Yoga Journal: Week 8-9

    Traditionally, yoga was really only practiced by aspiring yogi's, and they were considered outcasts. The transition of yoga, from east to the west, is when yoga really took off into the mainstream empire that it is today. I truly think that Americans are easily persuadable, especially to the idea of yoga and all of its claims regarding its life changing qualities. 

    In my opinion, If yoga is said to "heal" most of your problems, then it should be considered a necessity to healthcare, and should be free. Hospitals should adopt their own style of yoga, that is backed by science, and offer it to patients who suffer from all of the disorders yoga claims to heal: low back pain, depression from pain, anxiety, stress, high blood pressure. Instead, yoga in America become a commodity. People started to figure out ways to brand yoga and turn it into an empire. 

    I mean, the perfect example of this was Bikram. He changed the way people viewed yoga, as a way to "kill yourself for 90 minutes". I watched his documentary, and it was astonishing to see just how brilliant he was in branding himself, and creating an empire by basically being an asshole. By doing so, Bikram made a huge difference in establishing yoga as pop culture in America. He often wore a Rolex watch during classes to show off his lavish life style of being a "yogi" and people loved it. 

    The amount of people that were interested in doing yoga in America, is also what made it pop culture. There were so many at home yoga workouts that were created, to keep people engaged in practicing yoga without leaving their house. Also, the use of social media in America is another huge reason why it became pop culture.