A Textbook Example Of Cultural Appropriation

With so many religions and the world getting smaller every day, intricacies of a religion can easily be lost and with the taboo of discussing religion and politics in public, often times, these religions only come up when they are under fire. This holds true for Islam more than any other. To the outsider, Muslim traditions can seem strange, such as the call to prayer, but to the billion practitioners worldwide, it’s an invitation to accept Allah as God and Muhammad as his messenger (Prayer). Other, mainly Eastern religions, lose some of their potency in translation to the West. Practices like yoga in the Western world are mainly seen as exercise and a way to unwind but to religious practitioners, yoga literally means “to yoke” life, divinity and reality. The contemplative nature of the practice is lost on the West (Philosophical Hinduism).

Yoga is a practice for union. When yoga is being practiced the participant becomes relaxed and tries to achieve a higher state of mind.(Fisher 80) There are different types of yoga that help achieve different states of mind. Raja yoga is the path to mental concentration and is used by meditative people. Jnana yoga is the path to rational inquiry which is done by rational people, and for naturally active people there is karma yoga which is the path of right action. “Yoga is known as the disconnection of the connection with suffering.” –The Bhagavad Gita (hinduwisdom.info) Hinduism also has a series of gods and goddess who Hindu’s pray to and worship. Durga whom is called the Ideal Warrior, Sita, who is the

They developed the different types of yogas to be pathways to realization that would lead to transcendence and knowledge of understanding. Smith also points out, “if you tracers the length and breadth of the universe saying of everything you can see and conceive, “not the…not this,” what remains will be God” (Smith,1991). This statement allows for one to understand just how vast the right direction in understanding God is.

Mirabai’s life and devotional practices serve as a model of the spiritual path of bhakti yoga. Initially considered mad, Mirabai brushed off any hostilities and danced with a blissful ecstasy in the streets (Fisher 105). She paid little heed to social conventions and described herself as, “defiant of world censure or family shame” (Fisher 105). Free from societal constraints, Mirabai sung devotions like, Without Krishna I Cannot Sleep, during her time as a wanderer around 1500 and 1550.

Yoga is a comprehensive system of mind/body techniques that is thousands of years old. Its techniques are designed to improve physical and mental health and well being, and include such practices as physical postures and stretching, breathing exercises (pranayama), focused concentration, meditation, visualization, and chanting (mantra) (Desikachar, 1999; van der Kolk, 2014).

This essay will focus on analyzing the ultimate truth while seeing how it coexists with the study and practice of Jhana Yoga. Each of the principles presented in this essay will have an in depth examination. The philosophical and religious as well as human natures are some of the most important themes that will be displayed in this essay. The idea of the materialistic values that is present in everyday life serve as the reason to why one cannot know the ultimate truth and how one can overcome this in order to find supreme peace. Karma yoga will be studied as Lord Krishna tells its importance to Arjuna, so he can follow the path of divine fulfillment. The universality of religion and selflessness serve as the two strengths one can achieve to be capable to have and live by the ultimate truth. The aspect of tradition and the origins of

Seane Corn’s podcast was twofold: educational and invigorating. Hearing her talk about her journey to happiness is a true testimonial to naysayers who are having doubts about the positive effects of yoga. Corn’s journey to happiness, as she conveyed, was not an easy one. She had to clamber her way from an unsettled place as a child growing up in an unstable home. She explained how her blue-collar working class parents raised her in an environment where religious practices were not present and how, as a little girl, she thought of herself as “uneducated.” She abused drugs and the tender age of 19 and was diagnosed with “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.” She even suffered from an anxiety disorder, but these dark episodes of her life eventually led to healing and happiness once she discovered yoga.

This yoga is centered around total “devotion through love” to God. It stresses the expression of this devotion through actions such as dancing, singing, shouting, and the use of objects such candles and incense. In the Islam religion, all these aspects are depicted. Observance of just one service at a Mosque would prove this.

Seane Corn’s podcast was two-fold: educational and invigorating. Hearing her talk about her journey to happiness is a true testimonial to naysayers who are having doubts about the positive effects of yoga. Corn’s journey to happiness, as she conveyed, was not an easy one. She had to clamber her way from an unsettled place as a child growing up in unstable home. She explained how her blue-collar working class parents raised her in an environment where religious practices were not present and how, as a little girl, she thought of herself as “uneducated.” She abused drugs and the tender age of 19 was diagnosed with “Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.” She even suffered from an anxiety disorder but these dark episodes of her life eventually led to healing and happiness once she discovered yoga.

Yoga based interventions fall under a very broad topic of complementary and alternative medicine. The United States National Library of Medicine defines CAMs as “the term for medical products and practices that are not part of standard care. Standard care is what medical doctors, doctors of osteopathy, and allied health professionals, such as nurses and physical

Cultural appropriation is a huge topic, within today’s society, many question what is cultural appropriation and what is not. The definition of cultural appropriation is, “....the use of ideas, symbols, artifacts, images, objects, etc., derived from contact between different cultures. It often implies a negative view towards the minority culture by the dominant one and is often culturally insensitive”(Biron). Examples of cultural appropriation would be portraying a culture through stereotypical depictions of them or wearing a culture as a ‘trend’. Another example would be wearing a headdress to portray a Native American or wearing a sombrero and a poncho to depict a Mexican. Just those words sound degrading and racist each of these ethnicities. Many think it is socially acceptable to be insensitive to a culture, because they classify the appropriation as them appreciating the culture. Cultural appropriation shows only the stereotypical view of culture and has no regards to the actual culture. Many look at the cultures as inspiration for ideas, but that does not mean to steal the ideas completely. Cultural appropriation is not only insensitive, but also racist. Blackface, for example, was used to portray an African American by painting the face of an non-black actor black. The NFL team Redskins uses an offensive and racist word to label their team; their mascot is a “Native American” wearing headdress. First and foremost, not all Native American cultures wear headdresses, these depictions of Native culture show natives as all the same. Minorities have faced appropriation for decades, but why did this problem only recently come about?

I. (Open w/impact) According to Ann Pizer, a Yoga Alliance Certified Instructor, in an article last accessed on September 18th 2007, for Yoga.About.Com. “Yoga means “union” in Sanskrit, the language of Ancient India where yoga first originated. We can think of that union occurring between the mind, body, and spirit.”

Yoga is a practical aid, not a religion. Yoga is an ancient art based on a harmonizing system of development for the body, mind, and spirit. The continued practice of yoga will lead you to a sense of peace and well-being, and also a feeling of being at one with their environment. This is a simple definition.

The benefits of Yoga are endless. It effects the human mind and body in a variety of ways. Roughly 15 million Americans practice yoga, annually there is an expected increase of twenty percent in participants in the United States ("Yoga Statistics"). While Yoga is often thought of as a practice that involves circus like poses and seemingly impossible flexibility; it not. Even bedridden patients can gain benefit from imagining themselves going through the poses and practicing breathing techniques that are appropriate to them (Dickenson 24-25). Yoga is not something that you do at the studio and leave behind. It becomes a way of life; leading to healthier habits, improving psychological health, and encouraging spiritual growth. An article on

The Baghavad Gita, Yoga Sutras of Patanjai, and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika are all considered to be revolutionary texts. Their teachings depart from earlier traditions and propose many approaches to enlightenment. Through their definition of yoga or their philosophical goals, each contain some similarities as well as aspects that make each of them unique.