@Tiffany Thank you for sharing your experience of teaching yoga in your own community. I don’t think we need to be pressured into being spiritual teachers – as spirituality is such an individual thing. I don’t know if you were in the session where I said I was asked by some students about my own religious beliefs and they were taken aback when I said, “That’s none of your business,” because it isn’t. You can indeed take a scientific approach and many Indian yoga teachers did exactly that. Good luck in your teaching and do stay in touch.

Jen May
Reflections on Cultural Appropriation in Yoga

I first became aware of cultural appropriation in yoga as I practiced in a variety of studios in the early 2000’s. At one studio, statues of Hindu gods and goddesses were placed on the floor, essentially as decoration, and this sparked a conversation about careless and uninformed handling of sacred objects. Around this time clothing/bags/earrings with the OM symbol were really popular, and even though seeing the gods and goddesses on the floor hadn’t rung any appropriation alarm bells in my head, this definitely did. Both examples are cringe-worthy for the same reason – something sacred has been tossed out there to the world, and companies are making money on its association to yoga.

I did my first teacher training in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania at a Vinyasa flow studio. I don’t remember cultural appropriation being discussed. It was assumed that I would OM and say Namaste at the end of class. There was a sense that teachers should pass along a comprehensive set of the traditional teachings of yoga that included invoking these sacred words. I felt uncomfortable with this at first, but I was out of my comfort zone in general, so I didn’t necessarily feel that I was appropriating by using these words. Over time, I’ve found that OM and Namaste have become more authentic and meaningful to me, as centering and ending rituals. I describe them to students as rituals and occasionally go into the meaning behind them.

Appropriation as we defined it in our course is when one culture tries on and uses another cultures’ symbols, rituals and artifacts. Another part of the definition is that appropriation is to be expected whenever two cultures meet. We are all undoubtedly enriched by this continuous mixing of cultures around the world. When we’re talking about food, traditional clothing, or music, appropriation may enrich more than harm. However, a broader understanding of appropriation that takes into account accessibility, exclusion, and the use of sacred items without deep understanding shows how it can be harmful in some cases.

Social media may make yoga more accessible just by exposing more eyeballs to yoga content, but the content itself is disseminated in bite-sized pieces, sometimes incorrect and usually lacking nuance. We could throw up our hands at this situation and say yoga should only happen off-line in situations where we can learn in depth from an experienced teacher. But the fact is, many people are exposed to yoga for the first time through social media or youtube, where quick takes and glossing over deep ideas is the norm. Even a 60 minute class doesn’t feel like a long enough time to really do some yogic ideas justice. We hope that these incomplete tidbits either add up over time, in the case of repeatedly going to the same teacher, or they spark someones’ interest in probing deeper. My first introduction to yoga was a physical education class in college that was flawed and incomplete, but I was hooked and went on to further study and practice. Between books, DVDs, Yoga Journal magazine, and going to many classes, It didn’t take long to dive beneath the surface-level, fitness oriented yoga.

Another example of appropriation is the use of sacred symbols as common decoration. Images of the Buddha and Ganesh are like this, seen in gift shops and divorced of their original meaning. I actually bought a statue of Ganesh within the last year, to inspire me to flow with life instead of resist, to reframe obstacles as opportunities. If I had bought this twenty years ago when I first started my yoga practice, it would have meant something different than it does now. My time spent studying yoga and working with the idea of Ganesh as the remover of obstacles makes a difference.

As yoga evolves, becoming international; no longer elite, esoteric, and male; no longer tied to a caste system; majority women practitioners; focused on wellness rather than transcendence, it makes the analysis of appropriation more confusing. Why not just move away from the dogma, the gurus, transcend race and culture, and in the process avoid all the cultural appropriation too? It seems like a good idea on the surface, but we all come to the practice of yoga with our own cultural baggage, and it’s important to acknowledge it in order to learn from each other.

I read a few blog posts by Indian yoga teachers about appropriation. They are upset by Lululemon and other clothing companies pushing yoga in the fitness direction and making money from sacred symbols. They see a lack of diversity in classes, especially a lack of practitioners of Indian descent and feel alienated by what they see as an assault on their traditional culture. They are bothered that yoga teachers travelling to India for trainings are majority white westerners. They feel that yoga is priced too high for people who really need it to access it.

I’d like to think through a class I taught recently in the light of appropriation. It was a class series focused on improving balance. So yes, it definitely had a fitness orientation, and everyone coming was expecting (I think) a very physical practice. I had 17 people in the classes, mostly beginners, and it was the most diverse class I’ve taught – age, gender, and racial diversity included. I brought in ideas about mental focus, other ways of thinking about balance that dipped into yoga philosophy, and provided time for quiet and an inward turn. Was I appropriating by capitalizing on the fitness orientation that people expect? I think maybe yes to a certain extent, but I hope that people got a taste for what else yoga has to offer and will come back for something more and different.

What I’m taking from our conversation is that more understanding and study leads to less harmful appropriation. I’m committed to learning more for the sake of my students and my own respect and love for the practice. I know that if I’ve studied and worked with ideas until they feel real and authentic to me, I can probably present them to students in a meaningful way too. Curiosity, openness, willingness to make mistakes and learn from them – all these will help me and others in reducing harmful appropriation.

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!