Take Back Yoga Campaign Analysis

Cultural appropriation has been a controversial topic on social media. Many people consider it as problematic when it typically involves people of a dominant culture exploiting the cultural elements of another without permission (Nittle, 2017). Examples of cultural appropriation include using other cultures ' language, food, music, folklore, medicine or symbols. Yoga is another typical example which is practiced by people without acknowledging its religious root. It has been widely adopted as physical exercise to get fit in the west. As Gregoire (2014) indicates, yoga has become a $27 billion industry with over 20 million practitioners. By treating yoga as a commodity and physical activity, the original meaning of it is diluted and an exclusive

HAF is a Hindu advocacy organization located in the US and speaks for Hindu American community. In 2008, it launched a “Take Back Yoga” campaign to educate people about traditions and origins of yoga (Gregoire, 2014). The campaign started with posting a scholarly essay online. The essay said that the yoga industry neglected the practice “from the Hinduism that gave forth this immense contribution to humanity” (Vitello, 2010). According to Vitello (2010), the campaign has raised people’s awareness of yoga’s adaptation but sparked a debate of who owns yoga. Members from HAF claimed that the philosophy behind yoga was based in Hinduism while there were people who disagreed (Vitello, 2010). People were arguing about the origin of yoga rather than dealing with the problems caused by appropriating yoga. Hence, this solution has not effectively diminished the negative impact on the Hindu communities. This is because the purpose of this campaign is to claim the originality of yoga, not to make people aware of the problem caused by yoga’s

The reason why appropriating yoga becomes a problem is that westerners treat yoga as solely trendy fitness and business. Solutions have been implemented by Hindu America Foundation. HAF has conducted a “Take Back Yoga” campaign through social media. However, this measure is not effective in addressing the problem. An improved solution which changes the ways of educating yoga teachers and conducting classes is proposed. Nevertheless, yoga has become such a big industry that it is impossible to stop people from adopting it. What can be done is to reduce the harm brought to the communities and this would require effort from each of member who is practicing yoga or planning to practice