NEW DELHI - A spate of unsavory
controversies in the United States is cracking up
yoga's wholesome image, with accusations of
financial fraud, sexual misconduct and copyright
issues involving asanas (positions)
plaguing the community.
As a result,
India, the land where the physical, mental and
spiritual discipline of yoga began in ancient
times, is truly getting itself into a twist.
The intensifying debates around yoga seem
all the more pertinent considering the staggering
reach of the discipline and the exponentially
growing business around it.
An estimated
16 million Americans practice yoga, which
generates, according to the Yoga Journal, US$5.7
billion annually in class fees, books and video
sales, sale of mats and other
accessories. There are
about 100,000 yoga instructors in the US, while an
unofficial estimate puts the number of teachers in
India at 175,000.
Often, it is the issue
of "ownership" or copyright/trademark over a
particular system of yoga that is the bone of
contention. This is because apart from a spectrum
of yogas - Hatha yoga, Tantra yoga, Ashtanga yoga
or Hot yoga, to name a few - the practice has
mutated into countless sub-strands that are being
embraced by millions across the world.
This has resulted in many yoga studios and
instructors claiming copyright to their "style".
By 2008, the US Patent and Trademark Office had
issued 150 yoga-related copyrights and 2,315 yoga
trademarks.
The most recent case involves
Bikram Chowdhary, founder of the "hot yoga" school
known as Bikram Yoga, who has copyrighted a
sequence of poses in the US and licensed these to
teachers.
Trouble began when the Bikram
Yoga Studio in New York - which offers hugely
popular $25 sessions for workouts in 105-degree
heat - received competition from a nearby studio
(Yoga to the People) that started tagging its
"traditional Hot yoga" package in 103-degree heat
at just $8. This resulted in a "yoga war", or a
legal battle between two yoga studios.
Bikram Choudhury, Bikram Yoga's founder,
who has copyrighted Bikram Yoga, sued Yoga to the
People for copyright infringement. He sought
monetary damages and asked the court to block Yoga
to the People from offering hot yoga.
Bikram contends that those who teach hot
yoga must follow a set of guidelines, including
teaching a series of 26 postures and breathing
exercises, at the precise temperature and humidity
he specifies, with the studio set up in a
prescribed fashion. Anyone who deviates from this
routine ought not to call it Bikram Yoga, it is
claimed.
The instructor's case was finally
settled out of court, but it left people polarized
on whether Bikram could exercise exclusive control
over postures that are essentially rooted in an
ancient practice. His supporters, meanwhile, are
unambiguous about his right to control his
intellectual property.
Another yoga "war"
in the US revolves around Ashtanga Yoga, founded
by the late Sri Krishna Pattabhi Jois, which is
known for its intensity and complexity. This yoga
form finds a resonance with several A-listers
including Madonna and Sting. The nub of the matter
is a simmering discontent between an affluent
sponsor of Jois' acclaimed legacy, his successor
and grandson Sharath, and longstanding Ashtanga
teachers.
The controversy intensified with
the teaming up of Sonia Tudor Jones, noted
philanthropist and long-devoted student of Jois
who has clubbed Sri Krishna's teachings into "Jois
Yoga", launched a Jois line of clothing and opened
a slew of Jois Yoga studios. This branding and
commercialization, say traditionalists, is a
"betrayal" of Guruji's lineage.
As the
yoga wars roil the community, its followers appear
confused about this "corporatization" of the
discipline. For many, topics like branding and
ownership of yoga seem incredulous. "How can
anybody 'own' yoga?," questions Nimerta Chawla,
who runs a studio in New Delhi. "Yoga is not a
religion; is a way of life. Anybody can practice
it without getting embroiled in ownership issues
or ancillary religious discourses."
As a
pre-emptive measure, the Indian government is
making digital copies of ancient drawings showing
the provenance of more than 4,000 yoga poses, to
discourage further claims by entrepreneurs like
Bikram Choudhury.
However, the debate over
who can lay claim to yoga has been gaining
traction across the world, drawing in bestselling
writers, thinkers and practitioners. The
controversy gathered further momentum when New Age
guru Deepak Chopra, author of over a dozen
bestselling books and a devotee of yoga, asserted
that nobody can "own" yoga.
Lending
another dimension to the controversy is Dr Aseem
Shukla, an associate professor at the University
of Minnesota medical school and co-founder and
board member of the Hindu American Foundation, who
feels strongly about the "theft of yoga" and yoga
practitioners' lack of acknowledgment to Hinduism
as the core of its existence.
Shukla, 41,
contends that yoga owes a "debt" to Hinduism and
laments that the discipline is increasingly being
presented without any reference to Hinduism. This
sentiment has been the impetus behind his Take
Back Yoga campaign.
"Yoga, meditation,
Ayurvedic natural healing, self-realization - they
are today's syntax for New Age, Eastern, mystical,
even Buddhist, but nary an appreciation of their
Hindu origins," Shukla wrote in the Washington
Post.
However, many believe that the
provenance of yoga goes back to the Vedic culture
of Indo-Europeans who settled in India in the
third millennium BC, long before the tradition now
called Hinduism emerged. Others trace the first
written description of yoga to the Bhagavad
Gita, the sacred Hindu scripture believed to
have been written between the fifth and second
centuries BC.
The underpinning of Hinduism
in yoga, say purists, is what gives the practice
its gravitas. The Take Back Yoga campaign, they
say, does not ask yoga devotees to become Hindus,
or instructors to teach more about Hinduism. The
small but increasingly influential group behind it
only suggests that people become more aware of
yoga's debt to the faith.
That suggestion
has drawn strong reactions. Deepak Chopra has
dismissed the campaign as ill-informed. He wrote
in the Washington Post:
The whole point of yoga is to
achieve enlightenment, and that the most revered
practitioners, whether known as yogis, swamis or
mahatmas, transcend religion. In fact, even if
yoga were granted a patent or copyright by the
United States Patent Office, there is no denying
that enlightenment has always been outside the
bounds of religion.
That's where the
spiritual path leads, not into the arms of
priests or yoga instructors. Before Hindu
Americans complain about hatha yoga (what is
regarded as exercise-based postural yoga) being
deracinated, they might want to promote the
ideas that are the very essence of Indian
spirituality, which preceded Shiva, Krishna,
cows and castes.
Complicating the yoga
dynamic further are the sexual scandals engulfing
the practice. Earlier this year, John Friend,
founder of Anusara Yoga, was accused of widespread
womanizing and inappropriate behavior. Against a
tsunami of accusations, the highly influential
Friend - who has a putative following across
America's political and cinematic spectrum - had
to stop his teaching and retreat into exile.
However, Friend is hardly the first yoga
guru to be accused of sexual "misconduct", say old
timers. Swami Muktananda (1908-1982), known for
his penchant for dark glasses and gaudy robes, was
accused of sexual "impropriety" too. The powerful
swami had established a network of hundreds of
ashrams and meditation centers around the globe
with the help of a powerful client list that
included Hollywood movie stars and political
celebrities. Swami Rama (1925-1996) also had to
counter similar allegations.
As yoga's
exponential growth continues across the world,
drawing in more and more followers, experts say it
will serve the community well to codify a set of
copyright rules and guidelines in synergy with the
medical community. This will not only streamline
the ancient discipline that resonates with
millions across the globe, but also protect its
treasured legacy from being abused.
Neeta Lal is a widely published
writer/commentator who contributes to many reputed
national and international print and Internet
publications.
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