“take off my fur suit for Yoga Journal? No not for any money!!!”
A few years ago I took part in a training weekend with Judith Hanson Lasater. I came away from it in awe of her down to earth teaching, her practical skills and the way she oozed feminine divine.
Of course this week, unless you’ve been back under that rock, you will have heard of Judith for her role in the latest yoga-gate controversy – this time about sexed up yoga adverts. Roseanne tells the story here and here. Linda replies to the whole fiasco beautifully, reflecting my own thoughts better than I could, here.
I want to approach all of this from a slightly different angle. I want to ask the universe in general “why the holy hell is yoga causing so much controversy anyway?”
I agree that the female form, naked or otherwise should never be exploited by advertising moguls (and if it’s not exploitation then where are the naked men? I am looking forward to the male naked yoga ad myself, perhaps Anthony Keidis is free, it’s not like he’s never been naked apart from a sock before….), but that is a huge issue way beyond the scope of yoga.
I want to know why a practice that is about balance, about finding inner peace, about creating your bliss, has fallen victim to controversy, bitchiness, narcissism and downright unpleasantness, not just this week but last week, the week before…. Yoga isn’t about competition, it isn’t about who can do the best pose, who has the longest legs, the hottest ass, the funkiest clothes or even who is more or less “yogic” than anyone else (whatever that means). It shouldn’t be about making the most money, living in a mansion or sitting on a Bikram style throne. And it certainly shouldn’t be about putting triggering images out into the world (the regular media does enough of that thank you).
Yoga is about each of us as individuals finding our place in the universe, about the ability to connect and balance our body and mind to a point where we are part of the universal consciousness – y’know, our true selves – genderless, perfect and most certainly toesox-less.
I think every single one of us who teaches, practices or writes about yoga need to sit down quietly a little more often and take a deep look inside and ask ourselves why we participate in this beautiful practice. I think ultimately we’d all come out with similar answers. Surely it is this we should be focussing on, rather than arguing amongst ourselves about the validity of something that has been created by our very own f***ed up media.
Stop bitchin’ – do yoga. Just a thought.
And one final word on the whole shebang. Toesox? Really? Now I love a bit of eccentric clothing. Socks with toes are pretty cool but people, people, people, you practice yoga barefoot or not at all. You don’t need “stuff” to practice yoga. Just your beautiful, openminded, openhearted selves.
Love and oms x
