Imagining what yoga in the west could be

The forgotten origins of an ancient practice

• Imagine a world where western yoga teachers and practitioners knew that the Sanskrit word ‘yoga’ meant ‘to join/yoke’; and understood yoga’s original purpose – the ‘union’ of the individual self and the cosmic self (known in other terms as self-realisation, samadhi, mokṣa, nirvana, or enlightenment).
• Imagine a world where western yoga teachers and practitioners knew that the physical practice (asana) only existed as preparation for sitting still for long periods of time to undertake the required self-enquiry, contemplation and meditation to directly experience this ‘union’.
• Imagine a world where western yoga teachers and practitioners based their practice on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the eight limbed path it outlines, including: asanas (physical postures), pranayama (breathing exercises), yamas (restraints), niyamas (observances), pratyahara (withdrawal of senses), dharana (concentration), dhyana (meditation) and samadhi (self-realisation). Imagine if they realised that only 4 of Patanjali’s 196 aphorisms mentioned asana.
• Imagine a world where western yoga teachers and practitioners understood Pantanjali’s second yoga sūtra –

yogas chitta vritti nirodha (translation = ‘yoga is the cessation of fluctuations in the mind’)

which asks us to dismantle our mental conditioning (i.e. deeply ingrained ideas society gives us about ourselves and the world).

• Imagine a world where western yoga teachers and practitioners understood that this dismantling of our mental conditioning is not only for the benefit of our own self-healing and personal development, but a way to awaken to the systemic realities of the world we live in, including surrendering delusions about supremacy (based on race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, body etc.).
• Imagine a world where western yoga teachers and practitioners understood the link between systemic oppression of people (based on race, class, gender, sexuality, ability, body etc.) and who benefits most from the $80 billion global yoga industry and the ‘eat-pray-love-ification’ of this ancient practice.
• Imagine a world where western yoga teachers and practitioners understood dismantling neo-colonial white supremacist capitalist patriarchal culture as a crucial step toward their own liberation and the liberation of others, rather than creating yoga places and spaces that perpetuate systems of oppression.
• Imagine a world where western yoga teachers and practitioners understood the importance of creating spaces where womxn and femmes of colour, whose bodies have been impacted by war, colonisation, and the patriarchy and white supremacy in all its forms, can access the healing powers of yoga (note: not just ‘access’ in relation to cost, but also cultural safety and safety from sexual violence).
• Imagine a world where western yoga teachers and practitioners understood the importance of womxn and femmes of colour taking the lead in shaping the future of yoga so that it contributes to (rather than compromises) the welfare of humanity and the planet.