LETTER FROM
THE EDITOR
Yoga, Inc.
N THIS WEEK’S issue,
Carolyn Gregoire follows yoga’s progression
in America from an
obscure spiritual practice to a $27
billion industry.
Yoga, as Carolyn writes, was
traditionally a way of “stilling
the thoughts of the mind in
order to experience one’s true
self, and ultimately, to achieve
liberation (moksha) from
the cycle of birth and death
(samsara), or enlightenment.”
While the initial, New Age devotees embraced this spirit, yoga
became a predominantly physical
practice once it entered the cultural mainstream, riding the fitness wave of the 1970s.
“The very fact that if you ask
ART STREIBER
I
the average person what yoga is,
they immediately think of a beautiful woman doing stretches and
bends, that tells you how commercialized it has become, and
how limited,” says Philip Goldberg, a spiritual teacher and author of American Veda.
Carolyn points out the irony that
a practice meant to offer freedom
from the ego has become a “vanity-driven pursuit.” However, she
writes, yoga in America is beginning to return to its more mindful
origins. Current fitness trends are
more and more rooted in mental
and spiritual well-being, as many
HUFFINGTON
12.22.13