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april 2018yogajournal.com.auModern Yoga:
The good, the bad
and the ugly
According to a spokesperson from
Yoga Alliance International Australia,
“One direct consequence of the yoga
awakening across the world is that yoga
has become synonymous with asanas
or yoga poses, which is only one of the
many aspects of yoga practice.The true
purpose of this 5,000+ year old
practice...was never about contorting
into the perfect pose, wearing cute yoga
outfits of building followers.”
Rachel Zinmanhas been practicing
yoga for 35 years and teaching for 26.
When she first started, she recalls,
“When you studied with someone you
knew they had lineage and practice
behind them...There was immense
respect for the teachers and one felt
lucky to study with them.”
Rachel says, “Now I feel the market
is saturated with inexperienced
teachers and studios that have no
connection with tradition or lineage.”
She notices that perfect postures and
number of followers seems to be
overtaking the search for yoga’s true
meaning. She says, “Often to get
students in the door studios niche
themselves, confusing things that we
do to entertain ourselves and relax with
yoga. Get high and do yoga, drink wine
and do yoga, get naked and do yoga.”
Mark Breadner is another highly
respected teacher in Australia, with 35
years of experience, who has seen big
shifts in the yoga industry. Mark was
introduced to yoga through his mother,
who started teaching in the late 1950s.
He says, “When mum and I were
teaching it was kind of an underground
fringe activity, sitting on the edges of
counter culture.” Mark remarks that
these days teachers are placing more
emphasis on creating a brand that
caters to a modern audience with a
short attention span. He says, “The use
of music, gimmicks and trying to be
entertaining has become morepredominant. The practice has deviated
from the science of human potential.
Sequences are getting more creative
and difficult and many times not
appropriate to the level of the students.
Where is the transcendence?”
For Mark, social media creates the
wonderful possibility of sharing the
deeper philosophies of yoga with a
global audience, but is often used to
reinforce peoples’ identities. He says,
“Yoga is about setting aside the
identity, disentangling, and being less
identified and more inclusive...There
are a lot of sexy, difficult poses in sexy
outfits in sexy locations and it’s very
clear that if you do that you will get
more likes and build a following. Now
we can all appreciate a beautiful
healthy body doing a difficult pose but
–what is your message?”
Simon Borg Olivierhas been
teaching yoga for over 33 years and is a
physiotherapist, research scientist and
university lecturer. He stresses that
modern practices focusing mostly on
physical fitness tend to put students
into their fight or flight, and, as a result
of this over stimulation of the
sympathetic nervous system “the
dominant emotions (at least on a
subconscious level) tend to be fear,
anger, aggression, competitiveness, and
a sense of lack of safety. This does not
sound at all to me like the yoga
described in the Yamas and Niyamas
of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras”, he says.
Despite the obvious deviations
from traditional practices, some
modifications are needed in
introducing yoga to a modern,
western demographic. After all, in
early traditions of yoga the practice
was only prescribed to male, religious
ascetics who renounced society to
find enlightenment in the isolation of
nature.
Nicole Walsh has been teaching
yoga for over 16 years as well as running
a successful yoga business. She feels
that most of the problems associated
with modern yoga stem from attempts
to blend business with the sacred
practice. She says, “In order to
commodify yoga, asana (which can be“Social media creates the wonderful possibility of sharing
the deeper philosophies of yoga with a global audience,
but is often used to reinforce peoples’ identities.”Stand Up Paddleboard
(SUP) yoga started in
Hawaii and spread across
the globe rapidly.PHOTOS: RYANJLANE; BEACHCOTTAGEPHOTOGRAPHY; VADVEN/ISTOCKPHOTO.COM