The International Yoga Day has brought the spotlight back on to the 2,000-year-old art form, and its numerous offshoots and styles.
Depending on whom you’re speaking to, you’ll have heard it described as everything from “a fad” to “a conduit to true consciousness”, but if there’s one thing that even its strongest detractors have a tough time denying, it is yoga’s tenacity to prevail. And much like jazz in the ’60s, India’s biggest cultural export has now made its way into households (and fitness studios) across the globe, with celebrity practitioners like Madonna and Brad Pitt.
Even as the world looks to India to reveal more of yoga’s ancient secrets, the International Yoga Day has brought the spotlight firmly back on to the 2,000-year-old art form, whose numerous offshoots and styles vary vastly from each other, with each claiming to be its true heir. We caught up with yoga gurus — traditional and new-age alike — to decode the world’s obsession with yoga and what the future holds for the art.
New-age moves
From “fusion” and “aqua” yoga to “hot” or “power” yoga, practitioners of the form across the world have taken a free license to explore and attempt to improve the ancient art, introducing as many formats as there are modern age yoga gurus. With each of them coming with their own promises — ranging from enviable figures to gymnast-like flexibility — they have found some fancy patrons indeed. And these innovations have met, for the most part, with approval from the gurus, belonging to both to the new-age and traditional schools of thought. Celebrity yoga guru Sunaina Rekhi for instance, feels that curbing innovation in yoga is akin to suppressing the propagation of the art. She says, “Newton gave us gravity, but we do not say that gravity as a whole is Christian. The same way, yoga is a technology which can be explored in ‘n’ number of ways.
From West to East
Practitioners and yoga gurus also point out that while India may be the birthplace of yoga, the West has “repackaged it” and now exported it back to the East. Deepali Jain, who brought aqua yoga to India, admits that the form is indeed an import from the West. Telling us what makes it special, she says, “Yoga may have its origin in India, but the West has marketed it globally. Aqua yoga is a new and fun way of practising yoga, which figures mostly as an alternative to those who are bored of their usual routine or have suffered injuries restricting them from working out.”
Sunaina agrees that “the West has strengthened the form, they have brought a transformative change”. “Being a teacher In India, I don’t know whom to look up to apart from the beautiful texts that we have,” she rues. “And as a teacher, I feel every form of yoga is eventually helping people seek a respite from the world.”
A way of life: Participants at a yoga meet in Bengaluru, organised as a prelude to the International Yoga Day (Image credit: AFP)
Diluting the essence?
While the West may have “marketed” yoga globally, it has also morphed it into so many diverse forms that it’s difficult to keep count — or track credibility. A quick Web search will reveal that there are several, rather unusual forms being taught, including “nude” yoga, “doga” (yoga for you and your pet dog), “equine” yoga (along with horses). There are even distortions of the form like yoga “raves”.
Keshav Mohta, who teaches a combination of vipasana and yoga (called “mindfulness yoga”) at Mumbai studios like House of Wow, Yogacara, Hive and Integral, says the principle of the form — “where we are never violent towards the body and focus our energies on reaching a meditative state” — is being distorted by many of these offshoots of yoga. “It’s very sad to see that people these days are using the term yoga in wrong ways, in ways that are not true to the basic essence of traditional yoga. It was an excellent step when yoga went abroad, but I feel it’s also become highly monetised. I don’t understand terms like power yoga, or yoga for weight loss. Traditionally, asana meant to divert the mind towards a meditative state. In these forms who is even talking about meditation?” he wonders.
Why the fuss about keeping it pure
If yoga had been just another way to stay fit — no matter how ancient its origins — perhaps there would have been no debate about the change in its quality or essence when tweaked into modern day offshoots. But practitioners and gurus insist that it is because yoga is about so much more than just physical well-being, that its essence must be preserved.
Lamya Arsiwala, who has been practising the traditional form of hatha yoga for the past nine years, and teaching it at The Yoga House for the past four, is among those who feel that beyond a point, the new age versions are unable to capture the essence of yoga. “I do feel new-age yoga techniques bring in good variations and are fun, but traditionally, the idea of yoga was to withdraw from one’s senses,” she points out. “The new-age versions of the form are to keep the mind engaged. All the forms of yoga are ultimately meant to help you find your spiritual self. Yoga is a way of life, and it teaches you to be a better human being. (But) people in the West are physically, very motivated and fitness there is highly consumer-driven. People want instant gratification in whatever they do, and these new-age practices have stemmed from people’s passion for yoga but also their tendency to get easily bored. Therefore, this reinvention becomes necessary.”
But it’s still good news
While the debate over traditional versus classical forms of yoga continues, there does seem to be a feeling that any introduction to yoga — no matter how new age the form — is probably a good thing. Karan Bajaj, a well-known writer on yoga and a practitioner of traditional hatha yoga, believes that how you start with the form does not matter. “The start never matters. Yoga is a form of self-discovery and as you practise the form more and more, you do discover its true essence. Although I do not agree with most of the forms out there, such as power yoga or hot yoga, I feel that starting yoga with something is better than not starting at all.”
That is the trick about yoga — once you start, the positive implications are limitless — Karan Bajaj, writer
Celeb power or yoga power?
So offshoots aside, what really has propelled yoga’s global success? Is it the publicity from celebrity patrons of the form like Jennifer Aniston or Narendra Modi? While celebrity role models may have inspired many individuals to take up the practice, especially youngsters, the secret to yoga’s success really lies in its power to change lives, feel the gurus we spoke to. Smaranananda Giri, a prominent yoga practitioner of the traditional school, tells us, “One of the most interesting aspects of yoga is that it is very easy to learn. The ancient gurus laid a very sound background for the art and as technology grows more and more, it only discovers more virtues of the art. Another aspect is, yoga is very adaptable. Even though we follow traditional schools, I believe any innovation to yoga — that is systematic and scientific — is worthy of practising.”
Talking about his own experiences, Karan Bajaj says the wide-reaching applications of yoga are ultimately what have helped it prevail. “I myself started yoga with the aim of achieving more flexibility of the body. Now when I look back, it seems naïve, because there is so much more to yoga. No sooner than I started it, it completely transformed my life. I stopped consuming sugar and non-vegetarian food, I quit caffeine and my overall health and lifestyle became so much purer. That is the trick about yoga, once you start, the positive implications are limitless, which is why many across the world are getting drawn to it,” he says.
The road ahead
While yoga has spread all over the globe, experts say the form is only going to add more fans. But there is a need to not let trendy new versions of yoga overshadow more authentic forms of practice, feel yoga gurus. Radhika Vachani, the founder of the Yogacara studio, believes that there isn’t as much awareness about traditional forms of yoga as there should be, mainly because gurus here “have been very secretive about the science for a very long time”.
“There have been insecurities and people have not been open about it. And as yoga evolved into a million-dollar industry, it was commercialised… If you look at the work of B.K.S. Iyengar, he really took the time to devise his asanas and make yoga a gateway of learning — both physically and mentally. The other forms like, Bikram and Kundalini, focus on the flexibility of the body. Yoga is not just about asanas but about moral discipline, a wonderful life experience and moving beyond our limitations. But the term ‘yoga’ these days is used in a manner where there is hardly any differentiation between its purest form (and distortions of it). The government must take measures in this regard, about where the term ‘yoga’ can be used — not all forms of yoga are a heritage,” Radhika says.
Her suggestion: Instead of letting the West redefine the form, we should push for the traditional forms of yoga. “Create a yoga council if necessary, I think the gurus in India are not as forthcoming as they could be and are segmented into different schools,” she says. “Yoga is our heritage and we should take steps to promote it.”
