And now yoga practitioners may be nasty for saying “namaste.”
Yoga is wildly popular in North America, but some Hindus are unhappy with the way the practice, rooted in their faith, has been commercialized. The Hindu American Foundation has even started a campaign called “Take back yoga,” and the University of Ottawa canceled the class this fall after concerns were raised over “cultural issues.”
Instructor Jen Scharf learned in September that the university had banned her free beginners’ yoga class, which is designed to include people with disabilities.
In an email, a member of the school’s Student Federation wrote to Scharf, saying students didn’t feel comfortable appropriating the ancient practice, which began in India thousands of years ago.
“Yoga has been under a lot of controversy lately due to how it is being practiced and what practices from what cultures (which are often sacred spiritual practices) they are being taken from,” read the email to Scharf, which was obtained by The Washington Post..
“Many of these cultures are cultures that have experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and Western supremacy, and we need to be mindful of this and how we express ourselves … while practicing yoga,” read the email.
It went on to explain that students and volunteers “feel uncomfortable with how we are doing yoga while we claim to be inclusive at the same time.”
But yoga enthusiasts like Jocelyn Tice, 42, of the Upper East Side don’t want to hang their heads in shame. They want to hang them in downward dog.
“Yoga is a practice that connects mind, body and spirit, and we each make it our own. That’s the beauty of it,” Tice said Monday. “Yoga and its origins in religion have been highly debated throughout history. Yoga and religion should be kept separate. This should not be a religious issue.”
A bewildered Scharf takes Tice’s position, saying she just wants to offer her students yoga’s health benefits.
She told CBC News she suggested changing the name of the course and making it clear that she would just be offering “mindful stretching.”
“I told them, ‘Why don’t we just change the name of the course?’ It’s simple enough, just call it ‘mindful stretching.’ … We’re not going through the finer points of scripture. We’re talking about basic physical awareness and how to stretch so that you feel good,” Scharf told CBC News.
With Chelsia Rose Marcius