“While I am quite convinced that as a yoga practitioner, I am not part of a cult, I am sensitive to how these ideas might be formed.”
Like many, I came to yoga looking for an alternative to high impact, performance oriented forms of exercise. I bought video cassettes (this was a while ago!) and then took the odd class at the gym that I was weaning myself away from. I enjoyed how it was physically challenging as well as really effective at helping me focus. A few years later, when I acknowledged that my stressful job was exacerbating my anxiety levels, I decided it was time to deepen my yoga practice and I joined a studio. Ten years later, yoga has evolved from the physical practice to include an important spiritual component that also informs how I would like to live day-to-day. Occasionally, I encounter folks who ask whether yoga is a cult, or insinuate that it is ‘cultish’. While I am quite convinced that as a yoga practitioner, I am not part of a cult, I am sensitive to how these ideas might be formed.
Where the perception of yoga as a cult may occur is when yoga is instrumentalized and its spiritual tenets are appropriated to attract people to what is an actual cult. The research I found on cults points to three basic characteristics: a living ‘charismatic’ leader, indoctrination, and exploitation. The leader cultivates devoted followers and is able to wield power over them, through indoctrination or the process of programming a person to adopt a set of beliefs without question. The process leads to an erasure of one’s personal identity and free will, making them more susceptible to manipulation. Exploitation can take a few forms, including taking advantage of one’s money and one’s body. Yoga on the other hand, is about nurturing a connection with the higher self or a divine power – which is the only aspect that comes closest to the idea of charismatic leader, I suppose. But that divine power is not draining my bank account or taking advantage of my open nature. While yoga is based in Hindu spirituality and systems of belief, there is no requirement or obligation for practitioners to take up the Hindu faith. Deeper study of yoga that goes beyond the physical practice, can be a source of greater personal inquiry. But these principles are offered up for questioning and discussion. Your studio may become a kind of second home, that connects you to a wider community of yoga practitioners. But it would certainly be a red flag if your yoga studio slowly took over all of your personal time, isolating you from friends and family, or pressure you into pouring money into dubiously expensive activities. A legitimate yoga studio would never do any of these things.
I can see how a critical eye can be cast on the more performative trappings of the hyper commercial aspects of the yoga industry, which can stray from the fundamental values of yoga. I also appreciate how my enthusiasm will tend to inspire me to expound on yoga’s virtues to those around. But none of this should be conflated with what cults do. It is neither coercion nor any gear that brings me back to the mat. I come to the practice of my own volition, to make space in the body for peace and joy. The only inkling of a mental hold is on being present. Instead of sequestering, yoga helps connects me to my true self and those around me. Yoga therefore, is not a cult. It is however, a culture of mindful practice.
Cheryl Sim is the Managing Director and Curator of Foundation Phi and a LYTT graduate.