Although yoga is a mental, spiritual and physical Hindu discipline that originated from India, many Americans of every religion have embraced yoga in almost every gym across America. Despite the rising love for yoga, ask most Americans about the religious history behind this discipline and you’ll probably hear crickets.
College Humor, fresh off their “Diet Racism” video which hilariously took on racial microaggressions, now takes on yoga’s popularity among Americans by creating a fictional scenario where Mahatma Gandhi steps out of a time machine and takes a yoga class with mostly all-white students. The results are hilarious and troubling.
Right off the bat, the white instructor is condescending and claims a false sense of authority. Gandhi’s fellow classmates aim to use yoga to “prepare for beach season” and throw the word “spiritual” around until it’s rendered meaningless. Eventually, Gandhi loses it. While we do not want to fully spoil the video for you, let’s say f-bombs are flung.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBMc9s8oDWE
Yes, there is a difference between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation. However, as yoga has entered the mainstream, there is no doubt that it is being changed and watered down from it’s original roots. A key moment of the video is when Gandhi says “Bitch, you do know this is my actual religion, right?” when a classmate describes a yogalates class as “so spiritual.” Right now, there are an increasing amount of vocal critics against the cultural appropriation of yoga and even a “Take Back Yoga” movement started by the Hindu American foundation.
While the time-traveling, sassy and foul-mouthed Gandhi of this video is of course fictional, the real Mahatma Gandhi did practice yoga. In his own words, “the yogi is not one who sits down to practice breathing exercises. He is one who looks upon all with an equal eye, sees other creatures in himself.”
