Lately, yoga’s gotten some bad press. First there was William Broad’s article (and his forthcoming book) about injuries related to yoga. And last month, John Friend, founder and head of Anusara Yoga, left his post amid allegations of financial impropriety and other misconduct. And don’t even get me started on the idea of yoga competitions.
All this just breaks my heart. Over a decade of yoga practice and several teacher trainings have changed my life profoundly in innumerable, positive ways. To paraphrase the immortal words of Donny Osmond, I urge you: please don’t let a few bad apples spoil the whole buncha yogis!
Needless to say, yogis were up in arms (literally and figuratively) about Mr. Broad’s article. It’s important to note that Mr. Broad himself is a long time yoga practitioner. And he states in the piece that: “[Devotees] celebrate [yoga’s] abilities to calm, cure, energize and strengthen. And much of this appears to be true: yoga can lower your blood pressure, make chemicals that act as antidepressants, even improve your sex life.” It is true! I am sure many of the nearly 20 million practitioners in this country would gladly attest to these benefits and many more.
But that doesn’t mean that everyone should just asana their hearts out with abandon. In any fitness DVD – including those for yoga – there are qualifiers up front encouraging people to check with their physician before beginning a new regimen. Why should we expect something different for yoga? Two years ago, I had excruciating tendonitis…from my elliptical trainer! Where was the drama then, I ask you? You know what helped? Yoga.
And then we have Mr. Friend. One of the things that has disheartened me in recent years is that just as many yogis have what one of my friends refers to as “feet of clay” as any other demographic. Just because you practice yoga doesn’t mean you are immune to human frailty. Ego, greed, lust; yogis are just as susceptible to these “sins” as anyone. We are all flawed. But that shouldn’t diminish yoga’s benefits, nor those that Mr. Friend himself brought to the world. After all, yoga teaches that we should take what serves us and leave the rest behind.
I am not going to deny that yoga has become big business as it’s made its way to the West. There is an odd “cult of personality” phenomenon. The opportunity to see Sean Corn, Shiva Rhea, Rodney Yee and other “celebrity” yogis is the same to some people (myself among them) as seeing U2 or Madonna to others. And that’s created some outsized egos. Ironically, one of the fundamental teachings of yoga is to practice detachment from ego.
Given what I do for a living it’s probably not shocking that I think yoga could benefit from some good old fashioned public relations right about now. The misperceptions it is suffering from are not unlike those of any organization struggling with a damaged brand. If we apply the same type of reputation management and awareness building strategies, we just might be able to shift the dialogue in a more positive direction.
Yoga already has 20 million potential “brand ambassadors” in the U.S. alone! And let me tell you, they are pretty vocal. We just need to rally this group with some consistent messaging and effective outreach. With a little effort, I think we could restore the yoga “brand” to its former glory. In the meantime, I just hope that all the recent distractions don’t keep people from experiencing what I know to be true: yoga is an amazing tool to health, wellness and contentment.
May the light within me recognize the light within you. Namaste.