PS: it may also include a social justice emphasis that examines (amongst other things) the caste system, civil rights, gender and sexual orientation equality, cultural appropriation, orientalism, and offering yoga to less privileged communities in the west.

3) this may include an emphasis on "alignment" based in a well-educated understanding of our bodies, the problems with certain poses for certain joints, a kind of modern physical therapy perspective on stability vs flexibility and how to rehab injuries using a variety of techniques.

it may include an emphasis on psychological integration and exploring how body awareness, mindful attention and the cultivation of compassion can be used to more fully embrace our humanity rather than trying to transcend or deny it in true ascetic style..... as well as how neuroscience and somatic psychology can inform the uses of yoga/meditation for trauma healing and a model of transformation not rooted in outdated metaphysics.

it may include an inquiry in philosophy that examines the distinct differences between patanjali, tantra, advaita etc and between those metaphysical stances and the split between idealism and materialism viz "western" philosophy, as well as what advances in physics, neuroscience and psychology might tell us about how a modern philosophical remix might not only serve our needs as yogis, but might be congruent with current knowledge of the human being and indeed the cosmos itself.

just sharin' :)

2) the dichotomy between packed "modern western" group yoga classes and their pumping music, lack of technical precision etc and the supposed true traditional practice that emphasizes "alignment," patanjali and inner peace is largely a romantic construction too that evaporates when we try to substantiate it....

the solution to the problem at hand seems to me not to lie in an attempt to find a historically legitimate and pure form of yoga that somehow is rooted in ancient authority, but rather to keep participating in this massive cross cultural evolving experiment, own our place in it and ask how we would like to participate in shaping how yoga meets our needs.

1) great article, fun meme/graphic!

i wanna also point out that "alignment" is largely a construct of the modern iteration of yoga, and may indeed be part of the wisdom of the californians..... check out the photos of krishnamacharya in desikachar's heart of yoga and you will see asana that any yoga works TT grad would be "correcting" all day long!

sure, iyengar may have come up with some very precise cues on doing asana correctly, but this may well (according to folks like sovatsky and singleton) been, like the language in "light on yoga," part of a project to get the colonialists to respect yoga as more scientific and precise rather than the associations they would have had with a more rootsy contortionist/fakir/sadhu aesthetic on the one end and even free form tantric rapture on the other...

classic and awesome! love you more..

beautful joe! thanks..

please link us to where ms cleclaire!

very kind, laura —thanks!

the fact that you would presume to speak of my innermost psychological issues, claim knowledge of my relationship with ana forrest and try to "out" me in such a personal way, using both my name and hers slanderously, whilst hiding behind a fake name to preserve you anonymity should tell anyone reading their comments all they need to know about you and your intentions.

i have never written a word about ana forrest being abusive in my experience, though i had my own concerns about some of what went on in her community 20 years ago. regardless, the argument in the above piece and the examples used stand on their own without either rationalizations, appeals to love and special experience or ham fisted amateur attempts to inappropriately psychoanalyze publicly me using an incorrect take on privileged and private information.

they also stand in spite of what is a tangential, condescending, presumptuous ad hominem attack.

the fact that organizations like amma's rake in billions of dollars and create a figurehead treated as superhuman to do so. the fact that her close personal aid has written a book exposing the organization and the abusive behavior of the "god woman," the fact that people like you equate pointing this out with "not being spiritually open minded and vulnerable" is the reason an article like this needs in my opinion to be written!

it is precisely because wounded spiritual seekers are vulnerable to being abused, mistreated and robbed blind of their money that the oldest con in the world should be exposed for what it is.

it is precisely because the vulnerable inner work of real growth and healing is so valuable and sacred that these kinds of circus side shows that prey on people's gullibility and are perpetuated by this ludicrous notion that to be spiritual is to disengage critical thinking and believe whatever you are told that i spend the time writing an article like this and responding to your inane comments.

thanks jeremy! you know i think i spent some time trying to make the distinction between useful, appropriate relativism and the popular form of extreme relativism. the important difference is one of the level at which the relativism is being applied/claimed.

for example: the laws of physics, mathematics and standards of evidence for empirical statements are not relative that is what is so beautiful and powerful about them...

opinions about certain values, aesthetics, or ways of being may be more relative, but still are constrained by the non-relative facts about reality, as well as some powerful reasoning principles that can help us come to better judgements.

the recognition that we are all having subjective perceptions is an important one, but just stopping at that is to me a bit useless. trying to get our subjective perceptions, opinions and beliefs as close to being in line with objective truth is a really good idea. though this will be far from perfect and there will still be PLENTY of room for subjective interpretation, the difference between two perspectives that are both coherent, rational and not delusional is of a different order than the difference between one perspective that is delusional, dissociated or fantasticaland one that is not.

the biggest ways i see extreme relativism this being applied is when thinking about ethics and trauma - two areas where being clear about how human beings are impacted makes a huge difference in people's lives. another is on issus of science vs faith: there is no way of knowing, its all relative, science is merely one perspective, who are we to say what is really true or real etc... this is a kind of intellectual laziness born of an unwillngness to think more carefully and take claims about reality more seriously. it is part of the anti intellectual, anti scientific bent in spirituality which is easy to interpret as a defense against having to let go of child like fantasy-based beliefs.