yoga

To my chagrin and dismay, self-appointed defenders of oppressed cultures who cast contemporary western yoga as the second coming of the East India Company have attached themselves to the fabric of yoga discourse with the stubborn persistence of a burr on a sock. Consequently, perfectly serviceable yoga programs are now at risk of being run [...]

Just as Yoga in the West seemed ready to set flight with that many more passengers aboard, something stalled the latest take-off. The Western Yoga world vomited all over itself. We'd been holding back our own bile for so long, and then a single Yoga teacher in Ottawa finally triggered the gag-reflex -- [...]

Having religious symbols and playing music specific to various religions at yoga centers has been banned according to a directive released by the Sports for Everyone Federation of Turkey (HİS), with officials arguing they aimed to take measures against missionary activities with the directive. Consequently, having Buddha sculptures and mantra symbols as well as the [...]

Among the many attacks on Hindus and Hinduism  comes a whole movement to dissect away many Hindu practices like Yoga and now Tantra  as ‘non’ Hindu . Dr Koenraad Elst debates with Dr Christopher Wallis on this dissection in the following interactions ‘ HHR editor > In the Indian media, I once saw a beginning [...]

On a spring day a long time ago, a hunter killed one of a pair of birds while in their courtship dance. Such cruelty said the sage Valmiki can only mean one thing. We are now bereft of values and social and ecological disaster looms for future generations. “Is there no one that is upright [...]

It’s becoming popular to say that Hinduism is not a religion but simply “a way of life”, or not a spiritual tradition but a cultural phenomenon…like the current yoga trend in America. This helps Hinduism keep a sort of cult status which is incorrect. Hinduism is hardly a cult. Many Hindus do not know enough about their own Hindu [...]

Officials in the city of Nizhnevatrovsk reportedly fear that Hatha yoga is a practice with “an occult character.” Officials in the central Russian city of Nizhnevartovsk have moved to prevent municipal buildings from hosting yoga classes in a stated bid to stifle the spread of religious cults, the Kommersant business daily reported. Representatives of at least two of the city’s Hatha yoga studios — the Aura and Ingara — have [...]

Tulsi was a Special Guest at the celebration of International Yoga Day at the UN Headquarters in New York on Jun 21, where she spoke, along with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, India’s Minister of External Affairs Sushma Swaraj, and India’s UN Ambassador Asoke Mukerji. Her UN remarks were broadcast live in Times Square! She [...]

The asanas called Upayoga were performed as a trial-run aboard the Delhi-Guwahati and Guwahati-Delhi flights of SpiceJet with over 180 passengers and crew, ahead of International Yoga Day With the stage set for International Yoga Day this Sunday, yoga asanas were performed mid-air at 35,000 feet above the sea-level, arguably the first time ever! The [...]

A church body in Mizoram has gone a step further and urged people not to take part in Yoga Day. Two days before the Centre’s plans to celebrate International Yoga Day kicks off, church bodies in both Nagaland and Mizoram have expressed their opposition, saying the events to mark the day would hurt religious sentiments [...]