Leutchen, ichs sags ja: Insbesondere in Städten wie Frankfurt wird aus Yoga ein akrobatisches Ego-Geturne, das dir eher das Gefühl gibt, hässlich und unbeweglich zu sein, als dich mit deinem Wesenkern und ananadamaya kosha, deiner Glückshülle in Kontakt zu bringen ...
Text von Molly Ritvo
We’re constantly bombarded with images, advertisements, and even negative self-talk about what our bodies should look like. For women, this is particularly dangerous and can leave us filled with doubt, sadness, and even shame about our bodies. One of the reasons why I first started practicing yoga was because it gave me a place to feel centered and connected to my body. I was also blessed to find a teacher who taught me the building blocks of alignment, how to use my breath, and how to find stability, balance, and expansion in the asanas. After years of attending aerobic, cardio, and weight classes in front of mirrors and bright lights, I was grateful to practice yoga in a warm, quiet room, filled with beautiful music and calming essential oils. It was a welcome respite, without horrible gym lighting and loud pop music, irritating trainers, and uncomfortable locker rooms with no privacy. I also discovered that it didn’t matter what kind of clothes I wore. It wasn’t about the surface and cosmetic side of movement. It was about something much, much deeper—something that healed from the inside out. I would leave yoga classes feeling calmer, more grounded, and lighter. However, something rather unfortunate has started to cloud the yoga industry. Major clothing and retail companies have started to capitalize on the popularity of yoga, infiltrating these sacred spaces. High-end yoga retreat centers in exotic places now seem like advertisements for thin, white women in yoga pants, or paleo energy bars and cold-pressed juices. And then Instagram entered the yoga-sphere. Suddenly, social media has turned into a competition and compilation of teachers contorting themselves into challenging, yet sexy asanas, wearing brightly colored mala beads with hashtags such as #yogafitbody. Ambassadors for yoga clothing companies are selling the practice in a way that quite frankly, rubs me the wrong way. This yoga porn is bastardizing the true essence of what yoga really is. A daring teacher I know recently said, “As a yoga teacher and yoga studio owner, I feel the urge to speak out against yoga porn, as it’s just so damaging to women's self-esteem and perpetuates the body image problems that yoga is slated to cure.” I couldn’t agree more. I wish that yoga teachers didn’t use their bodies to attract students and I wish that there were more images of what yoga really teaches us (like how to be a better friend, or how find stillness in challenging situations, and how important the breath is). Fortunately, there are still yoga studios where the practice is taught is in its true nature and where students can leave with that sense of peace we all seek. We can continue to seek out those studios, and find teachers who inspire us and offer healing as an antidote to the commercialization of yoga. What do you think? Does your studio still practice and preach the true essence of yoga, or do you find that it is being lost? Photo by Neil Gandhi
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