Americans twist yoga out of shape...

vsdprasad · May 29, 2003

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/xml/uncomp/articleshow?msid=47888666

WASHINGTON: Call it Yoga Lite or Yoga Plus, McYoga or AmeriYoga. Americans are making the Yoga stand on its head with inventive innovations and marketing muscle in what appears to be the second coming in the United States of the ancient Indian practice.

The number of Yoga practitioners in the US has trebled from five million in 1998 to 15 million now, according to a survey to be released next week by the California –based Yoga Journal. The rapid increase is powered not just by the resurgence of traditional Yoga, but also a variety of new “Yoga” forms ranging from Aqua Yoga to Acu Yoga, Dance Yoga to Power Yoga.

There is even a Yin Yoga, which claims to integrate the “Taoist meridian and acupuncture theories of China with the yogic and tantric theories of India.” And in some cases, individuals are devising new yoga practices – as in “Bikram Yoga” (after the Indian guru Bikram Choudhury, who has patented doing Yoga in heated rooms) and “Baptiste Yoga” (after American Baron Baptiste, it combines position with power).

“It’s not just plain old Yoga anymore although the original Hatha Yoga remains the most popular form,” says Dayna Macy, communications director of the California-based Yoga Journal, which has also seen its circulation treble to 300,000 during the past five years. “Yoga has gone from fringe to mainstream by melding it with popular American culture.”

Typical of the culture is also relentless marketing of “Yoga products.” There are now specialized Yoga mats (basic mat, power mat, ultra mat, alignment mat, all from a company which, without prevarication, calls itself Hugger Mugger). There are also Yoga bags and even Yoga sarongs.

There are also a variety of health products (many from a company called Aveda, “the art and science of pure flower and plant essences”) ranging from Yogi Tea to Tunisian olive oil to organic toothpaste to soy products (“enlighten your taste buds.”)

According to Macy, most Americans are now accessing Yoga through their regular gyms and fitness centers. Some are combining Yoga with American dance forms like hip hop and disco, while others are now imparting specialized instructions to niche segments –Yoga for would be moms, Yoga for have-been moms, and even Yoga for breast cancer survivors.

With so much Yoga in the air, there are now two major national Yoga magazines to cater to the resurgent fad -- Yoga Journal and the smaller Yoga International – besides smaller publications such as LA Yoga and Yoga in the Rockies. The serious practice is not without humour. Yoga Journal recently published a letter from one reader suggesting a new twist called the “Ardha-park asana,” otherwise known as the “Rearview twist in a car.”

The U.S also has 24 registered Yoga associations, including a “Yogaversity” and “Phoenix Rising School of Yoga and Movement Therapy.” Among the thousands of Yoga studios that have sprouted in recent months is one in Toronto called the Downward Dog Yoga Center. Among the new shops, a “Beyondananda Boutique” that sells Yoga videos and CDs.

With such far out ideas, Yoga -- first popularized in this country by the old Beatles guru Maharishi Mahesh Yogi -- has given the fab four number Twist and Shout an entirely new dimension.