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How do Patanjali's ethics apply to a commodified yoga world?

Introduction

Our current societal model based on capitalism, consumerism, commodification of products, bargains and unethical practices is well embedded in our current way of living. It has developed and evolved over thousands of years from when salt was used as currency to the paper currency we use today, and we are heading into a future where virtual currencies will be used.

A multifaceted and complex dilemma is presented to yoga teachers, studio owners, attendees/students of yoga classes as to what the best way is to share/promote/attend/participate in yoga within our current societal model. On the one hand we are faced with a capitalistic model which drives us to sell products, make money and earn a living to support our lifestyles (in this case the modus operandi is yoga) and on the other hand yoga philosophy has a deep and centuries old moral compass. The most famous philosophical and ethical text is known as Patanjali's Yoga Sutras.

In this blog post we are going to explore some of the tensions that are presented to people embarking on a journey into the yoga world. (The term people here embraces yoga teachers, studio owners and attendees/students of yoga classes.)

Image: Original source unknown

Yoga as a commodity

Let us begin by looking at how yoga has become a commodity within the capitalistic model. There has been an explosion of yoga across the globe. Between 2010 and 2021 yoga grew in popularity by at least 64%. In the last decade yoga has been incorporated and embedded into the health, wellbeing and fitness industries. Let us take a look at some key statistics...

More than 300 million people practice yoga globally and the global yoga market size was valued at USD 115.43 (£91.61) billion in 2023. The market is further projected to grow at a CAGR of 9% between 2024 and 2032, reaching a value of USD 250.70 (£198.97) billion by 2032. Source: www.expertmarketresearch.com/reports/yoga-market. Please note that the statistic taken from the site called Expert Market Research vary to the ones being shared in the above image. We are not sure how things are being measured/calculated in either source to account for the variation. Nevertheless, we get an idea of what is happening.

In the United Kingdom, as of 2023:

The Pilates and yoga industry has a revenue of over £895 million

There are over 18,000 yoga and Pilates employees in the UK.

There are over 4,800 yoga and Pilates businesses in the UK.

Up to 460,000 Brits are taking part in yoga classes each week.

Source: www.finder.com/uk/yoga-statistics

There is no doubt about it, yoga has now become a product to sell. Not just from attending classes/workshops/retreats but from all the by-products one can purchase, from clothing to yoga mats that go with it. The commodification of yoga has had huge ramifications on the tradition itself. In fact, if you put the word yoga on a product it seems you can sell it for twice as much. See the image below taken from the Talk Talk website, demonstrating how ubiquitous yoga has become in selling any product. Not sure how faster broadband and yoga are related?! Granted one of the benefits of yoga is peace of mind but the purpose of “true” yoga is not to sell broadband, to sell itself or any other product!

Yoga image selling broadband. Not sure how the two are related?!

How has yoga been commodified over the last decade?

In this section we are going to briefly explore what the yoga landscape looked like before and after its commodification.

How the masses perceive yoga

Before

Many people did not have an understanding of what yoga was and a lot of people would think that if you practiced yoga, you had joined some sort of cult, wore robes and chanted Om all day long. Some people still think this is the case today.

After

It could be argued that people still do not understand what yoga is today and perhaps have even less of an understanding than before it was commodified. Most people “think” they have an idea of what yoga “might” entail. The essence of yoga has been diluted and is slowly getting lost. Social media has played a significant role in promoting yoga as mainly for the fit, athletic and body beautiful. Lots of people think yoga is about contortions, difficult gymnastic style postures and standing on one’s head. Type in yoga on any search engine and we will see beautiful, perfect people in the most unattainable postures (that is, unattainable for most people).

Practitioners of Yoga

Before

Yoga was practiced by very few people and practitioners of yoga came to it for many different reasons; it was marginalised or an activity that lingered on the fringes of society. It was mainly considered to be a spiritual path to follow. The great majority of students would have sought out yoga as a deeper meaning to their life experience, however, there would have been some people, as today, who would first start yoga for the physical benefits and perhaps with time they would delve into the deeper aspects of it.

After

It is a very mixed bag. You will still find people practicing yoga for a deeper meaning but there has been a surge of people who in the past would not have ventured into a class, who are now finding their way to gyms/studios and are exploring yoga as a way to get fit and get the famous yoga bum. Many of these people may just stay in the realm of the physical yoga world but some may dive deeper.

Yoga Classes/Styles of Yoga

Before

The main styles of yoga used to be Hatha, Ashtanga and Iyengar. Most classes were for 90 minutes and were predominantly held in church halls or community centres. The classes would include not just postural work but would also explore breathing, meditation, energy/chakra work, relaxation, nidra and in some classes the history and philosophy of yoga would also be explored.

After

There is a boom in yoga styles from rocket yoga to dog and beer yoga and everything in between. Yoga starts to mix with other fitness modalities so that aerial, acro, Pilates (yogalates), yoga with weights and hot yoga begin to emerge. Class durations can be anywhere between 10 to 90 mins. Gyms, fitness organisations, health and well-being centres start to have a great variety of yoga classes on their timetable. There is an explosion of yoga on social media platforms and YouTube.

There is also a boom in yoga studios as they start to emerge everywhere. The majority of studios are managed by highly trained and experienced practitioners of yoga, but some studios are also being opened and managed by people who do not even have a yoga teaching qualification. Some studios offer yoga in a fairly traditional and authentic format while others offer yoga to Ibiza tunes and other types of playlists. Some of the less traditional yoga studios begin branching out to include other health and wellbeing experiences such as ice baths, saunas, the Wim Hoff method, Reiki yoga, yoga with massage and so forth.

Teacher Trainings

Before

Teacher trainings were few and far between and were of a very high standard. Most of them requiring a commitment of study of a minimum of three years and the participants on the training had a minimum requirement to have been practicing yoga for at least three years. Teacher trainings were only offered by a select and very well-respected yoga schools/ashrams.

Teacher trainings involved rigorous assessment and course work. If standards were not met many people would not receive their yoga qualification.

After

A plethora of teacher trainings begin to appear on the market from courses that can be completed in a couple of weeks, a month or a period of a year, and there are online courses, in-person courses or hybrids. The syllabuses of these trainings are based on the number or contact hours, for example 200, 500 hours etc.

Organisations such as Yoga Alliance and Independent Yoga Network begin to appear on the market from about 1999. Their role is to uphold some sort of standard but as the whole industry is following the consumer narrative, a lot of teacher trainings are passed by these organisations so that everyone can make some money from selling yoga. Organisations that used to accredit trainings for the fitness industry only, such as REPs and Active IQ also jump on the yoga gravy train, and they too begin to accredit yoga teacher trainings.

Yoga Teachers

Before

The majority of yoga teachers were highly trained and experienced. There were very few yoga teachers in any given local area and most of the teachers in an area had heard of each other and perhaps even knew each other. Teachers were respectful of where they set up their classes, having discussions with other teachers in the area and checking in if it was ok to teach in a similar area or space.

Yoga teachers would not undercut each other, and most classes were priced very similar to each other. Yoga teachers could earn a reasonable income that supported their lifestyles.

A lot of teachers believed that yoga was a radical path in creating a different world. One in harmony with the ebbs and flows of the natural world. Respecting all beings and protecting all of our collective resources. Many try to follow Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras to the best of their ability.

After

The quality and experience of teachers is a mixed bag. Many have completed a one-month intensive teacher training that is accredited, for example, as a 200 Yoga Alliance teacher training. As the teacher trainings are short and intense many teachers may and can lack the depth of understanding of the energetics that lie behind a practice. Furthermore, the long, rich and diverse history and philosophy of yoga cannot be covered on these short intensive trainings. Only a few keystone yoga texts (if that) can be explored on these trainings. As such a very biased view is being shared, including a lot of misinformation.

There is a boom of yoga teachers on the scene and as such teachers start to undercut each other and are not as sensitive to each other in relation to how they advertise their classes or the spaces or areas they use to teach in.

On the whole yoga teachers are not paid well, and it is very difficult to make a modest living. Studios in particular do not pay their teachers well. The remuneration of a teacher working in a studio is dependent upon the number of people attending. The more people attending the better the remuneration. There is a lot of burn out in the industry.

Class prices

Before

Teachers valued their own and other teachers’ time and commitment to getting trained and experienced in yoga. Teachers would spend many years and thousands of pounds obtaining their yoga qualification(s). As such no one undercut each other, and everyone offered yoga at a similar and fair price.

Teachers would use a variety and similar payment options to other teachers in an area. The intention behind these payment options is quite different to what we see today. Many teachers believe in a world where the societal model is not driven by greed, profit and consumerism but is based on fairness, openness, and harmony. As such when teachers offered payment options such as: a donation box where students could pay what they could afford; offering classes for free; an energy exchange of services; a reasonable fee for the class, it was not done with the intent to ruthlessly grow a business or undercut any other yoga teacher sharing yoga in the area.

Cartoon (and the one above) from: 'Rethinking consumerism for the sake of young people’s mental health (and the planet)' on issuesonline.co.uk

After

It is now a highly competitive market and as such to fill studios/classes teachers and studio owners have bought into the capitalistic and consumer narrative. To draw people in a lot of places offer free, discounted classes or even give their regular members money each time they refer a friend. Many studios/teachers may also offer unlimited yoga at a very cheap price. Furthermore, we start to see studios/teachers offering sales on Black Friday and Cyber Monday and so on! It is clearly not a one-way street as the consumers i.e. students/participants of yoga classes are supporting this model by purchasing the slashed/discounted yoga classes. Thereby the capitalistic, consumer narrative continues to become deeply ingrained through the commodification of our yoga practice.

Image from 'The New Spiritual Consumerism' on The New York Times

Yoga Products

Before

It was really hard to find yoga mats and it was quite impossible to find all the other yoga accessories that one can find on the market today.

After

The word yoga is used to sell everything from laptops to yoga mats and many other yoga products and also products which have nothing to do with yoga.

Cartoon by polyp.org.uk

Festivals/Expos

Before

There were very few yoga festivals and no yoga conventions/expos.

After

A plethora of yoga festivals have emerged. There is an international yoga day now. In the UK there are two big yoga conventions/expos every year, called the Om Yoga Show.

What is the eight-fold path from Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras?

Image: Original source unknown

The Yoga Sutras is generally considered a foundational text of the yoga tradition. Most scholars these days date the Yoga Sutras to somewhere between the 2nd and 5th centuries CE, with Philipp Maas placing it in the early 5th century. Yoga had already been around in some form or another for many centuries by this point. Therefore, Patanjali did not ‘invent’ Yoga. Nevertheless, this is the earliest comprehensive and systematic text on the subject that has survived.

From this text we will be focusing on the second chapter. As it is in this chapter where the eight-fold (ashtanga, where ash means eight and tanga means limbs or auxiliaries) path is discussed. Here we find the famous exposition of five ethical restraints (yamas) and five ethical observances (niyamas) and these are relatively well-known in the modern yoga world. For this blog we are particularly interested in the following four yamas:

Ahimsa (non-harming)

Satya (truth telling)

Asteya (non-stealing)

Aparigraha (non-acquisitiveness)

For a full blog post on the Yoga Sutras click here.

As a yoga community is it possible to have a narrative which is in line with Patanjali’s Yamas?

It is hoped that through this blog we have begun to gently shine the light on how our yoga practice has slowly become commodified over the last decade. The outcome of the commodification of yoga is that it can be packaged in many different ways and offered to consumers as overly and unreasonably priced classes and products to only then be reduced or slashed, offered for free or included in sales such as black Fridays, cyber-Mondays etc. to consumers.

Clearly trying to operate a yoga business within our current societal model is challenging. Particularly if the intention behind why we became a yoga teacher or studio owner is because we believe that yoga is a radical way to change our capitalistic consumer model and we do not wish to be driven by or support the current narrative. The fact is this current societal model is here for the time being and until the narrative changes, we need to operate within it. How do we do this without causing harm to ourselves, to other businesses and the wider community? We need to find a compromise and find some middle ground.

Somehow as yoga teachers, studio owners and attendees of yoga classes we need to find a harmonious middle path that enables us to find some balance by living within the current model and running and supporting yoga businesses in line with the values outlined in Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

If we wish to reconcile this, then it is very simple as a yoga community we should not be harming (practicing ahimsa); stealing (practicing asteya) and being greedy (practicing aparigraha). We should be truthful (satya) to ourselves, to our business, to our students, to studio owners/teachers and to our wider global community by providing services at honest prices, that value each other, our training, our knowledge and expertise.

We should jump off the capitalistic model by not buying into it, by setting prices that are appropriate thereby not undercutting or undervaluing the yoga community. In the long term hopefully shining our businesses as beacons of light which perhaps one day can navigate us away from the consumerism model that has enslaved us into meaningless lifestyles where we perpetuate and reinforce unhealthy relationships with ourselves and the wider global community.

Cartoon by www.speedbump.com

Conclusion

To swim against the capitalistic tide can be rewarding, challenging and at times isolating but looking at the bigger picture and setting examples by running businesses in a different way is very important particularly in our current global, societal/economic model.

Our businesses should be deeply rooted like trees in a healthy eco-system, with Patanjali’s yamas and niyamas as the roots/foundations of our businesses that go far and wide into the rich healthy soil. The invisible mycelium network connecting the woods via the root system expressing itself through the healthy conversation and conversion of the yamas and niyamas by sharing the knowledge with all the trees and inhabitants of that woodland so that the whole woodland/eco-system benefits, thrives and is healthy.

A complex system is a system composed of many components which may interact with each other in nonlinear and unpredictable ways. In time the small and seemingly trivial steps we make as yoga teachers and students may ultimately result in something with much larger consequences, a butterfly effect may be created in which small changes will result in significant nonlinear impacts to the complex system which is the capitalist consumer model.

Yoga used to be a path less followed and more challenging for a reason. To awaken one’s consciousness and internal light takes time, courage, commitment, effort and sacrifice. To run our businesses in a yogic way is part of embodying yoga values and it should be a core part of our yoga practice. To bring around real long-lasting change as a yoga community we need to set the example at the mycelium level for others to be inspired and follow. A healthy yamas/niyamas mycelium network reflects a healthy, vibrant and energetic yogic woodland community and planet Earth.

Art by Vchitras on Etsy

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