Something is wrong here,” Sangeeta Lerner thought to herself when she walked into a German yoga studio for the first time about a decade ago. Lerner had just moved from India to Berlin and wanted to get back to practicing yoga. But her thoughts floundered in the Berlin studio: Why is the yoga instructor so fit? Why is the room decorated with a mix of Buddhist and Hindu gods that belong in a temple? And why was there superficial techno music playing during the final relaxation phase known as the shavasana?
“Everything was so sterile and fancy. Everyone had gym clothes on, while I had come in comfy clothes. The yoga teacher walked around the room correcting the asanas (or postures),” Lerner recalls. She was irritated that she felt disconnected from the teacher and the other practitioners, since yoga stands for a sense of community. Lerner thought she was doing something wrong, that she was not flexible enough and that she needed more practice.
Today, ten years later, the 44-year-old knows she’s not doing anything wrong, just like the three million Germans who practice yoga regularly. Because it’s not about right or wrong — it’s about awareness. “Yoga is not a sport, it doesn’t matter what kind of body you have. Yoga is healing work — accessible to everyone. And for that, there must be spaces where everyone can feel welcome,” she says. In western societies however, yoga is often taken out of context and commercialized. Lerner sees this as cultural appropriation. Under British rule yoga was forbidden. Now sacred symbols and practices are unconsciously appropriated and dissociated from their Indian origins.
Yoga, as it is taught in the west, is mostly limited to the physical aspect of asanas or postures. There are also some bizarre forms such as beer yoga, yoga with goats or yoga on a stand-up paddleboard, which often includes the chanting of “om.” Western yoga studios mostly mix esoteric ideas, far eastern philosophy and western psychology. Buddha is mixed haphazardly with religious songs of Shakti and Shiva which are Hindu gods.
She observes how cultures are imitated yet not integrated in western yoga studios. It reminds her more of a kind of art performance. “That’s when colonial supremacy comes into play. You take something from a culture and make it work for you.”
The global yoga industry generates 35 bn euros from classes, retreats, yoga gear, books, magazines and scented sticks, according to market research firm Allied Market Research. Yoga in the west is often advertised by predominantly slender, white people. This reinforces stereotypical ideas and excludes people who do not conform to this beauty norm. Yogini Sangeeta Lerner bought her first yoga mat in Germany. After numerous further training courses, she gathered the courage to offer her own yoga classes. However, not in a yoga studio, but in a family center and in a midwife’s practice.
Sangeeta Lerner has been giving Decolonize Yoga workshops throughout Germany for the past two years where they learn how to teach yoga without being culturally appropriative. Both experienced yoga teachers and beginners attend these two-day workshops. “Are you taking yoga away from us now?” is one of the questions Lerner often hears. “Of course not!” is her answer. As someone who grew up with it, she mainly wants to create awareness of its complexity and pass on its cultural roots.