Yoga and cultural appropriation

"[9] She states that such claims "cannot stand serious historical scrutiny",[9] quoting the Indologist David Gordon White's comment that "Every group in every age has created its own version and vision of yoga.

[13] The scholar of religion Neil Dalal writes that a mainstream view of cultural appropriation assumes that modern yoga has its roots in South Asia, and that there exists some ancient, pure, and authentic South Asian yoga which is at risk of being corrupted in the modern world.

The colonial history of yoga, she writes, shows that it was "both shaped by imperial norms and capable of generating anti-colonial critical force.

"[20] The scholar of postcolonial studies Rumya S. Putcha states that the term "cultural appropriation" in itself "is a way of diluting the fact that we're talking about racism and European colonialism.

"[20] In her view, the effect is conveniently to divert attention to how one can "show cultural appreciation appropriately", when the real issue is "the role of power and the legacies of imperialism.

"[20] The scholar of religious studies Shreena Gandhi and the antiracist campaigner Lillie Wolff write that the desired result is not that white people should stop doing yoga, but for them to see how the history of yoga in the west is linked to oppression and colonialism, and that a freely-shared practice of devotion is being advertised and sold for profit.

[20][22] Gandhi and Wolff comment that one reason for yoga's popularity was that "it reinforced European and Euro-American ideas of India.

Early Indian yoga missionaries played on the orientalist construction of the 'west' as progressive and superior and the 'east' as spiritual but inferior.

"[22] The Indian-born journalist Neha Tandon, writing in Women's Health, recalls that after many years of learning yoga in South Asia and with her family, she visited a "fancy studio" and was shocked when the mantra "Om Namah Shivaya" was chanted over the pop song "God Is a Woman.

"[21] She comments that nobody "buys a 'Namaste in bed' shirt with ill intentions", but that alienating South Asian people remains problematic.

[21] Tandon suggests that practitioners might visit a Hindu temple or read some of the classic texts on yoga to become "more socially conscious" in their practice.

The Om ‌ॐ symbol and mandalas are sometimes used to adorn bodies and yoga studios, possibly a form of cultural appropriation . [ 1 ]
Yoga practitioners in the west may make use of religious or ritual objects from different cultures in their practice. [ 13 ]
Diagram of Neil Dalal's analysis of the question of whether modern yoga represents a cultural appropriation. Dalal writes that the view that there is an ancient, pure, and authentic yoga that can be corrupted is opposed by the scholarly view that yoga has changed continually over the centuries. [ 15 ]
Yoga in India has adopted elements of modern yoga from the western world, implying a cultural exchange rather than a one-way appropriation. [ 17 ]
Neha Tandon writes that nobody "buys a ' Namaste in bed' shirt with ill intentions", though in her view that does not make it unproblematic. [ 21 ]