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Though India is the birthplace of yoga, but there are hardly any Indian yoga blogs. Most blogs are from the west. Here's a take on it.
India is the birthplace of yoga, but there are hardly any Indian yoga blogs. Most blogs are from the west. Here’s a take on it.
India: a land of mysticism, yogis, peace and the art of finding oneself, if we were to go by Western stereotypes and tropes. From celebrities, old and new, to hopeful wanderers and tourists, Indian yoga promises them a spiritual journey to awaken their senses.
Leaving aside its origin and history in our country, it was also recently encouraged and emphasised upon by the Indian Government, in order to promote a healthier lifestyle amongst its citizens.
An age-old art, of great significance to the nation, with tremendous health benefits, be it of the mind or the body: it comes to great surprise when you googleIndian Yoga Blogs, and find….well, almost none.
It started out innocently enough. A busy schedule, with countless things to juggle; plenty of space for stressful situations and frustrations, but no room for a fixed daily or weekly schedule to visit a Yoga Center and partake in the art regularly. Throw in a penchant to fall sick, as well as the desire to change things around for myself, and what I was left with was the option to practice yoga by myself at home, wherein I can make it work around a schedule that was subject to change.
The search, as expected yielded several Yoga based blogs – not a single one of them was of Indian origin, however. There were listicles stating the Top 100 Yoga Blogs, Best Yoga Blogs of 2015 et cetera, without a single mention of anyone from India. Refined search attempts got me results about Yoga Training Certification, and in-depth analysis of the blogs displayed showed me a common trend in most of the famous Yoga Blogs: the Bloggers tend to have learned the art from India, and converted that into thriving web pages that received a lot of traffic.
Searching other mediums revealed the same results, more or less. Youtube had tutorials, Tumblr had microblogs, Reddit had questions and experiences, all with a significant absence of our sub-continent. All that we had to offer was a few articles in websites, for the purpose of content creation: they were primarily advertising their services.
Is it because the art of yoga remains untainted and uncommercialised here? Do we prioritise on the atmosphere in which we perform yoga, or is that the art of yoga is widespread enough to be learnt from each other physically, rather than virtually? For a land that gave birth to it, why does it not have the global reach it has imparted to the Western countries?
While bloggers might know the exact science behind a particular position, they would be able to assist me better in my beginner days. That, and the level of commercialisation involved is far less. While some bloggers tend to have sponsored posts, it’s still fairly uncommercialised and comes from a personal place: which isn’t the case with renowned yoga centers.
The very concept of yoga as a cultural phenomenon, as a social trend is foreign to India. The teaching styles, the student-teacher dynamics, may be the root cause behind Yoga remaining immobile, or less stationary, even. If we were to promote it, however, perhaps that’s the change we ought to be making.
Cover image via Shutterstock
A feminist whose idea of feminism is not just fighting for equality but also telling stories of people whose struggle drives the feminist movement forward. Also, a student. But that's not important. read more...
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