Pop stars spoiling yoga, says Hindu – Ruth Lumley and Loretta Flockhart.

Reprint of a newspaper article from The Argus, Monday Oct 16 2006, by Ruth Lumley and Loretta Flockhart.

A Hindu religious teacher has criticised pop stars and keep-fit enthusiasts for “hijacking” the ancient art of yoga. Indar Nath, known as Swami Indrananda Ji, said most people joining a host of new clubs springing up across Sussex were following yoga incorrectly.

The 83 year old Swami, who runs the Patanjali Centre for Classical Yoga in Battle, said the practice was becoming increasingly removed from its spiritual roots. He said new teachers were developing their own forms that were not in keeping with the ancient Hindu scriptures.

He said: “This explosion has come from the desire to earn money. Many people have twisted the meaning of yoga to suit themselves.”

In a bid to reassert the yoga tradition, Swami Indrananda Ji invited a group of supermarket checkout staff from Bolton to join him for a week of early morning chanting, postures, breathing exercises and a strict yogic diet. The experience was recorded for television.

The teacher reads from the Indian scriptures and follows the yogic path laid out by the father of yoga, Patanjali, in about 200 BC.
He said: “Yoga is the pure and only way to achieve a healthy body and mind. The science of yoga is laid out in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and the Hatha Yoga Pradipika. These books teach you the practical way of yoga.” The yogic way of life extends beyond flexibility and into food. The Swami said diet was important and at the root of our thinking.
He said: “A pure mind will only come through a pure diet and pure thoughts.” Sarah Beese, 40, from Findon, teaches yoga in Hove and Steyning. She agreed celebrities had made it more popular but did not think there was any negative effect.
She said: “I can see what he is saying but it has brought yoga into the household and encouraged other people to take it up. The majority of people I teach don’t come because Madonna does it but because they have heard of the benefits. I think a lot of it also depends on whether the teacher believes what they are teaching, be it for exercise or the more spiritual relaxing side. Every single person comes for their own reason.”