Can we still call it yoga?
I feel like perhaps we’ve (the white, western world) changed and adapted yoga so much that we can no longer appropriately and accurately call it Yoga.
To me what I facilitate is a session/class/time where participants exercise, breath and spend some time noticing themselves, sensations, their state, their emotions and their thoughts. Perhaps a more appropriate name is: body centred mindfulness with psychological techniques and yogic philosophies as tools to observe and manage thoughts, emotions and sensations. But that doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue.
There is also an obvious problem with this; by removing the word yoga I erase the yogic influences that are present. The movements I use in classes are largely contemporary Hatha movements, I work in yoga studios, and I have spent many hours studying ‘yoga’ so inevitably yogic philosophies are present in what and how I facilitate. However, being a white woman living and working on stolen land with no ties to India or Hinduism means teaching yoga feels inappropriate. I also feel like I would need decades immersed in yogic studies to come remotely close to being able to do this big, complex philosophy justice. Even then, I’m not sure I’m the right person to teach it.
So why am I still here and how do I engage in this world of yoga?
There are many things I’m critical of in the yoga world:
The impact of marketing and commodifying health and wellness.
Cultural appropriation
Yoga’s encouragement and facilitation of hyper-individualism. That is, putting the responsibility of one’s health and wellness onto individuals without sufficient acknowledgment of the systems and structures they live within.
However, there are also many things I think are great:
A certain way of moving and feeling my body that is really enjoyable.
A place to think. A place of quiet. A place to sort out my thoughts.
A place where we can step out of the dominant conversations and structures and assess how we want to be in the world and what kind of communities best serve all of us.
I think the ability to give yourself emotional distance to obtain more clarity is useful.
I also think the ability to change perspectives with ease is helpful.
Movement can feel soothing and/or empowering.
Having a sense of control over thoughts and emotions and sensations can also feel empowering.
I think that any scaffolding that can be provided for people while navigating difficult times is great.
I think having a space of unconditional positive regard is such a lovely thing to have access to in societies.
Body-centred mindfulness provides many of the benefits of psychological therapy: self-reflection, awareness of thoughts and emotions, tools and techniques for sitting and working with uncomfortable thoughts and emotions, while being much cheaper and therefore more accessible than psychological therapy.
I’m not sure how to not white wash yoga and I’m not sure how to avoid cultural appropriation. i don’t have any answers or solutions so I will just keep trying to navigate this ‘yoga’ space as best I can, while trying to do as little harm as possible.