Poke Me: Is yoga just about body & mind, or is it a nation-building tool?

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Yoga is a body-building tool, not a nation-building one. So test it scientifically, not pop-culturally

By Suman Layak

Years ago, a younger Baba Ramdev could be seen riding a cycle up to the Ramakrishna Mission Hospital in Hardwar, seeking terminally ill patients to try and help them with yoga. Ramdev incorporated ‘scientific knowledge’ such as acupressure and openly acknowledged it, even showcasing ‘research findings’ to prove his claims.

Ramdev wasn’t the first yoga teacher who took to the ‘yoga as science’ track. Bikram Choudhury, the California-based yoga guru, refined ancient ‘hatha yoga’ techniques to create a module of 26 poses to be performed at 40°C and 40% humidity. He branded it as ‘Bikram Yoga’, set up studios across the US and trained Hollywood stars and teachers.

However, an April 2015 study commissioned by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) and undertaken by the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse, raised doubts about Bikram Yoga. The study found that the high temperature could raise body temperatures and lead to heat strokes and dehydration.

The Wisconsin study was not the first one to point out supposed harmful effects of yoga. In 2012, the Pulitzer-winning science journalist William J Broad had written ‘How Yoga Can Wreck Your Body’ in the New York Times, which threw the yoga world in a tizzy. Broad used findings from a 2009 study by the Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Incorporating more than 1,300 responses from yoga teachers in 35 countries, it tried to link specific asanas with specific injury areas. It listed ‘ego’ at the top of a list of 21 factors that can lead to yoga injuries which included ‘excess effort’, ‘poor technique’, ‘inadequate and improper instruction’, ‘speedy execution of poses’, ‘pressure from teachers or peers’ and ‘bodily weaknesses’. Another factor was ‘large class size’.

American yoga teachers came out in droves to criticise Broad for his tone and pointed out that the percentage of injuries among yoga practitioners is very low. At the same time, they did not have much to disagree with the Columbia University study’s basic findings: yoga taught in large classes by ill-trained teachers, coupled with peer pressure and exhibitionism, can cause serious harm.

Here in India, the yoga debate is taking place in a different universe. Is it ‘un-Islamic’? Should those objecting to the surya namaskar go and jump into the sea? In effect, we are actively courting the very dangers of yoga outlined by the Columbia University study: ego, exhibitionism, peer pressure and large-sized classes with inadequate teachers.

According to Indian government officials, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be practising yogic positions in front of about 45,000 people in Delhi on the UN-declared International Day of Yoga on Sunday. Instead of this grand show, a more prudent approach would have been to set up a national yoga teacher-training school to ensure quality control of instructors.

India must quickly move the debate on yoga to the disciplined arena of science and away from atavistic pop culture. Yoga stands a better chance as a body-building tool rather than a nation-building one.

There are loonies all over the world, and not just Yogi Adityanath. Last month, Fabian Bruskewitz, a retired Catholic bishop in the US, urged women to give up yoga as it was “incompatible to Christianity’. If yoga has to choose its enemies, it must choose the ones that work in research institutions and not in places of worship.