeptical of people and organizations in general, I do find myself less likely to criticize something if I do not know much about it. Knowledge is power, and as I learn I become confident in my ability to assess and question situations.

 

This is not to say that every instructor has a horrible ulterior motive or does not wish to help people; but rather that it is important to be aware of what we as people consume and absorb, and why certain messages appeal to us more than others.

 

I have also noticed that certain words and phrases have become irritating to me. “Intention,” “manifestation,” “heart’s prayer,” “feminine and masculine energy,” are all repeated throughout multiple practices. Though I appreciate setting an intention, I also would like to engage in a practice where I am simply being without constantly worrying if my intention is good enough or not. Furthermore, when I mentioned my studies to my friends, family, and acquaintances, a few of them told me I should catch sales and get licensed yoga clothing from brands like Adidas and Nike, or post more on social media to prove I was “actually doing yoga.” I found these responses lackluster and disappointing and began to tie them in to consumerism and capitalism. I am thankful that I had a small group of supportive people who engaged in conversation about the material I was learning and faithfully read every single post I wrote on this blog. However, the fact that anyone’s first response to me discussing the caste system or Diamond Dallas Page’s “Yoga for Regular Guys” was, “I know a great place you can get yoga pants!” is disappointing and reflective of the disregard humans can have for genuine conversation due to perpetuation of capitalist standards.

 

I detailed a few key asanas from each practice thoroughly, explaining what was supposed to be done, how they felt, and what made them memorable. As I mentioned in the beginning of this entry, I had minimal knowledge about different kinds of yoga, and I still have much to learn. However, having experienced Hatha, Iyengar, Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Sivananda, Kundalini, and Yin Yoga, I am thrilled to be able to distinguish between differing types and excited to seek out more. My limited knowledge coming into this experience made me eager to detail and document every single movement, to remember the difficulty of placing my feet flat when doing Downward-Facing Dog in the beginning of the semester to the ease of launching myself in the air from that same position just a couple of weeks ago.

 

On the flipside, my use of the Sanskrit words for yoga has remained constant, as has my need to provide context, background, and quotes from my instructors whenever possible. My incorporation of the assigned themes from the syllabus has also remained constant, as I either place them in the opening or closing of my reflections, so as to make them the focal point of the practice. The online platform Gaia remained my main source of instruction, and my personal meditative process has remained intact as well.

 

Additionally, I want to make a note about a particular blog post I wrote entitled “ Yin and Yang: The Duality of Merging Into One.” This post focused on a practice instructed by Melina Meza, and during that practice Meza spoke frequently about Dharma. At this point we had not yet read The Bhagavad Gita, and though I had read it in the past I did not put two and two together until we went over it in class just a few weeks ago. Dharma is taken very seriously, and is a way of life for many people, an inescapable fate that must be accepted and fulfilled in order to one day jump off the Wheel of Karma and escape the pain and suffering that is life. The way Dharma was used in this practice made it seem like a simple, chosen purpose, one that is inside of us to find rather than assigned from the moment of our conception. This served as a clear example of what happens when an Eastern concept is brought into a conversation, without context, in a Westernized practice setting.

 

Yoga: East Meets West has been an amazing experience. The topics were challenging, the material interesting, and the assignments relevant and thought-provoking. The physical practice pushed my limits, testing my patience, belief, and flexibility. I can do things now that at the start of class I would not even have attempted, and am growing more confident with each additional practice I partake in. I am honored to have been able to take this class, and to have the tools necessary to critique yoga and those who practice it while also appreciating the beauty it has to offer. Having the opportunity to learn from guest teachers such as Dianne Polli and Andrew Eppler was one of the bright parts of having this class during a pandemic, and I am grateful to Dr. Greene for keeping the class engaged and offering us the tools we needed to succeed.

 

I hope you enjoyed reading these reflections as much as I have enjoyed writing them.

 

Signing off one last time,

Moujnir