Indigenous yoga teacher Reha Kumar is calling on instructors to stick to the practice's Indian roots. Photo / Supplied
Indigenous yoga teacher Reha Kumar is calling on instructors to stick to the practice's Indian roots. Photo / Supplied
With International Day of Yoga being marked in Aotearoa this week, calls are being made to bring yoga back to its cultural origins.
Yoga has increased in popularity throughout the west over the last few decades, but there are growing concerns the practice is not respectful to indigenous Indian culture.
The meaning behind yoga has been lost through colonisation, according to Tāmaki Makaurau-based indigenous yoga teacher Reha Kumar.
"If we don't give credit and pay respect to indigenous yoga, we dilute and invalidate the practice.
"The yoga industry is now a multi-billion dollar industry and just a money-making tool often marketing able-bodied white people," she said.
Indigenous people becoming afraid to practice yoga
"By promoting the indigenous practice, there is not only appreciation given to the people whose culture this comes from, but more can be learned and achieved - especially in mental health, which is a prime focus in Aotearoa."
Kumar said there are many indigenous people who are too afraid to practice yoga because it has been taken out of context, even though it comes from their own culture.
Former yoga teacher Megan Sety, originally from the United States, has practised and taught yoga in Te Whanganui-a-Tara for the last 20 years.
She stopped teaching it because she could not reconcile the conflict she felt in teaching.
"I do think the yoga community in New Zealand, especially driven from a western perspective, is not engaging with these conversations enough or deeply."
Misuse of words, including namaste
Indigenous yoga practitioners are highlighting the misuse of the word "namaste," for example, as its incorrect use is now cultural appropriation.
The word namaste means I bow to you and is a traditional Hindi greeting.
"The word namaste in western yoga is misused in a very disappointing way; as teachers often end the class with a namaste when, in fact, namaste is an entry point to the class and meeting."
Kumar said Indian practitioners like herself often now rush to say namaste, as if it is a conditioned response.
She herself has assimilated into the appropriated practice due to what she describes as the fear of not being accepted into a practice that has come from her own ancestors, as a minority South Asian teacher.
"This is how I tried to fit in until I gained enough courage to one day challenge it."
She also pointed out that western practices focus mainly on yoga's physical aspects, self-discovery and working towards more advanced postures.
However, indigenous practices focus on yoga's eight limbs, holistic well-being and spirituality - and can be practised anywhere.
"In the west, yoga is timed and allocated 45 to 90 minutes on the mat and inside the studio.
"Indigenous yoga is a lifestyle that includes physical postures, being mindful of your diet, the food that fuels, nourishes and purifies the body. And it includes how you treat others and the world."
AUT Director of Diversity Edwina Pio said yoga is a philosophy of life that is not limited to body movements, but to channel the energy of an individual to quieten the mind and achieve calm in a frenetic troubled world.
"While there is no doubt that yoga has been commodified and commercialised in many parts of the world, the focus must be on the benefits that yoga invokes whether it be yoga diplomacy, yoga tourism, yoga therapy, or diverse positive health outcomes," Pio said.
