Yoga Appropriation. But I also discovered yoga appropriation and that discovery made me uncomfortable. If this is the first time you are hearing the word appropriation, it means "the action of taking something for one's own use, typically without the owner's permission". In the case of yoga we (as in white people) took the poses of yoga and westernized it. Why the Appropriation of Yoga Matters. If these signs of cultural appropriation are familiar to your yoga practice, that doesn’t mean you’re a bad person. We’re all taught to follow the systems of oppression that dominate our society, and every one of us has to go through a learning process to decolonize our thoughts and behaviors. Yoga, like so many other colonized systems of practice and knowledge, did not appear in the American spiritual landscape by coincidence; rather, its popularity was a direct consequence of a larger system of cultural appropriation that capitalism engenders and reifies.
Is yoga cultural appropriation? Indians are pushed out of a culture that actually belongs to them. I have read about Indians / South Asians feeling like they don’t belong in yoga classes, that they don’t fit in, like the practice of yoga has been so far removed from Hinduism that it’s become alien to them. Yoga is a Hindu practice and. Ignoring the roots, history, and philosophies of the practice in favour of using it as “just exercise” is a form of erasure, and potentially an act of cultural appropriation. Yoga classes are often expensive and demographically match the majority of yoga product marketing – that is, thin, cisgender, able-bodied, middle-class white women.
Is yoga cultural appropriation? Indians are pushed out of a culture that actually belongs to them. I have read about Indians / South Asians feeling like they don’t belong in yoga classes, that they don’t fit in, like the practice of yoga has been so far removed from Hinduism that it’s become alien to them. Yoga is a Hindu practice and.
The practice of yoga itself is not cultural appropriation. And, at the same time, it is really important to honor and appreciate where a practice comes from, or we risk appropriating it. Yoga has always been syncretic. It's been practiced for thousands of years. Cultural appropriation in yoga is more about taking the cultural origins out of context or adopting authentic yoga practices without an attitude of respect. It is important to note that most yoga teachers have good intentions and are probably unaware of the issue of cultural appropriation in yoga. But this lack of awareness can add another. The practice of yoga itself is not cultural appropriation. And, at the same time, it is really important to honor and appreciate where a practice comes from, or we risk appropriating it. Yoga has always been syncretic. It's been practiced for thousands of years. Yoga and cultural appropriation. One perspective is that an ancient practice from a developing country has been gutted through cultural appropriation—the process of taking something traditional from a marginalized group and turning it into something that profits the dominant group.
