Hi Jessamyn, first off I want to say go you for being so unapologetically who you are. As a fellow fat femme, it means a lot to see people like you. But. While I agree with you that yoga isn't just for thin white women, it was very hurtful, as an Indian, to see you talk about how open and accessible yoga is without acknowledging that hey, this is a thing that's been appropriated from another culture. In that sense, no, yoga isn't for you. Not unless you're willing to respect where it came from.
I HAVE TALKED ABOUT THIS SO MUCH BECAUSE I HAVE A HUGE FUCKING PROBLEM WITH CULTURAL APPROPRIATION WITHIN THE YOGA COMMUNITY.
Seriously, it drives me insane and no one EVER talks about it. I’ve actually talked about this several times, most recently in a snapchat rant which (of course) I didn’t save. I believe that this is a MASSIVE problem within the Western yoga community and I think it has the exact same roots as other types of Western Imperialism.
Frankly, I believe there’s a loss of cultural identity and heritage which happens with Imperialistic thought which makes it easy for Western yoga practitioners to freely appropriate MAJOR chunks of Indian and, more specifically, Hindu culture to the point of shameful offense.
This bothers me on so many levels- I brought it up multiple times during my teacher training and received a lot of blank stares because (again, frankly) many white people are unaware that cultural appropriation even exists and they damn sure don’t understand the role they play.
As a POC (and specifically as an African-American female), I am hyper sensitive to cultural appropriation because so many aspects of my cultural identity have been held hostage by the media. I think this is a cycle many yoga practitioners (INACCURATELY) hold themselves above.
When I said yoga was inclusive and accessible, I was solely speaking to the fact that yoga asana is not meant for one specific body type and there are endless ways to establish a fulfilling asana practice. I was not referring to the many aspects of yogic culture which are completely based in a rich Eastern history which are NOT for sale and which many Western yoga brands shamelessly exploit in a thinly veiled yogic interpretation of “The White Man’s Burden.”
This is a deeply troubling reality for me as a teacher, because I do believe there are ways Western audiences can/should be able to appreciate the eight limbed path without cultural appropriation.
Unfortunately, the conversation is currently completely dominated by a white washed, highly offensive characterization which most practitioners never even question. Again, this is a deeply unsettling reality for me on so many levels, & I can’t thank you enough for dropping this message in my ask box. I would talk about this every single day, because I think it’s the key to so many problems within this community.
Ultimately, we are dealing with a very serious issue of cultural disrespect and imperialistic thought which has to be eradicated at the root.
