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A Brief Chronology by Kareen Zebroff
Flashback to the late 1960s. Our newly-formed Hatha Yoga Teachers Association is asked to defend itself at Vancouver City Hall against the charge of Yoga being a weird “religious sect.”
Perplexed, our little group of neatly-dressed women defends itself with the assurances that Yoga, far from being a “highly suspect cult” (as claimed by a pastor to the schoolboard), is nothing more sinister than a science, an art, and a philosophy that enhances the religious experience of any denomination.
We argue that Yoga helps us cope with our stressed-out, modern existence, so we might maximize our potential as human beings. During the day, we lead busy homemaker and/or professional lives (I was a Grade VII teacher before I had my three children), and at night we make our way to smelly school-gyms and musty church-basements to teach Yoga.
We love what Yoga has done for us, and we want to share that knowledge with women who are -- as we once were -- tired, depressed, overweight, over-extended, and yearning for more in life than “just this.” The rejuvenating Yoga poses, re-energizing breathing techniques, and relaxing concentration, contemplation and meditation sessions provide that for us.
By 1982 the first popular wave of Yoga had crashed and expended itself. Yoga was experiencing a lull that was to last nearly 20 years. What happened? The boom that had begun during the laid-back Californian counter-culture era of hippies and transcendental thought had slowly been declining. Its esoteric hey-day of nearly two decades, highlighted by the Beatles’ Indian visit in 1966, was fizzling out.
At its peak, the wave had introduced many a school of Yoga thought, including Hatha Yoga’s four other orthodox forms of Raja, Bhakti, Jnana, and Karma Yoga, and others. Many a book on meditation had come out, as well as reams of literature on the all-important Body, Mind & Spirit connection. Swami Sivananda of India had sent teachers to the West, such as the excellent Swami Rhada in the Kootenays, and Swami Vishnudevananda in Montreal. Other big influences on the West-Coast were Indra Devi, Amarit Desai (Kirpalu Yoga), Swami Satchidananda, Rama Jyoti Vernon (Unity in Yoga); and, in Vancouver, Dr. Bina Nelson, Mac Roza, as well as swell-respected “independents” -- Yoga-teachers who, having been influenced by these good teachers, put their own uniquely experienced stamp on Yoga.
By the early ‘70s Yoga had reached several landmarks. First, it had gone public, with BCTV’s “Kareen’s Yoga And Nutrition” show. The program was an instant hit and went network within six months, making Yoga available not only to urbanites, but also to the many small communities in Canada and along the Northern United States where viewers could only access a couple of channels. We were to tape over 1,100 shows during the next ten years, with re-runs broadcasting for six years more. Many a Swami was my guest. 227,500 viewers (mainly women) responded to the show with letters of joy about how Yoga had improved the expression of their lives.
Secondly, Yoga classes had sprung up everywhere. For my own classes, I used the books of my eminent teachers Indra Devi, Marcia Moore, and Swami Shyam Acharya, but my favourite source-book for TV was the beautifully executed Light On Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar which I had bought in England. A student of Sri T. Krishnamacharya -- “the father of modern Yoga” -- Iyengar some years later adapted this kind of basic Hatha Yoga to one more suitable for the Westerner, and called it Iyengar Yoga. Bringing us the gift of alignment, his adaptation became the latest strong Yoga trend.
Thirdly, an interesting shift in perception was happening concurrently: the aerobic fitness-craze had begun. Concerning the way health, body-image, and fitness were being perceived in the popular North-American culture, its hyper-valuation of body aesthetics started to supersede the more holistic Yoga philosophy of coming from the heart rather than from the intellect. This type of emphasis on the purely physical was epitomized and popularized, notably by the Jane Fonda books and videotapes and other hybrids such as the “beautifully” fit Kathy Smith and Susan Powers with her dictum of “Stop the Madness.”
By 2002, Yoga’s new resurgence, and accompanying metamorphosis, had built itself up over a period of three years to a point resembling mania. The present generation of Yoga practitioners doesn’t necessarily know that it is the second wave in North America. For them, it’s just Yoga.
Because the presently “in” forms of Yoga are based on the classic ancient model of Patanjali (who wrote the first “Yoga book” five thousand years ago), many of the traditional teachers are more or less tolerant of such forms as Ashtanga Yoga (if referring to the eight limbs of Yoga, and not to “power”), Bihari Yoga (a combination of Iyengar and Ashtanga), Dru Yoga (energy-flow, healing & emotion), Bikram Yoga (performed in 40 degree C. temperatures & 65% humidity), Anusara Yoga, Thai Yoga, and even Aqua Yoga. I will be featuring many of these in detail in future columns.
Madonna calls the term “Power Yoga” an oxymoron, and with some justification. One may name one’s brand of Yoga whatever one wishes, of course, but the word “power” and the gentleness of Yoga are a basic contradiction in terms. In older, weaker, or chronically challenged bodies there is no longer the strength to go into these poses. “Going-for-the-burn” kinds of adaptations represent the largely urban North-American penchant for instant (beauteous) results, without any of the lengthy commitment to the discipline of Yoga-practice needed to yoke together all three aspects of the self.
Other, often fused, adaptations have not only become a vanity panacea for all that ails one -- figure and stress-wise -- but also for all that is marketable, particularly in the larger cities. We now have such frenetic crossbreeds as Boga (boxing & Yoga), Disco Yoga, Yogilates (Pilates & Yoga), Yoganetics, Hip-Hop Yoga, Sonic Yoga, Yoga Sky-diving and Medieval Yoga -- many with in-house stores selling masses of books, videos and fashionable clothing that is not really practical for Yoga. A recent New Yorker magazine cartoon spoofs this kind of fusion, showing an ambulance named “Yoga Emergency.”
Is all this wrong? Who’s to say? It is what it is. It reflects our time, but what it will become by 2022 is not to be guessed at. The real question remaining then becomes, “is it still Yoga?”
Kareen Zebroff wishes to thank Pegge Gabott, Jutta Wiedemann, Sandra Sammartino and Ingeliese Nherlan for their assistance in researching this special column.
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