IN THE NOW
the latest
10
february/march 2019yogajournal.com.auecently released yoga towels have caused quite a stir amongst the Hindu community. The
ed from $43.50, feature images of Hindu deity Lord Ganesh, and have been unapologetically
s “highly inappropriate” and “insensitive.” You’ve likely seen similar designs at your studio –
k dry towels with grippy backs that you place on top of your mat to prevent slipping during a
actice. Perfect for catching your sweat, and so understandably a little insulting to the devotees
ship the deity in their temples and homes, never mishandling symbols of faith. Hindu
n Rajan Zed explained that such trivialisation of a Hindu deity was disturbing to Hindus
de, suggesting that Manduka train their senior executives in religious and cultural sensitivity
hdraw the towels immediately. Manduka responded by agreeing to discontinue production of
duct and promising that integrity is of utmost importance to the brand, writing “We consider
mmunity in all that we do and work diligently to ensure we never compromise our products,
munity or each other...Our reputation, as the world’s most respected yoga brand, was built by
ating at the highest level of integrity.”HINDUS PROTEST MANDUKA
The media is responding to Gwyneth Paltrow’s recent claims
that she’s the reason behind yoga’s popularity with rolling
eyes and not-so-stifled laughter. In an interview with Wall
Street Journal she boasted, “Forgive me if this comes out
wrong, but I went to do a yoga class in LA recently and the
22-year-old girl behind the counter was like, Have you ever
done yoga before?...And literally I turned to my friend, and
was like, ‘(She has) this job because I’ve done yoga before.”
That might be a bit of a stretch, Gwynnie.