I’ve previously discussed my journey into yoga, my love hate relationship with the ancient art form.

Of course with every so called industry, platform or practice, there are problems, that’s natural. But as the years pass by I start to question the very reasons for why I delved in to this holistic world of movement. The Pattabhi Jois ethic of “do your practice and all is coming” has started to ware thin.

I began writing what I wanted to be a light hearted book, based on a fundamentals workshop I’d been teaching. In the workshop I touched on most of what I’ve previously discussed, before moving on to a practical breakdown of postures.

I was constantly seeing people arrive to my classes injured, not from a serious accident or a work related problem but from yoga, either from an over zealous practice or an over zealous teacher. Blaming social media as I have for the down fall of the uptake of bad yoga teachers.

But social media isn’t necessarily to blame. In fact if it hadn’t have been for social media I would’ve been naively unaware of what I’m about to discuss. Social Media just flags up many problems to a wider audience.

As previously mentioned, there’s lot of controversy surrounding many different styles of yoga, the allegations of sexual misconduct made against Bikram Chowdry were very wildly publicised and well known within most yoga communities.

Even though I was fully aware of certain Ashram leaders being abusive, I naively assumed that this kind of abhorrent systemic sexual and mental abuse was unique to Bikram amongst the big gun yoga elite, I was wrong.

My indifferent relationship with social media has never seemingly forced me to deactivate my accounts and over the years I’ve joined many yoga related groups and followed many well known yoga teacher accounts. At times these groups have been a hive of actively, they’ve benefited and helped my teaching knowledge greatly.

During a Sunday afternoon scroll, in December 2018, I noticed a post by renowned teacher Matthew Sweeney.

It stood out, as I hadn’t recalled seeing any previous post by Matthew for a while, not being a big Facebook user. His name, a blast from my yoga past, from when he hitched a lift with us in Byron Bay in 2003. A fellow teacher trainees husband had been practicing with Matthew a keen surfer that was well known in our teacher training group for being at the top of his Ashtanga game, albeit a bit of a recluse (the latter could’ve been a case of Byron Bay whispers).

It seemed he shied away from the larger yoga communities within Byron and just cracked on with the Ashtanga task ahead. A very well respected teacher indeed. I’m pretty sure he’ll have no recollection of my friends and I pulling over to offer him a lift, unwittingly jumping in to her decrepit hire car we fondly named moo.

On reading his post my head spun, not because of the revolutionary content but for my oblivious lack of knowledge to a world I was involved with and believed in for many years.

The post was an article written by Karen Rain regarding the sexual misconduct of Pattahbi Jois and the admission that he (Matthew) and many other fellow practitioners were fully aware of the heinous “adjustments” that were conducted on a daily basis in Mysore.

Matthew comments about the “flaws, both physical and ethical of the Ashtanga Vinyasa system. That is to say, I express my dislike of both the ethical approach to the physical system itself, and the ethics of its teachers – principally Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Rangswamy.”

That opening paragraph to his Facebook statement sent a few shock waves through my scroll. I knew he wasn’t a vocal yoga teacher on social media. The last I’d known of Matthew, rightly or wrongly was that he was indeed still a highly acclaimed introverted Ashtanga teacher.

This statement echoed much of my own sentiment I’d been attempting to relay in my Fundamentals workshops, always softening my real thoughts and feelings towards Ashtanga, so not to anger yogis.

Over the years, my eyes had started to opened up a lot to this “flawed” system. This was a very delicate subject within my workshops, I’d tried very carefully to skirt around the fact that I held the Ashtanga Yoga system, or at least yoga studios using the Ashtanga Yoga system as a prerequisite to many Teacher Training programmes, the reason for a lot of unnecessary adjustments and injuries within modern yoga. I was unaware of the claims I was about to read.

I met Pattabhi Jois back in 2003, when he ran a series of workshops on Brick Lane in London. Fresh from Teacher Training and eager not only to learn but to say I’d attended a class in his presence. I knew I’d never quite make it to Mysore, I’m not sure I’d really ever had the inclination to pursue Ashtanga so deeply but I had a new vigour to dip my preferable angusta (toe) in to the practice.

The huge white warehouse style hall was heaving.

I attended with my friend Emma, an exiting early morning taxi ride to class. Surprisingly spotting a few new yogi friends we’d met on our recent training in the room. We felt like we were part of the “scene” and it was exhilarating.

The class started, the roomed vibrated with synchronised breath. There’s always been something so very captivating and addictive to be part of that sound, that movement, the long slow counts that hurt, then the utter euphoric relief to move on to the next.

A room full of bodies moving to a finely tuned sequence and I knew it, we knew it! This primary series was new to me just few months before, but two solid months in Byron Bay, 6 mornings a week had my brain wired to it.

I was adjusted by both Sharath and PJ. Just once by each if I remember rightly but a claim to my new found yoga fame to be held.

It was hard, Ashtanga is hard, powerful, intimidating and like no other yoga practice I’d experienced before, it pulls you in and makes you want more.

At the end of the class, everyone lined up to meet PJ. To thank him and kiss his feet.

Hold on! Kiss his what now??

Now don’t get me wrong, I have full respect for cultures and disciplines and I loved being in that room that morning, it was an honour (or so I thought) but as a child my mother would relentlessly tell me “you are better than no one and no one is better than you”.

Fan girl, I wasn’t. I never understood or was I ever comfortable with the power dynamics of the Guru status of a yoga teacher. Surely you’re your own Guru, surely that’s the aim of yoga, either that or the practice is the “guru”, not the teacher him/her self. Surely that was never the purpose of yoga.

So we opted out. Caffeine was our only calling that morning, that and meeting up with with our new long distance besties.

I spent many years after that perfecting my Ashtanga practice with various authorised and non authorised teachers, some wonderful, some not, picking up injury after injury after injury.

Male and female teachers, a few male teachers where I did get that “VIBE” with. One in particular, you know the type, the one where in any other circumstance this kind of adjustment would be deemed highly inappropriate but it’s yoga, this is spiritual, he had the knowledge, the breath, mala’s, an Om tattoo and other various yoga paraphernalia, he was his own authentic self. Was he fuck! That teacher went on to father at last 5 children from different yoga students.

Injury after injury after injury. In my workshops I would say, “it wasn’t Ashtangas fault, it was my ego.” Shifting blame on to me so not to offend any one.

So when I saw Matthew Sweeney speaking of his disassociation and distain for Ashtanga it resonated hugely. I read on.

I’ve always been too worried about using the word “cult” within my class/workshop discussions. I’ve always chose a practical agnostic approach to yoga, inquisitive with a thirst for knowledge and understanding but always questioning the esoteric, ambiguous mythological approach.

“I do not consider Pattabhi Jois a good example of a Yoga Teacher. I have never considered him as a ‘Guru’ – for the period of time when I was his student, I consider him my asana teacher, versus a true master – for I could see the flaws, which clearly indicated he was quite far from enlightenment. On these last points, I think the same of Sharath Rangswammy – I would not classify him as the best example of an ethical Yoga teacher. I would not call him a Guru”

Matthew goes on to say how he was aware of “Pattabhi Jois being sexually abusive’ and his disappointment in other teachers turning a blind eye and not speaking out and in fact the disappointment in himself for witnessing such abuse and not saying a word.

“So why didn’t I speak out? Essentially because I didn’t want to get kicked out of the club. For fear of losing my place, my income, my credentials. Things I had worked hard for. I think this problem is ages old, for as long as humans have been dealing with each other. We become complicit with abuse out of fear of losing our hard earned place”

The statement, condemning both Pattabhi Jois and Sharath Rangswammy system of teaching, sexual and physical abuse from Ashtanga adjustments were a direct response to Karen Rain (formerly Haberman’s) article, alleging the relentless abuse she endured. This article being a direct response to a book written by Matthew Remski, entitled “Practice and all is Coming. Abuse, Cult Dynamics And Healing In Yoga And Beyond”. I urge anyone with any interest in Yoga, Ashtanga or otherwise to read it.

I’d opened up a rabbit hole and I fell in deep.

Reading the Karen Rain interview, who had changed her surname to disassociate herself with Ashtanga Yoga, it became apparent just how much I’d been fooled by this “healing system”. Many would argue that it wasn’t the system of Ashtanga Yoga that was flawed but the teachers that set the system. Many would also argue that those teachers themselves were not in the wrong, it was simply down to cultural differences when he allegedly placed his finger in genitals, or fondled the breasts of 1,2, 3, 4 ,5, 6 ……. different women, to name just a few abuse accusations of which there’s photo and video evidence of. All mentioned in detail in Matthew Remski’s book and out there on the internet ether for all to see.

This system of yoga, passed down to Pattabhi Jois by the Ayurvedic healer and yoga teacher Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, “the father of modern yoga” according to wiki.

“Teach what is appropriate for an individual”. This rarely happens in any yoga class I’ve ever attended.

Krishnamacharaya, being not only Patahbbi Jois’s teacher but other world renowned self proclaimed and coveted teachers such as Indra Devi, B.K.S Iyengar and his son T.K.V Desikachar.

Amongst many scriptures of yoga that Krishnamacharya passed on to his students was, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, very little mention of yoga asana but noting it should be “steady and comfortable”, the yoga Yajnavalkya and the Yoga Kurrunta. The Yoga Kurunta is said to have been the basis of the Ashtanga Yoga system. Discovered by Krishnamacharya in the National Archives of India but it was alas sadly eaten by ants. Of course it was.

This being the premise of Pattabhi Jois’s dogmatic patriarchal rhetoric teachings that has taken over the world. Power yoga, dynamic yoga, vinyasa yoga, Jivamukti yoga all taking lead from Ashtanga which took lead form a variety of scriptures that mealy mentioned yoga asana being performed gently and a scripture eaten by ants. Not a super strong basis for what has been taken as a given tradition is studios around the world.

There are a frighteningly amount of claims made against teachers, all of which can be found by a quick google search but here’s a few other abuse claims listed online by The Yoga Lunchbox:

I could go on, amongst these names there were other teachers, that had relentless affairs, sex with numbers of students, financial corruption and violence.

Yoga Girl, Rachel Brathen, looked into this issue in depth also, after the recent “me too” stories and asked her Instagram followers to contact her regarding abuse within their yoga practices and was inundated. You can hear her insightful podcast discussion on the subject too.

Putting the awful sexual abuse claims aside, the physical abuse claims are just as prolific and relentless. The strong hands on assists that have firmly made their mark on modern day yoga really have no place in the history of yoga at all. Sounds of ligaments torn in the name of a healing “opening” is ingrained into many practices.

Donna Farhi, a very well respected and experienced yoga teacher talks of the systemic problems within the Iyengar system too.

In a recent podcast she recorded, also off the back of Mathew Remski’s book, she talks about not only being physically abused by Iyengar but the humiliation, mental, emotional abuse that often took place within the renowned and highly respected teachers classes.

The mention of sticks often being used to hit students who aren’t moving deep enough into a pose had been what I believed to bee an urban myth but seemingly true.

One of Iyengar’s senior teachers Manouso Manos has also had many sexual abuse claims made against him, struck off from teaching by Iynegar only to return to teaching a few years later.

All this begs the question, what the hell are we doing? Is the Yoga world nuts?? Are we all brainwashed?

I always thought of myself as a very realistic teacher, skeptical by nature, happy to be proven wrong in my pursuit of what is good for me. But I feel duped.

I’ve never searched for a spiritual guide or “guru”, however I have wrongly put my faith in many teachers along the way.

Unknowingly or intentionally yoga teachers and spiritual practitioners have a way with words. Bullshit yoga lingo. Maybe this is due to the ambiguity of yoga, I know myself finishing my first teacher training, I knew nothing. My knowledge has been gained by my mistakes and observations over the years not my training.

Where does abuse draw a line?

The teachers named above are predominantly male, of which I could personally list a few more that have stepped over the mark, however I currently know many female teachers who have a brainwashing effect of their “students” too.

Many talk the lingo, Instagram posts predominately talking in great depth of their daily struggles wrapped up with spiritual conundrums and a bikini shot to encourage people “to move and grow together”. One teacher in particular using her sexuality within a class situation to create some sort of sexual obsessions, laughing at the fact she’s noticed men getting sexually aroused by her adjustments, smug in the knowledge that they’ll most definitely be attending again. Is this abuse?

Another teacher I know broke a “students” ribs in an adjustment, the student not able to practice for months but didn’t feel she should tell the studio manager with fear of upsetting the teacher. This same teacher shouts at “students’ mid class, humiliating them to stop. Is this abuse?

Another teacher, calling “students” out for their life style choices, telling them they’re sure “to get cancer” if they continue eating meat and drinking alcohol. Is this abuse?

The answer to all of the above is yes. Of course it is. Anyone that exerts power at the detriment of another is an abuser and unfortunately yoga seems to attract power crazy gob shites.

The Iyengar/Ashtanga alignment cues that are taught around the world daily are being proven to be anatomically incorrect, with massive detrimental effects on the body.

There”s always been constant claims of poses that heal many illnesses with no scientific background and we’ve all unwittingly jumped on board this yoga train for the ride en-masse. The proverbial sheep is no contest for a gullible yogi.

So is yoga a cult?

I’ve often laughed off this question over the years. Rolling my eyes at those who ramble on about religious connotations. I remember teaching one lady who was a Jahova Witness. I was teaching her for a year or so before she said she could no longer attend as her “church” had forbidden it. I fully respected her decision but as my classes weren’t in any way spiritual ( I gave up “omming a year or two in to teaching in Birmingham with fear of being beaten up) I found it ludicrous.

But is the yoga we see today a cult? In my opinion now, Yes it is or at least mainstream yoga is.

In what other physical practices do we put so much trust and faith in the teacher? In what other practices do we put the teacher on a guru style pedestal without ever questioning the reason behind a pose or a breath?

I mentioned Kundalini earlier. This the “crack of yoga” has had a deep cult like following for years. Influenced by Shaktism and Tantra schools of Hinduism. Adapted and made popular in 1969 by Yogi Bhajan when he formulated the 3HO, Happy, Healthy Holy, Organisation. “They liked to experience elevated states of awareness”, (wiki). 3HO followers and participants are asked to wear white and don white turbans in line with Sikh tradition.

The 3HO website states:

“Wearing White”

“How you dress is a personal choice. When you choose to dress with grace, dignity, modesty, and elegance, it can strengthen your projection and become a tool to help you express your consciousness.”

I’m guessing the Alo Yoga Instagram Influencers didn’t get that memo!

“Expand Your Aura”

“Each day, you can expand your aura and increase your openness and neutrality by wearing graceful clothing that is white or ivory, made from cotton, silk, wool, or other natural fibres.

Wearing white expands your aura and creates a powerful interface between you and your environments. The spectrum of light energy that makes up colour white contains the energies of all colours. By wearing white, all the colours are available to support and enhance the aura and the eight chakras.

Whilst researching the so called benefits of wearing white, I found a Yoga Journal article, 5 Kundalini Inspired Ways to Wear White. With Five fashionable yogini’s sporting five different looks with five different associated links and price tags.

Now my experience of Kundalini yoga is limited but there’s enough research out there to know that it is what Matthew Remski refers to as a “high demand group” i.e. cult.

Diane Bruni, founder of the Movement Research Community, brought my attention to the problems within this particular “high demand group” recently in a Facebook post. Diane who notes Yogi Bahjan as her first yoga teacher says:

“Be careful folks…. first they get into a trance state and then they tell you to wear white, stop eating meat and arrange a nice marriage for you.”

Yogi Bahjan’s teachings said to have been taken from Sikh religion and scriptures are said to be corrupt too, a Huffington Post article states, “according to mainstream members of the religion, by adhering to the doctrine of Yogi Bhajan, they are violating more traditional Sikh teachings.”

In an academic study by Philip Deslippe, he surmises that yogi Bahjan made up many of Kundalini practices we see today.

“Yogi Bhajan is best thought of as neither a lineage holder nor inventor, but a bricoleur who brought together elements of different practices and presented them to his students as a distinct entity with a romantic mythology surrounding it. Perhaps this says as much about Yogi Bhajan as it does about the expectations and hopes of those who believed him.”

There are many scandals surrounding Yogi Bahjan, likewise the well documented world of Osho and the many “guru’s I mentioned earlier. Alleged sexual abuse, rape and corruption seems be rife with all.

I’m certain there are many wonderful honest, likeminded Kundalini, white wearing teachers and the like practicing all around the world but without a doubt regardless of your beliefs this is and was a cult and has been taken to the heart of every yoga studio throughout the world, just as Ashtanga, Iyengar, Bikram, has. All with honest hard working teachers, (I know because I am one). Yet all of these practices are founded by rhetoric, power crazy patriarchs, based on claims of lies and abuse.

Mathew Remski talks about cult behaviours.

“Cult analysis literature offers many models for exploring how the behaviour of Pattabhi Jois was enabled for close to 30 years, while his community grew in numbers, financial strength, and cultural impact.

A high demand group deceives the public and it’s members. Deceiving the public is affected through propaganda, while members are deceived to the point of difficult return by process of indoctrination. The two other steps in the famous model of Michael Langone, who updated studies from the late 1950s of victims of Korean War “brainwashing” techniques, are that the group fosters a sense of dependence within the member, and then instills with them a dread of leaving.”

He then goes on to refer to Cathleen Mann’s MIND mode …. “begins (ing) with Manipulation, a series of techniques used by cults to ensure compliance by using undue influence.”

Cathleen Mann writes…

“Manipulation involves several other elements such as : impression management: lying about facts and history: assuring conformity to a teaching without question: betraying of confidences: denying reality; and changes to diet, sleeping patterns, and overactivity.”

“The Indoctrination phase features deliberate changes to a persons environment without consent, knowledge, or awareness….. beginning with recruitment, binding an individual to the group through ritual and secrets, creating a sense of specialness and replacing family bonds….

Negation is next … a process of devaluing the individual and their past through sustained criticism often labelled as feedback or disengagement. All successful cults downplay the ego and consider it the ultimate enemy.

“Finally, cults use Deception to foster a temporary betrayal of self without awareness of the reasons driving it. “Deception occurs in a pyramid fashion where those above know more than those below, and leaders at the top restrict knowledge through the use of loyalty to climb higher in the pyramid”.

Whhhoooooaaa!

I don’t write as eloquently as Mathew Remski, or Cathleen Mann, yet that small excerpt rings true of all the previous cult/abuse claims I mentioned.

It not only rings true relative to yoga but it resonated highly to me on personal level too.

I thought I was exempt to cult like behaviour, I thought my practical realistic approach to life stood me in good hardy stead. But as the years tick by I’ve realised that I was indeed duped on many levels, by yoga teachers, friends, partners who all fall under the Cathleen Mann model.

Am I angry? A little. Have I learned along the way. Absolutely. Maybe that is the life science behind yoga?

Maybe that’s samadhi?

Who’s to know.

So what can we believe? We all know that correct mindful movement is good for us, we know the profound neurological effects of meditation, we know the ancient scriptures of yoga but can we call what we practice today Yoga at all?

Yoga studios profit greatly by churning out newly qualified teachers at an alarming rate. Those very same teachers often have a goal of leading their own teacher training course in very fast succession. Yoga Alliance claim that to lead your own Teacher Training course you need at least 10 years and 5000 hours worth teaching experience. But are studios adhering to these kind of rules. Is this in any way policed. No. There’s many ways to get around this, not being Yoga Alliance accredited is one, set up as a charity is another example. This is creating a ripple effect of bad teachings on an international scale.

It takes a four year degree to become a physiotherapist, yet yoga teachers are indoctrinated into teaching identical, incredibly strong, generic yoga adjustments by other inexperienced yoga teacher trainers after a 200 hour course, of which anatomy only ever plays a small percentage of.

Yoga is a multi billion dollar industry, more and more teachers qualifying to go out in to the world and spread their knowledge predominantly based on these “high demand group” styles of yoga. Of course there are highly experience, thorough courses but likewise more and more teachers are running teacher training courses with very little history of knowledge of yoga.

Previously, there was far less choice out there, credentials were solely based on the vast knowledge of the teachers involved, these days social media followings do play a role. This in turn creating a whole new breed of “high demand groups”.

And now the further I fall down this rabbit hole my questions continue. The abuse certainly is as far removed from the essence of the meaning of yoga as it can be. The physical aspect of so called traditional styles of yoga can be hugely damaging.

Yoga has evolved, everything has to evolve but unfortunately the power has evolved far faster than the practice itself.

“Yoga is not now, nor has ever been, a practice aimed at physical mastery for its own sake. Nor is it a practice aimed at “stress reduction” so we can function as better producers and consumers in a capitalist society” Sasanna Barkataki.

I believe that quote to be very true.

Western style modern yoga classes generally come with a hefty price tag, from the minute you walk through the studio you’re greeted with a plethora of aesthetics to tantalise your yogic mind. From sublime smells to the latest eco friendly mats. Crystals, water bottles, water bottles with crystals, gongs, bowls, oils, leggings, tops, pictures, hair ties, towels and maybe right in the corner there’s the odd book.

Western style modern teachers, quote ancient scriptures and prayers, talk about their truth, om and then push you in to handstand. Sometimes the room is warm, tepid, hot or oppressive. Chanting and singing can be heard, mbira’s a plenty, chimes, played, dancing can ensue, melting hugs given. Bindis worn. But is any of this appropriate? Is this patronising to practicing Hindus for example? Especially by those who don’t express any interest in hinduism or indian philosophy they just wear the gear.

I have always finished my classes with “namaste”, as this is what I was taught to do and it comes as second nature now. I believed it to be a term of respect but I’ve started to question it. Is it indeed disrespectful to say this term meaning, I bow to you, through ingrained indoctrination rather than my faith? I haven’t ended a class with Namaste for about six years.

Cultural appropriation within yoga is a vast subject, one that is perhaps subjective. Whilst no malice is ever meant by adapting these Eastern practices, I understand that if I were an Indian Hindu woman observing a newly Yoga Alliance trained western teacher using these terms, I would find it condescending and perhaps insulting.

The quote above is from a beautiful blog written by Susanna Barkataki, an Indian women living in America who felt the need to return to India to connect to her roots. She writes:

“ I started to apprehend the true meaning of colonisation. Yoga and Ayurveda were legally and de facto banned in India under British rule and colonisation. The practices millions of Westerners now turn to for alternative health and wellness therapies were intentionally eradicated from parts of India to the point that lineages were broken and thousand-year-old traditions lost.

To be colonised is to become a stranger in your own land. As a desi, this is the feeling I get in most Westernised yoga spaces today. Of course, powerful practices that reduce suffering persist, despite all attempts to end them. These facts are critical to understanding the power and privilege we continue to possess or lack, to clarifying the positionalities we embody as we practice, teach and share yoga today.

Now, when so much of what the Western world sees as true yoga is beautifully achieved physical postures (accomplished, photographed and displayed by popular yoga magazines, journals and sites) executed by mostly young, white, stylish-yoga-apparel clad women and men, yoga is going through a second colonization. This colonisation is the misrepresentation of yoga’s intention, its many limbs, and its aims.

Yoga was originally intended to prepare the body as a foundation for unity with the spirit. The limb of asana aims at strengthening the body. Asana, along with dhyana or meditation, aim to harmonise body with breath in order to attain deeper and deeper states of meditative awareness or samadhi. The purpose of this kind of meditative awareness is to experience, practice, and live oneness of mind, body and soul with the divine. This kind of freedom is called samadhi or liberation. It is ironic that practice meant to free us has becoming so confining.

The current state of yoga in the United States and elsewhere in the Western world highlights the power imbalance that remains between those who have access to wealth, an audience and privilege in contrast to those who have been historically marginalized.

If someone from the dominant culture completes a yoga teacher training that is primarily asana based, and remains blissfully unaware of the complexity of yoga’s true aim or the roots of the practices, they are culturally appropriating yoga. By remaining unaware of the history, roots, complexity and challenges of the heritage from which yoga springs and the challenges it has faced under Western culture, they perpetuate a re-colonisation of it by stripping its essence away.

Now, this is not to say that there can’t be some true, heartfelt and deep liberation possible. Or that only Indians can practice or teach yoga and white people can’t. There can be authentic cultural exchange, harmony and understanding. Clearly, since the true aim of the practice of yoga is liberation, uniting mind, body and spirit, this form should not limit us. Liberation here, is no joke.

Yoga means liberation from every construct, including that of race, gender, time, space, location, identity and even history herself. However, in the current cultural context where there is a billion-dollar industry profiting off taking yoga out of context, branding and repackaging it for monetary gain we need to address this. Or else we perpetuate a second colonization, e.g., eventually eradicating the true practice, as was accomplished in many places under Britain’s occupation of India, and we stray further on the path of maya, or illusion.”

This all brings me back to the beginning of my book and my social media rants and observations. In researching yoga and cultural appropriation, I found Susanna’s sentiment one the of the most heartfelt and diplomatic, not only talking about cultural appropriation but eloquently describing the evolution of yoga in the western world and its capitalist nature.

The Bastardisation of yoga is very apparent when reverting back to my thoughts on Yoga Influencers. The similarities between what we see today and what was witnessed within all the “high demand groups” are profound.

Predominately these teachers hook people in with their aesthetics. Their yoga goals all physical, hidden neatly behind spiritual words. They rarely teach classes. They travel a lot, affiliate themselves with big yoga conglomerates, predominantly run by men exploiting women. Ruled and shackled by the same Patriarchal template as Bikram, Jois, YB, Osho, etc, expect now it’s about a brand that needs selling instead of a lineage.

These same influencers talk about feminism, a lot.

“Yoga porn” pictures posted under the guise of “freedom to be your self”, “love yourself”, “love your body”, indoctrinating young yogis in to thinking that this is what yoga is.

Are they loving themselves as they state, or are they simply in love with themselves, or in love with the notion of loving themselves? Is it desperation for validation?

Can this be feminism? Paraphrasing, one of an Influencers highly sexual pouting posts where she was legs akimbo pretty much naked in a very provocative yoga pose, she said “If you find this picture sexual it says far more about you than it does about me.”

I say bullshit!

These teachers know the sexual nature of their posts. They are highly sexual pictures, I’m not saying there’s anything wrong with sexual imagery but call it what it is and acknowledge that these sexual images are selling your brand. The very same teacher when answering an Instagram question “do you and your partner watch porn”, she replied “sometimes, not often but I have nothing against people that do.” well whatever exploitation rocks your world and makes you cool. She’s seemingly clearly very aware of the imagery that’s used in soft porn, I’d love her and other teachers with similar imagery differentiate between the two.

Are these images yelling feminism or attention? Is there now a new generation of yogis that think mastering humunasana (splits) naked on Instagram a feminist yoga goal?

Does yoga empower women or does it exploit them? Along with the many different abuse claims within yoga, oppressing women and misogamy claims have also been very apparent through out history. Modern day yoga is no different. The irony that comes with an influencers branded sexual post, along with an Osho quote is lost on many.

Are strong yoga practices a fist pump in the air for feminism being they were mainly devised for men?

What does it mean to be a woman in the world of yoga today?

Feminism is about equality, it can be soft it can be brutal. Finding strength and stability in your life as well as in your movement.

A women has the right to feel as empowered in a bikini as they can in burqa but if either are done so from a place of male driven dominant toxicity it’s not feminism.

The same with yoga imagery, if you feel empowered by any yoga picture then yes that’s feminism and I completely understand many people do. However, this same imagery can also cause doubt and insecurities, theses images of perfection are not realistic and are often driven by patriarchal narrative, not a feminist one. Often these teachers, promote their yoga for weight loss, or “this asanas will give a you a 6 pack”, or “this asana will help you to look like me”, this again is creating yet another ‘high demand group”, not feminism and not yoga.