When this class became available through Yoga Medicine, I leapt at the opportunity to take it. “Yes!” I thought, now we’ll have all the questions answered and can do what’s “right”. Well figure out this appropriative conundrum once and for all! I laugh to myself now, because it’s quite typical that white people in the west strive to have complex issues like appropriation be neatly figured out, in simple binary terms, so that we can check the box and move on to whatever interests us next. The reality of cultural appropriation is much more complex, and I can say with full authority today – I’m no clearer on how to maintain the “authenticity” of yoga as a white teacher in the west without appropriating the culture and customs of India, I don’t think there is an easy answer here. However, after this class, I’m more curious and engaged than I was before- and I think that’s the point! Cultural appropriation is deeply engrained in our societal assimilation. As you quoted Richard Rogers, cultural appropriation “is inescapable when cultures come into contact, including virtual or representational contact. Cultural appropriation is also inescapably intertwined with cultural politics”. I found this definition to be incredibly enlightening. It makes sense to me that we appropriate many different cultures as we assimilate and connect, as yoga moved west, it became a part of our culture too. The question I find illuminating and most poignant here is – when is our appropriation harmful? Dianne Lalonde’s paper on appropriation really hits the mark for my personal teaching practice. When we are in a personal practice of misrecognition, nonrecognition, and exploitation, then cultural appropriation becomes caustic. It’s clear (for some of us at least), that dressing up as an Indigenous Native for Halloween, complete with headdress and face paint, is both misrecognition and exploitation. We (generally) shun these behaviors and discourage them among our children and community members. What’s perhaps less clear is how a vinyasa flow class at a gym in Portland, OR could also be appropriative and what this means for the many students and teachers who regularly show up for their practice. In the 12 years of my teaching yoga, I haven’t been asked once about cultural appropriation, not once, nor have I spoken about it with my students and colleagues. In hindsight, I find this to be astounding. How is it in the west that some things seem obviously and offensively appropriative and others are just a part of regular life? In response to the question of “How would you respond to questions of cultural appropriation in yoga”, I would counter that a better question is to ask – “why are we not talking about this in our yoga classes, why is the topic of cultural appropriation not discussed?”. Throughout our time together, what has become clear to me is that dialogue and education lends to liberation and liberation, as you so thoughtfully put it Firdose, is at the heart of yoga. When we discuss and engage in thoughtful discourse on subjects such as cultural appropriation in our yoga classes and beyond, we open the door for deeper thinking, connection and recognition of the people and parts that make this practice what it is. I am personally inspired to engage more in reflexivity in this regard. The practice of examining your feelings and thoughts, asking questions and understanding perspectives, adds to the richness, history and culture of yoga and our assimilation of it to western society. The practice we have today is certainly not the same one that our ancient teachers and gurus were practicing before us and yet it’s extremely valuable in the west, even in its morphed and contrasting form. I believe there is a space, as Jay Parini put it, where we can “show respect for those on the margins but still allow for a maximum of free speech”. My hope is we continue the dialogue, in all its forms.

Thank you for a deeply thoughtful and illuminating class Firdose. I found it stimulating and thought provoking and referenced many things you discussed in my classes and with my community. I look forward to learning more with you in the future!