WHY BE ZEN IF YOU CAN BE FABULOUS?

The Westernization of Yoga

There are three million of them in France alone (UNESCO 2015), twenty million
in the US and numbers are growing progressively (Swartz 2011). Michelle
Obama does it (Transcript 2009) and so does your next-door neighbour.
Statistics suggest that in 2010 American consumers spent alone 6 billion dollars
on Yoga classes, Om amulets, Yoga outfits, books on spirituality and other yoga
related product an 87 % increase in such expenditures since 2004 (Evans
2010). Who are these individuals who religiously head to the Yoga studios? What
do these people find on the yoga mat? What pushes these persons to flock the
exotic ashrams for enlightenment? Is Yoga a way to communicate ones identity?
In posing these kinds of questions, this research project aims to examine the
relationship between ancient Eastern wisdom and contemporary Western
lifestyle.
CONSUMING SPIRITUALITY
Spirituality is a means of colonising and commodifying Asian wisdom
traditions (Carrette & King 2006:87).
In todays world, a popular marketing strategy consists of commodifying ancient
wisdom for spiritual consumers. In spite of the fact that Yoga promotes
empowerment, personal development and self-discovery, this Hindu practice has
transformed into a consumer product that turned into a mainstream and
marketable cult (Swartz 2010). In fact, Yoga has become a part of the urban
fabric in cities all over the world and is even a popular exercise among celebrities
and political figures.

The so-called Rebel Yogi Tara Stiles

It commenced as an exotic, mystical, foreign and Eastern practice and ultimately
reinvented as Western. In Paris for instance, the BHV Marais offers free Yoga
classes during the summer next to numerous outdoor Yoga events on the
Champs de Mars or the Carreau du Temple. And just recently, The Permanent
Delegation of India to UNESCO announced the commencement of Yoga classes
to all UNESCO members, including ambassadors, delegations and secretariats.
A predominant reason for the Yoga trend is the tremendous health benefits that
Yoga offers It helps coping with stress, developing a strong sense of self,
managing life crisis, improving relationships and taking control of the psyche and
body (Hunt 2010). Similar to Buddhism and Taoism, Yoga embodies a
renunciatory spirituality of Asia that addresses the everyday states of
consciousness, the state of lasting inner contentment and the stability of mind
(Carrette & King 2006:115). In fact, it is believed that a successful Yogi transfers
the outward flow of consciousness into an introspective act (ibid). The ambition is
to recognize ones pure and transcendent consciousness that goes beyond the

material world and the bodily experiences. This reflexivity of the self is particularly
significant in the modern increasing globalized world that pushes individuals to
analyse the creation of ones identity both within the local and the global sphere.
In Modernity and Self-Identity, Anthony Giddens investigates the Self throughout
changes in society, suggesting that modernity opens up the project of the self
(Giddens 1991:3) That is, the establishment of ones identity is the product of
an indviduals life narrative and the reflexivity of that trajectory. As a result,
individuals are granted with choice, agency and possibilities. Giddens suggests
that reflexivity is an inevitable measure in the time of modernity, as the
dynamisms of the post-traditional apocalypse (ibid:5) comes with new influential
elements to the construction of the Self. Effectively, during this period of
globalization, Giddens regards an identity crisis as a natural occurrence (ibid).
That being said, individuals are challenged to think about time and space that
inevitably brings about new unfamiliar risks (ibid:20). Particularly through the
Internet, our conceptions of time and space no longer depend on locality, which
essentially forces individuals to reinvent their ideas and critically reflect.
Consequently, globalization and modernity directly impacts the Self for Giddens,
as he recognises connections between the micro and the macro aspects of
society. The author calls this the dialectic of the local and the global (ibid:22).
This idea of self-reflexivity is at the core of Yoga, as individuals are invited to go
on an emotional journey in order to learn about this science of the soul. Certainly,
it serves as a tool to criticize the conventional ego-driven, to transform ones
worldview upon reality and to focus on the individualised spirituality of the self
(Carrette & King 2006:117).