Weekly Journal 8

Kaitlyn Gonzalez 

Weekly Journal 8

GIS-4636-091

October 30, 2020 

    I think that there are many contributing factors to the fact that yoga has become pop-culture here in America. One thing that I have noticed is that in more recent years, there has been a push for more health-related products. Products that promise you to get in shape, get fit, and finally get the body you dream of. I think that in some ways, yoga is marketed in this way as well. It promises so much for the person, and then they get drawn into the world and community of yoga, when the main goal of yoga is not to have the body you dream of. I think that over the course of the years of yoga coming to the united states, the main goal of yoga has been skewed. It has been changed so that it fits the narrative of being fit, spiritually aligned, and having the best body. Moreover, I think that America has a different view when it comes to looks. In the west, there is an underlying obsession with having to look the best and have the best features. I think that this obsession coupled with the 'false' promises that yoga in the west might make contribute to the fact that yoga has become more pop culture in recent years. 

    Additionally, the main goals of yoga have been lost through translation. The way that yoga is taught in the west is very different from how it was originally taught when it first started. Now in the west, you go to a yoga class with twenty other people and one instructor, most likely a white male or female, and you learn the practice. I think that the lack of diversity as well as contributed to the fact of yoga being more pop culture. For example, yoga in the past was more of a mentor/mentee role, where one person shadowed another and learned the practice that way over a number of years/weeks/days. Additionally, the selling of yoga has also contributed to yoga becoming more pop-culture in the west. In many athleisure stores and online, there are yoga clothes being sold, and yoga pants catered to women. Social media I believe has also had a huge impact on the pop-culture of yoga as well. The way yoga is posted about and the hashtags defiantly contribute to this pop-culture phenomenon. 

    This week, in lieu of the question this week, I decided to pick a practice that is less pop-culture based. Even so, I found it hard to find a practice online that hadn't been adopted by the west yet. Even the ones that were less popular, had some kind of base in the United States somewhere. This week, I did an Integral Yoga Hatha Class on youtube. This was more of a beginner's class, and I was able to follow through with it and not be lost. This was an hour-long class of poses mostly laying down or sitting, so I was able to do most of the poses with my ankle which was nice because a lot of the practice I try to do is standing up or moving around. I particularly liked this yoga practice because it made me feel at ease. Even though I enjoy doing practices where you are moving around, I enjoyed the practices where they were mostly laying down. Overall, I enjoyed this practice and will keep this in mind for the future. 

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7WnfFDnmmk

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