Yoga as a Lifestyle and Culture

Yoga is becoming more popular throughout the West. Personally, I see more and more people talking about how they have heard so many good things about yoga and that they really want to try it out for themselves. Everywhere you go there are flyers and advertisements about new yoga studios opening up in the community. My own mother for instance, recently just brought it up to me about how she would like to try it out. This was surprising to me because she out of all the people in the world would be the last person who I would expect to do yoga. To begin with, traditional yoga, unlike western yoga, doesn’t have the “pop” sounding names to them. For example, if you were a middle aged woman in America, which yoga title class sounds more appealing to you; Viniyoga and Ashtanga  or yoga slim and hot yoga? I believe yoga in the west became so popularized because of the way it is advertised to draw people in through the use of “pop” culture.  As a “pop” culture in the West, it seems as though yoga is portrayed by young, slim women who drink fit tea and who wear tight colorful workout clothes. I believe it is important to understand where yoga comes from, the history of it and the purpose of it before an individual decides to dedicate some of their time to it so that way they can get the full benefit of what yoga truly has to offer.

Although I believe that it is a good thing that yoga has become so mainstream, I also believe it is important that Westerners do not dilute the traditional uses and process of yoga. Everyone has their own individual outlook on yoga, but the effect of yoga in the west can become tainted. Many people may become so obsessed with the physical practice of yoga that if it somehow became a burden to do it, it would most likely bring us grief when we aren’t able to do it anymore. Our attachment to yoga, I believe, is much more different then how traditional yoga has meant it to be.  Yoga is meant to change our perspectives, our bodies, and our minds through the use of calming, connecting, and understanding the deepest part of ourselves. That being said, when people firmly and only establish yoga as a pop culture, the latter statement becomes irrelevant to western practitioners. The purpose of yoga for them isn’t based off of traditional beliefs anymore, but rather a more dismantled shaping of what westerns belief yoga is.