Downward-spiralling dog

Exploring the cultural appropriation and loss of spirituality in modern-day yoga

Shivoham Shiva Temple is the location of a 65-foot tall statue of the deity Shiva, patron of yoga, meditation and arts. Wikimedia Commons Indianhilbilly CC BY-SA 3.0

There’s a clear growing popularity for yoga in Canada.

A compilation of yoga statistics on Finances Online shows that one in five Canadians say they practice yoga, with US practitioners spending up to $90 each month on the practice. Some of the many benefits of regular practice include an increase in strength, heart health and even better sleep.

With an ever-increasing focus on the health benefits of this ancient form of movement, its original purpose—spiritual well-being—is largely overlooked by Western populations. Originating in Northern India over 5,000 years ago, yoga was developed by Rishis (wise Hindu sages), who made use of asanas (yoga poses) to prepare their bodies for dhyana (meditation). This form of spiritual devotion is still practiced today in Hinduism.

Meditation is an important yoga practice that helps to calm the mind and connect practitioners with the present moment. Within Buddhism, it helps followers practice the Buddhadharma, a series of teachings from the Shakyamuni Buddha that guide Buddhists towards liberation from suffering. 

Today, the concept of yoga as a deeply spiritual practice has evolved from its arrival in North America in the late 19th century. It is frequently praised as a fitness trend rather than a spiritual practice with an Eastern history, which has raised concerns about cultural appropriation.

Dr. Danielle Thompson-Ochoa is an associate professor at Gallaudet University whose research focuses on the connection between yoga and cultural appropriation. She found that capitalism prevents and distracts practitioners from yoga’s core messages.

“Today in the West, there is the idea that we have to pay [for yoga] to get the health or spiritual benefits,” Thompson-Ochoa said. “Here, people can spend upwards of $75 per class, not to mention having the ‘right’ clothing and equipment. This can put limits on who accesses classes, reinforcing the idea that yoga is a middle-class hobby. In India, yoga is practiced by people of any caste or social class.”

In Buddhism, meditation, rather than poses, is a way to actively connect with the Buddha’s teachings. 

“Although Buddha taught 84,000 teachings for curing all aspects of the mind, anyone can take just a bit of it and practice that, even if they are not interested in the rest of it,” said Guèn Kelsang Chögyan, a Buddhist nun at the Centre de Méditation Kadampa in Montreal.

Chögyan also champions the Buddha’s belief that people from any background, religious or secular, can turn to meditation practices whenever they need.

“Some people come [to meditation classes] because they see a title like ‘Overcoming stress’ or ‘How to deal with a difficult coworker,’ because that’s their reality, even if they are from a different faith,” Chögyan said. 

This is supported by a Pew Research Centre study, which showed that 40 per cent of Americans of all religious backgrounds meditated at least once per week. The practice helps to lessen the burden of everyday problems—not just to attain spiritual strength.

Addressing cultural appropriation

The Canadian Yoga Alliance has a membership of over 2,000 qualified yoga instructors. Each has their own style of teaching, ranging from traditional Hatha and Vinyasa yoga practices to the more contemporary hot yoga. 

“I started doing yoga as a form of therapy. Each time I practiced it, I would be releasing emotion and crying. That’s the magical aspect of yoga, I think. It’s so healing,” said Emma Ryan, a newly trained Tantric yoga teacher based in Montreal. 

Ryan noted that, during her training, her mentors emphasized the importance of not appropriating a culture that is not theirs.

“We learnt about the history of yoga, going all the way back from the earliest text in Hinduism and followed that all the way through to the present day,” Ryan said. “I really think that having a thorough understanding of yoga’s history as a teacher forms a strong foundation for your practice.”

Although Ryan focuses on Hindu-based spirituality in her teaching, some instructors fail to emphasize the deep importance of Hindu and Buddhist traditions in yoga. In an op-ed in The Guardian, yogi Nadia Gilani spoke of this appropriation as a 21st-century form of colonialism. Gilani explains that Westerners continue to profit from yoga today, even though there was a time when the British had banned the practice in India.

“I’ve watched YouTube videos of yoga practices online and some of the teachers don't include any Sanskrit, which is the ancient language of yoga,” Ryan said. “There's a lot of simple ways as a teacher that you can just place a little seed of history into your physical practice, like taking the time to translate traditional Sanskrit names for poses.”

Yoga and better mental health

Yoga is a physical activity, with each asana encouraging flexibility, strength and balance. But there are several mental health benefits, with yogis experiencing an increase of “feel good” chemicals in the brain, such as dopamine and serotonin, through regular practice. 

“I think in a world where we're always in a hustle and grind culture, being intentional about these moments of pause is very, very important,” Marie Michel Thermil, a dance instructor and personal development consultant who practices yoga in Montreal. 

Yoga practitioners like Thermil agree that they should be aware of the origins of yoga.

“Yoga can be such a white space,” Thermil said. “I feel like there's not an appropriate recognition of the cultural baggage that yoga carries here in Canada.”

Thompson-Ochoa also emphasizes that the relationship between yoga and capitalism should be re-examined. 

“The provision of free or community-based classes can bring yoga back to its original intention of helping people find calmness from various different backgrounds,” Thompson-Ochoa said. 

For people who don’t subscribe to Buddhism and Hinduism, it can feel daunting to start learning more about the spiritual history of yoga and meditation. 

“To enrich your teaching of yoga, you could include a little blurb on the relationship between an asana and a deity and translate it into English or French,” Ryan said. “This plants a seed of history into the physical practice without it being the focus of the class.” 

“Everyone has a limitless potential of universal love, compassion and deep wisdom,” Chögyan said. “Anywhere we start is a good place to start.”