On a sunny Tuesday evening, a gathering of predominantly middle-aged women roll out their yoga mats on the docks at Britannia Heritage Shipyard.
Yogi and Steveston Community Centre employee Vicky Petrescu guides the class through childs poses, warriors, sun salutations and more.
The class is usually held at the Japanese Cultural Centre, but setting suns and an inspiring natural environment draws the participants down to the docks during the warm, dry weather.
But be it practised inside or out, the rise of yoga in Richmond goes unabated. As many as a couple dozen can fill the classes.
Were all busier than weve ever been, says longtime yogi Margie Hardy, who usually teaches the class. In a way, yoga gives you more time, you get more time in your life by forcing yourself to set it aside. You can be quiet and calm down.
To her, yoga becomes an identity, a way of life. She also points to the physical and mental benefits.
Its about how to live life and keep calm, she says. Yes, theres the spiritual side, absolutely. The purpose of the poses is to find the key to inner contentment.
Yoga bent out of shape in the name of profit
While few would argue with the potential health benefits of yoga, there is also growing concern about how yoga is practised in western culture.
Although some aspects are true to the ancient Indian spiritual practice, high-priced, form-fitting clothing has also jumped on the bandwagon as the Eastern tradition has moved west.
Like many things Western, yoga has, in many cases, become a hyper-commercialized, capitalist venture where yoga pants are a necessity, expensive classes consist of moving from pose to pose, and the overall benefits focus on body toning and physical fitness.
In fact the corporatizing of yoga caused the Indian government to put 1,300 distinct yoga positions into the public domain, preventing self-styled yoga gurus from claiming ownership of postures that have been taught for thousands of years.
Return to tradition, Vedic teaches all eight limbs
This was a trend noticed by the Ram Krishna Mandir at the Vedic Cultural Centre, the Hindu temple on No. 5 Road. In response, the temple offers yoga classes that return to the Indian tradition.
We saw how it was being adopted by Western culture and wanted to share some knowledge about its origins and how its practised in India, says Bimla Veer Singh, the temples secretary and coordinator.
Free of frills, people learn not only how to transition from cobra to downward dog, but about the Hindu culture and the origins of yoga.
The centre keeps the costs low and all money goes back to the maintenance of the temple. Yogis are encouraged to wear loose and comfortable cotton clothing, which is advised in some of the ancient texts.
The Western world has taken the yoga part out of the practice and focused on the body part, the physical, and people feel like thats good enough, said Singh, a practising Hindu.
In actual fact, the poses are only one part of the eight limbs of ashtanga yoga. To engage in the full practice means incorporating all eight limbs.
But Singh is encouraged that people are starting to realize that there is more to yoga than poses, and are learning more about the practice, going on retreats.
Naseem Gulamhusein, an instructor who runs a program at Langara College, also worries the spirit of profit is overwhelming the spirit of peace and contemplation.
Its become about how to make middle-aged women sexy in these tight yoga pants, says Gulamhusein. Yoga pants shouldnt be a thing.
I always like to say, all good things must come to a trend.
Instructor helps preserve original teachings
Gulamhusein, who has been practising yoga for 13 years, started the program to become a certified instructor at Langara in order to preserve the original teachings and add a sense of standardization.
Yogas not regulated, so wheres the accountability? she asks. Anyone can take a few training courses here and there, and then start training others. The teachers have a lot of power and people are buying into it. In some cases, teachers are totally exploiting students.
Gulamhusein blames the idealization of the yoga teacher as one of the driving forces behind the high prices. It leads to the glamourization of the tradition taking it from spiritual quest to status symbol.
Even more detrimental, she fears the marketing of yoga as an expensive pursuit keeps it inaccessible for the people who need it the most.
There are people who offer yoga classes to those in the Downtown Eastside or at womens shelters, she says. But the domination of the expensive studio makes it harder to find these low-cost centres.
Cultural appropriation
Moreover, the commercialization of yoga is tantamount to cultural appropriation.
Its deep in Indian philosophy and is about deep spiritual practices that Hinduism took, so to take it out of spirituality is to appropriate it and make it a trend, says Gulamhusein.
When you just take what you want from another cultural practice, thats cultural appropriation.
Some of the other seven limbs of yoga include ethics, self-discipline and spiritual observances, sensory transcendence and meditation.
Observing all eight is to practise yoga, the purpose of which is to lead to enlightenment and self-realization.
Recently, a California judge ruled that yoga can be taught in public schools because its not teaching children religion, rather despite its roots in Hindu philosophy, it is part of American culture.
However, to view yoga through a religious or nonreligious framework is problematic. In a piece for the Vancouver Observer, Anupreet Sandhu Bhamra writes, the Hindu way of worship, belief, practice, way of living is all part of the Yogic philosophy.
Yoga philosophy is written in Sanskrit, an ancient Indian language, in which there is no word for religion. The closest translation is dharm and the set of philosophies that make up Hinduism are called the Sanatana Dharma.
These philosophies provide codes of conduct, which differ from person to person. Theres no universal code or holy book, as is the case with most religions.
Instead of seeking a divine entity outside the person and needing an agent, such as a priest, the Hindu belief is that every being is divine within and the purpose of yoga is to help a person reach that divinity.
As Hinduism draws on numerous aspects of life including science and the environment, doing yoga doesnt necessarily mean engaging in a religious practice, but it is engaging in the Sanatana Dharma.
But you still cant strip yoga off Hinduism, Bhamra writes. By doing so, you are robbing yoga of its essence. The cultural appropriation will serve no purpose other than making yoga a new form of a quiet exercise routine, which the West has unashamedly done to a great extent.
Awareness can only help
Unlike Gulamhusein, Hardy doesnt mind the current trend of yoga because of what it does to an individual whether spiritual or not once they leave a yoga class.
No matter how its being marketed, what goes on in an actual class through poses and breathing helps lead an individual to finding that enlightenment within.
I think its only helped increase the awareness of yoga, Hardy says. The more awareness thats raised about it, the better off we are as a society. Its a very peaceful practice, so the more we can spread it throughout society, the more we can benefit from it.
Understanding the teaching is good, but its also a wonderful practice for your body.
Singh agrees that even if the focus is on the movement of the body, most classes do use ancient terms in an effort to educate the attendees.
It does provide some benefit, the physical still affects the rest of you, your mind, your mental state, says Singh.
Usually when people start yoga because of the physical benefits, they end up learning more about it anyway. Its fine if you want to just focus on the body, but I dont think its always enough.
The benefits of yoga, as it is practised by Western society, are undeniable, but without the other aspects of the tradition, Gulamhusein says it just shouldnt be called yoga.
It can be a great form of exercise, but if youre taking the spirituality side out of it, its not yoga.
