Yoga as the Decolonial Attitude of the Human Body
“We’ve lost yoga to the west, it’s fine. Yoga used to be this boring, passive activity that people did in their pajamas. And then the Americans got involved. And it became a blood sport.” (Zarna Garg)
It’s so true. Part of my yoga practice is addressing my tendency to turn it into a radical challenge, or a heated competition against myself.
Like she said, though, it’s fine. Indians know it’s not in anyone’s interest to gate-keep yoga to the point no one abroad can practice it. They know yoga is an asset to humanity.
It’s not the only asset. And it’s not always an asset. But it does have immense potential to nurture bodies and minds.
It fascinates me how yoga can reach even the most unspiritual people. I am yet to meet someone who thinks yoga and meditation is a scam. Or that treating the mind and body this way is wrong. It has been banned, though, in several places (like in Alabama), but I suspect this is a sign of its efficacy, and not of the opposite.
For those who don’t know, it probably won’t come as a surprise to find out that British colonial rule in India instated a yoga ban. Upon first encounter with yogins, Europeans were quite repulsed by what they did not understand – how yogins were seen by locals as enlightened, while to them, it seemed like this condition was a result of some type of illusion. To not compare them to the European occultists of the time was, however, a sign of respect. (Page 36 of “Yoga Body” by Singleton, 2010.)
For the Brits, whose form of exercise was laboring, digging holes, “playing with weapons” and so on, India must have been quite a sight. Some naked guy with long hair, covered in ash, meditating with raised arms under a tree. Another on a handstand for hours on end, and some carrying chains. All being praised by their peers. Shocking was how painful it must have been to be fixed in those unnatural positions. It was madness, surely.
Fakir-yogi. Source.
“[The fakir-yogi] assume positions altogether contrary to the natural attitude of the human body” (38).
In accordance with European supremacist tradition, it was assumed yogins were anything but “rational beings” (37). No distinction was made between the different “mendicant orders” (37), for, in the British man’s eyes, all were vegetative, vagrant, lazy, or even vain. As such, to the Christians, yoga postures became symbols of how nonsensical Indian spirituality was.
As the western perspective is insidiously injected into Indian society, yogins were marginalized and often forced to make a spectacle out of themselves for their livelihoods, which cemented the stigma further. But not all were subjugated by this Protestant trickery. “Highly organized bands of militarized yogins” became a spectacular threat to the Colonial order, causing significant financial damage to the East India Company.
“The European dislike for yogins was not merely due to offended moral sensibilities: yogins were also difficult people to bring to order.” (39)
And that’s when the law was used to fast track the Westernizing cultural shift the British needed to continue to profit in the region. Yoga was banned. As well as walking naked and carrying a weapon, which, according to the author of Yoga Body, was the aesthetic of these yogi soldiers. (40)
Despite the marginalization and bans, for the 2 and a half millennia humans have been doing yoga (at least), the practice continues to spread and thrive, understandably. There is an ancient science to it, one which Western science is still trying to make sense of, or systematize.
When a connection between yoga and medicine started to be made in the medical field, possibly in 1850 by the publication A Treatise on the Yoga Philosophy, unhinged resistance to it erupted, with book-burnings and all (52). Somehow, it was seen as offensive to suggest that yoga philosophy actually corresponded to the reality of human anatomy.
Nevertheless, colonization gave rise to a study of yoga from a miscegenated perspective, literally and figuratively, and as early as upon first encounter. Anglo-indians and ‘Indianized’ Brits served as a bridge between India and the West, and influence has streamed both ways.
Not many colonized peoples can say that about their experience with their main colonizer. The influence Brazil has had on Portugal, for instance, is incalculably small in comparison to theirs on us. Even though I know the Indian establishment probably adopted some of the worst characteristics of the European modus operandi, namely ethnic and religious intolerance, I can’t help but watch in awe the endurance of Indian civilization.
Despite having my own, particular, spiritual practice, I take steps to express my respect to the Indian upholders of the yoga legacy. Because, without them, I wouldn’t be here reaping the tremendous benefit from their knowledge. It’s a little bit like citing your sources, instead of plagiarizing.
The symbiosis between body and mind is highlighted by yoga in a way that reveals a lot about who we are, and also about what we are going through at the moment – it’s philosophical because it’s physical, and vice versa.
Here are some everyday insights thank yoga has given me in the last few weeks:
Acceptance.
Of yourself, others and the world. Even though people and situations may piss us off, we still need to accept what’s happening in order to deal with it effectively.
Power.
It’s about discipline and strength. Let’s not take power from someone or something, let’s build it for ourselves.
Patience.
Just be patient. Some things take time, and get better with time. Others just need to get done, and impatience won’t help get them done.
Fight hyper-stimulation.
Boredom is not your problem. In this digital era, we are constantly bombarded with content. The real threat to our satisfaction is not boredom. The need to be constantly entertained by random content is the threat.
You can be honest without being cruel.
It is what it is.
How is “it is what it is” different from acceptance? Acceptance is an embrace of situations, of people, of where you are and with whom. “It is what it is” is an embrace of Truth, in a broad sense. Accept the fact that the Truth will and shall be revealed.
Love is more important than independence.
Being financially independent is a great goal. But not at the expense of forming bonds of love, where it’s ok to rely on each other.
Don’t strive for perfection.
Strive for improvement.
It’s ok to make mistakes.
So, it’s also ok to make mistakes in public.
Don’t take it personally.
Even if it is personal. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and nothing is forever.
Mirna Wabi-Sabi
Mirna is a Brazilian writer, site editor at Gods and Radicals and founder of Plataforma9. She is the author of the book Anarcho-transcreation and producer of several other titles under the P9 press. She practices ashtanga mysore.