With so much reliance on lineage and tradition, isn't it about time we stopped writing about Yoga as if it was something that could only be done really well thousands of years ago in remote parts of northern India ? Do we really believe that we can connect to that same source of enlightenment as the ancient sages - but in a modern, networked society ?
If not. why not ?
How is Yoga different today - even over the last fifty years ?
Rather ironically, it seems to me as though the people who have taken it upon themselves to propagate the teaching are possibly doing their utmost to foster a burgeoning self interest and quest for power - whilst inadvertantly damaging all the various tradtions.
Take Yoga teaching in the UK.
We can all see how it has been manipulated and squeezed into a unilateral race for governmental approval via a raft of woefully inappropriate and inadequate teaching standards and certification schemes.
Many of these initiatives seem very reactionary, based on fear, suspicion of others and an overly defensive stance.
They seem intent on controlling the activities of their membership simply by emphasising to their membership how to teach Yoga - even going so far as pointing the finger and saying: look at those teachers over there - that is how NOT to teach Yoga !.
So, this type of approach to Yoga teacher training really just relies on a group of over-ambitious yoga teachers trying to teach other yoga teachers with a heady mix of fear and delusion ?
The role of any professional body in Yoga should be about supporting Yoga teachers so that they can build their own future with their students.
We do not need a centralised authority or umbrella organisation that stumbles around patronising us with a woolly motive of "protecting the public from rogue Yoga teachers".
Good Yoga teachers need to get better - excellent Yoga teachers will want to stay that way and all the mavericks will just fade away when no one shows up at their class.
Simple as that.
It is not anyones role to tell teachers what to do. It is about creating the right supportive environment so that teachers have the confidence to take their practice forward for themselves in their own way.
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( 3.1 / 38 )
A recent letter from the UK Advertsing Standards Authority (ASA), (in response to a complaint) tackles head-on the issue of the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) promoting itself widely as: "The Governing Body for Yoga".Well, the ASA's response seems to indicate that such a claim just does not appear to be entirely, "standing up straight".
Such a claim by the BWY appears then to have been "misleading" its members, (and everyone else) in the UK Yoga community for years.
Now though, "the game is up" - the ASA say:-
".. the claim BWY is the governing body for Yoga in the UK could misleadingly imply BWY regulates yoga in the UK, monitors and/or co-ordinates UK yoga activities and is a British authority on yoga teaching and/or practice."
The ASA's recommendation seeks to clear up a lot of confusion and will help the UK Yoga community grow stronger, as there is now authoritative advice on how the BWY should promote itself from now on:-
"We (the ASA) have asked them to amend the claim to state BWY is a Sport England recognised national governing body"
This sometimes painful and confusing situation has been with the UK Yoga community for many years now and it is with some relief that (finally) it seems to be very close to being resolved.
We recommend that all Yoga teachers, groups and websites review their active links and all other marketing materials used to comply with the ASA's recommendations as to the correct "wordage" to use when referring to the BWY - in anticipation of the BWY's expected compliance with the ASA's recommendations in the near future.
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( 2.9 / 35 )
We have just finished a small, online awareness campaign about the notion that the British Wheel of Yoga is the largest Yoga organisation in the UK.
This seems like a typically British Conundrum since, in most other European countries the need for a large Yoga organisation is largely ignored !!
Assuming the BWY 's own figures are correct, (which - based on past experience is also quite an assumption) there are 1 million regular participants of Yoga in the UK - and the BWY have about 6,000 members !!
So, it doesn't take a maths genius to work oput that today, the BWY directly influences LESS THAN 1% of all Yoga activity in the UK !!
The fact is that the majority of people practicing Yoga in the UK have no affiliation with The Wheel at all - makes this continued shouting and waving about size very peculiar indeed.
Thankfully, many websites we have contacted have now agreed to either modify or remove that reference - and also the old governing body snippet.
Based on the ASA's own Committee of Advertising Practice Code - claims should be capable of being substantiated:-
Before distributing or submitting a marketing communication for publication, marketers must hold documentary evidence to prove all claims, whether direct or implied, that are capable of objective substantiation.
It isn't clear which measures we should really use - and it is still not clear to us...
Benchmarks to use might be members, qualified teachers - or others - more like a company headline figure: turnover ? employees? assets ?
If membership - then many online organisations, social networks and similar groups probably now have as many "members" (mainly because they are free to join), they do not make any demands of anyone and are backed by huge marketing machines like Facebook or MySpace or something ?
If total numbers of students trained - which might be a better yardstick in terms of relevance and quality - then this must be very difficult to quantify at any given time since how many organisations have that data ? - or else will disclose it ?
This is complicated further in that many students actually use more than one provider, (which is something we recommend) - so whose training do we use in these cases ?
So - it seems to me that no one can really know how many students have been "trained" by anyone - and in any case the concept of official "training" is so contentious that this aspect is probably best disregarded altogether ?
Our original concern in that (even if "size matters" - which it probably doesn't) there is no point in making such statments without reliable and up-to-date figures from each organisation - and MOST IMPORTANTLY - which have been independently audited !
The way this has turned out is it seems to have had a bad effect - instead of uniting everyone - it is now seen as a MARKETING WEAPON - and that just polarises people either FOR or AGAINST the British Wheel of Yoga - which is sad and destructive.
But this is not so much of an issue for us - or the Yoga community as it is for the British Wheel of Yoga it seems ?
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( 3 / 42 )We have been affected by exchange rates on imports in USD, a fall in UK retail sales of goods and services and increased competion online from the more competitive style of health / lifestyle fitness brands.
Most have seized the opportunity from the downturn in retail sales to review their internet operations and challenge our lead in Yoga.
Many seem to have spent thousands, either in new e-commerce software or generally in online marketing campaigns about Yoga goods and services.
On the upside - our exports to europe have increased dramatically.
We have increased our investment in various community inititaives and outreach campaigns that are likely to "bear fruit" in the medium to long term.
So, although we expect last years financial performance to be lower than forcast in the 2007 plan we remain very optimistic about our future and are making new plans for the next three years.
One example of some very exciting things we have planned is an event that will coincide with the London Olympics in 2012 where we hope to gain some advantage from national lottery funding.
Our accounts will be made available here in due course here:-
http://yoga-eu.net/info/bin/view/YogaMe ... Accounts09
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( 2.9 / 45 )Many more consumers are now much more aware of environmental and sustainability issues, but buying an eco yoga mat is not so much about saving the planet as the manufacturers might have you believe - it is no less than core Yoga practice and philosophy.
In these extraordinary difficult times it is tempting to go for the cheapest mat you can find on the net - you know those brightly coloured Sticky mats you find everywhere now, on Amazon, in department stores and on Google.
But choosing a mat for its environmental credentials might be doing much more for you than just stem the guilt of filling up landfill sites with plastic waste ?
Full article is here
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( 3 / 57 )
Do you know there are about 50 international trademarks registered for the word Yoga ?
All these seemingly bogus attempts by mostly misguided people to claim their own little piece of Yoga sovereignty has now been superceded by the the world's first Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL) - created by India to prevent those living abroad from claiming patent for ancient Sanskrit texts, including the Mahabharata, Bhagavad Gita and the Yoga Sutras of Patañjali containing at least 1,500 yoga postures.
The Indian government / people seem to have good reason in preventing the practice of Yoga being hijacked by the global health and fitness industry - the worst excesses of which seem to emanate from commerce attempting to cure the growing obesity and related health problems inflicting many Western cultures.
Of course, Hindu fundamentalists believe that real Yoga can only be taught by Hindus - and I can see their point - although (with the risk of starting a similarly contentious debate) certain Buddhist, Sikh and other religions may also be inseparable from the core meditative traditions of Self Realisation - although culturally slightly different from the classical Hindu Yoga traditions.
But I am sure we would all rather Yoga (postures) became culturally protected like this - for posterity - than left in the hands of any (Christian?) liberal democracy that may offer much in the way of wealth, opportunity and personal freedom - but offer no support or encouragment for traditional insight practices or personal moral discipline ?
Other than the obvious physical / therapeutic and stress relief benefits - there is really no opportunity to progress if we do not respect and take the time to learn from the classical, ancient cultural traditions and receive direct guidance from the original teachings and / or masters in the art - and Yoga (in a western sense IS an ART - not a SCIENCE !).
When it comes to protecting POSTURES / FORM then there is some merit in that - but REMEMBER - FORM is only 1/8 of the practice.
Bhakti (devotion) - Ahimsa respect for each other and our planet / kindness - love - silence - if we CAN just stay in touch in our relationships and with our higher conciousness then we realise that IS all we have to really work with - and THAT is YOGA - right there.
It follows then that ultimately, Yoga does NOT get owned by INDIA or by TEACHERS or us CHATTERING CLASSES - it is to be discovered with grace and fortune - in the light spaces between our aggregated sense of self (=IGNORANCE) and Kamma - unknowable truth - beyond science - breathing - life and death.
I am personally indebted to the ancient spiritual teachings - particularly those emanating from India but young men and women today have had all the Indian mystisism they can take from us BEARDIES - what with the 60's and the Beatles - and todays youth can DO YOGA with a Wii FIT or at a YOGA KICKBOXING lesson at the local sports centre - TINY western minds wanting exactly what it says on the tin - OR OUR MONEY BACK !!
How long do you think it will be before we demand YOGI CAKE to go with our YOGI TEA in Europe ?
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