Free yoga class shut down because yoga is now offensive

A free yoga class has been suspended after student leaders at a Canadian university are concerned the practice of it could be seen as 'cultural appropriation'.

Jennifer Scharf, who has been offering the weekly yoga class at the University of Ottawa campus for seven years

The center's staff said that yoga has been under 'a lot of controversy lately' as a result of how it is being practiced and which cultures those practices are 'being taken from,'

Staff from the center also expressed that many of those cultures 'experienced oppression, cultural genocide and Diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy'.

Ahimakin said the student federation had placed the yoga program on hiatus while they worked with students to improve it and make it 'more inclusive to certain groups of people that feel left out

Scharf suggested that she would be willing to change the name of the program from yoga to 'mindful stretching' as a compromise.

Source
Well, there you have it. In a world where everything is offensive, that label now includes yoga... Because some people feel that it's an expression of Western oppression and genocide over other cultures.
Insanity.

originally posted by: trollz

A free yoga class has been suspended after student leaders at a Canadian university are concerned the practice of it could be seen as 'cultural appropriation'.

Jennifer Scharf, who has been offering the weekly yoga class at the University of Ottawa campus for seven years

The center's staff said that yoga has been under 'a lot of controversy lately' as a result of how it is being practiced and which cultures those practices are 'being taken from,'

Staff from the center also expressed that many of those cultures 'experienced oppression, cultural genocide and Diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy'.

Ahimakin said the student federation had placed the yoga program on hiatus while they worked with students to improve it and make it 'more inclusive to certain groups of people that feel left out

Scharf suggested that she would be willing to change the name of the program from yoga to 'mindful stretching' as a compromise.

Source
Well, there you have it. In a world where everything is offensive, that label now includes yoga... Because some people feel that it's an expression of Western oppression and genocide over other cultures.
Insanity.

I'm going to agree with you completely, that is complete madness. Surely practicing yoga is demonstrating a kind of unity with other cultures.

Soon they say that we have to stop breathing, because its taking others air, or that they need air in third countries more than we do...

Soon they will ban

a reply to: trollz

Could care less, yoga is stupid.

a reply to: trollz

The only thing I find offensive about yoga is the people who wear yoga pants that clearly shouldn't.

Seriously though....things are getting beyond ridiculous.

If it was free only to a certain race or creed.... then it would be offensive. Since it was free to everyone, I just don't get it.

I even understand the whole cultural "issue" but, that doesn't make sense to me either.

originally posted by: trollz

A free yoga class has been suspended after student leaders at a Canadian university are concerned the practice of it could be seen as 'cultural appropriation'.

Jennifer Scharf, who has been offering the weekly yoga class at the University of Ottawa campus for seven years

The center's staff said that yoga has been under 'a lot of controversy lately' as a result of how it is being practiced and which cultures those practices are 'being taken from,'

Staff from the center also expressed that many of those cultures 'experienced oppression, cultural genocide and Diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy'.

Ahimakin said the student federation had placed the yoga program on hiatus while they worked with students to improve it and make it 'more inclusive to certain groups of people that feel left out

Scharf suggested that she would be willing to change the name of the program from yoga to 'mindful stretching' as a compromise.

Source
Well, there you have it. In a world where everything is offensive, that label now includes yoga... Because some people feel that it's an expression of Western oppression and genocide over other cultures.
Insanity.

And so the downward spiral gains speed toward the bottom.

What would you call this? PC? So much of this crap is just laughable in it's ridiculousness but as a whole this is no laughing matter.

People have no problem just giving up each others rights. But in doing so they give up their own. When you force a rule into place it pertains to you too.

Imagine all the dumbest rules nut-jobs are gonna put into place then imagine all the ridicules rules "moderate" nut-job put into place, then add in the crazy laws corporations make through "lobbying" and throw in other insane laws the ever controlling government adds to the pile and what we will have.......well I don't even want to imagine what it's going to be like.

Just don't worry about it, go back to sleep. It will all be over soon

a reply to: trollz

I understand the concern some have over harmful cultural appropriation but a little bit of applied reason and logic could go a long way.

If Yoga is cultural appropriation, then so are McDonalds in Asia or baseball in Africa. What about Christianity? Why isn't the western adoption of Christianity considered appropriation.

The fine line is whether or not the culture who is adopting the practice had oppressed the culture it is being adopted from. I get that. For example, if Germans started wearing dreidel earrings, that might be crossing a line.

The practice of Yoga, however, has proven benefit and is not being adopted out of fashion or trends. It is like many of the health advancements discovered from various cultures. We don't all point fingers at each other for medicine or rocketry or any number of useful and practical things we have all adopted. Yoga falls into that category for me.

How can it be a symbol of Western oppression?
Isn't it an Eastern practice/philosophy?

This is the examples of 'PC' out of control that I can get behind.

Yes we stole the practice, but if we got rid of everything we stole then we wouldn't have jack.

a reply to: trollz
Perhaps the people taking the classes actually believe in yoga, in which case shutting the classes down is persecution of a religious minority.
Why is nobody shutting down American mosques on the grounds that they are cultural appropriation?

a reply to: trollz

I guess my entire recipe binder would be horribly offensive. I have recipes from all over in it - hummus, lots of Mexican (not TexMex but the authentic stuff), Thai, Jewish, etc.

I was planning on possible putting my son in a summer karate camp. He needs the activity and I thought it would help him with his impulse control. Plus, he expresses interest in it every time he watches TMNT on TV. But I guess that would be terribly culturally insensitive for a partially Native American child to learn something that comes from Asia. I guess I ought to search for a Lacrosse program instead.

originally posted by: dollukka
Soon they say that we have to stop breathing, because its taking others air, or that they need air in third countries more than we do...

Soon they will ban

Noooooo....If they want to take my Yak testicles, they'll have to pry them from my cold dead hand!

a reply to: DISRAELI

Because our president is rapidly filling them with ME refugees, so they are quickly becoming authentic enough.

This is insane on a new level!

Free yoga lessons for 60 students for years, and suddenly there is a political concern?

And the irony: let's ban part of the indian culture, because they have been oppressed by us. is't that exactly oppressing?

If they would follow their own rules they should ban tea, cotton, curry and the tachings of ghandi...


If i'd be in power i would make yoga mandatory, daily in every school. You would see problems like obesity, add, imbalanced brains etc. drop within weeks. And this planet would become more peaceful.

That's totally off the rails.

There were multiple yogis in the last century and before who sent disciples out of India for the specific purpose of teaching yoga to the west.

When will this idiotic behavior stop?

Using this logic, everything is cultural appropriation because some culture did it first.

No one has the balls anymore to point out when people are being just plain stupid

originally posted by: trollz

A free yoga class has been suspended after student leaders at a Canadian university are concerned the practice of it could be seen as 'cultural appropriation'.

Jennifer Scharf, who has been offering the weekly yoga class at the University of Ottawa campus for seven years

The center's staff said that yoga has been under 'a lot of controversy lately' as a result of how it is being practiced and which cultures those practices are 'being taken from,'

Staff from the center also expressed that many of those cultures 'experienced oppression, cultural genocide and Diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy'.

Ahimakin said the student federation had placed the yoga program on hiatus while they worked with students to improve it and make it 'more inclusive to certain groups of people that feel left out

Scharf suggested that she would be willing to change the name of the program from yoga to 'mindful stretching' as a compromise.

Source
Well, there you have it. In a world where everything is offensive, that label now includes yoga... Because some people feel that it's an expression of Western oppression and genocide over other cultures.
Insanity.

I am disgusted by this. And I'm liberal. And I do yoga. I've been told the same as the op a couple of times now.

I totally agree that many westerners cheapen yoga and make it into a gym physical "let's get a toned body" thing, rather than an entire comprehensive philosophy that it is. By the way people, yoga is an entire esoteric and spiritual system, with yoga postures (asanas) being 1/8th of that system, the rest not being physical really at all.

However, many westerners and non-Indians are all about studying real yoga, and have made it their spiritual system. People like me respect it more, for example, than the Judeo-Christian religions.

Just like an Indian should be able to practice respectfully any Western cultural artifact, from classical music to opening a pizzeria to converting to Christianity, so should a westerner be able to do so in reverse.

I don't buy the argument that ANY use of another culture's things by a white person is cultural appropriation. The double standards are so obvious it's painful.

Furthermore, the history of human kind is one long list of "cultural appropriation" and cultural syncretism. In fact, not a single culture would be able to escape an indictment if we started to judge respectful cultural borrowing or appreciation. The examples abound, which is why I really question how in depth these social justice warriors understand anthropology and history.

And why do they not understand that "cultural appropriation" is precisely the way that the oppressed culture gets a kind of revenge on the oppressing culture?
The Romans came under the influence of Greek philosophy and eastern religions.
Whites in America come under the influence of black music.
It's all in Toynbee.

a reply to: Wildbob77

Or if you do, you get yelled at for being a horrible hater.

originally posted by: soulpowertothendegree
a reply to: trollz

Could care less, yoga is stupid.

I bet you have never tried it one, and two probably know nothing about what real yoga is, i.e. one of the most advanced philosophic and esoteric systems on the planet. Yoga classes are not actually real yoga. Things like Star Wars or the Matrix are like yoga philosophy for beginners.