Originating in India, yoga is practiced globally, and is now spreading across Kenya. And it’s not only about the practice – here, yoga is transforming lives, contributing positively to communities and creating jobs. It started as an experiment, mainly in the city slums, to see if it could bring about positive changes and help people to cope with their lives.Even in the city, the instructors with the Africa Yoga Project are not limited to yoga studios. Many of the free classes take place in Kibera, Nairobi’s biggest slum, where most people live under the poverty line.
Rufus Ngugi is one of the deaf instructors working with the project. He teaches yoga to a group of orphans in a Kibera center called Fruitful.
“Whatever I do, I start by demonstrating,” he explains. “I show them how to breathe, I show them the different postures, and in this case I don’t even involve a hearing person.”
Ngugi has been with the Africa Yoga Project for a year now. He thinks the children feel connected to him because of his disability. “These are children who don’t have parents, children who have been neglected by their parents,” he says.
“This really motivated me, touched me because I could relate what they feel because I had the same experience. So that is why really inspired me to teach them.”
And this is why people need a liberal arts education more than ever. Appropriation = borrowing and repurposing. Cultures borrow from one another all the time (words, practices, foods, sports, even religions), so much so that it is almost impossible to follow every thread back to its origin. And this is a good thing. Learn a little history, religion, literature, philosophy, and anthropology, kids. (Apologies to England for appropriating an Oxford comma for my own American use.)
I decline to participate in the chanting in a yoga class unless the instructor has specifically told the class what we are actually chanting. Unless I know the meaning of the words I am not comfortable chanting them.
Members of the University of Ottawa’s Student Federation decided to cancel the class. The instructor, who has been offering free weekly yoga classes to students for the last seven years, offered to change the name but the students declined her offer. However, there are a half dozen other colleges nearby so maybe the publicity will create an opportunity for her to share her knowledge elsewhere.
For my company’s Bollywood-themed corporate party this weekend, I initially wasn’t going to bother getting an Indian outfit. But in light of all the stupidity on college campuses nowadays, I’m determined to “culturally appropriate” and dress the part. There are prizes to be given out for best outfits-- the blingier the better.
I’ve gotta watch some Bollywood flicks and rehearse some smooth moves.
I belong to a chain yoga studio (CorePower) that is devoid of any spirituality, unabashedly leverages the Indian words for authenticity, and I love it. As long as my abs look better, I’ll culturally reappropriate all the live long day. Namaste!
Perhaps I should no longer listen to any Beatles music post-Rubber Soul, given that George Harrison culturally reappropriated sitar music.
Diversity considerations in college admissions should be eliminated out of sensitivity to minorities because they have made it obvious that they do not want anyone to appreciate and then learn from their cultural practices. They are angered by questions about their ethnicity, they are furious at incorrect assumptions about them by fellow students and therefore unwilling to patiently correct stereotypes, and are deeply offended by cultural appropriation of any kind. Further, their demands for safe spaces run counter to university ideals of inclusion and community.
It might be most helpful if we all had identity badges so we can indicate what foods, cultural activities, music, art, dance, etc. we are approved for. I don’t “look Jewish,” for example, so I’d appreciate an identity badge certifying that my father was indeed Jewish and that way it would really help when I go buy bagels and lox. I would hate to have to be relegated to the Wonder Bread and mayonnaise line. I dance like a white girl, so I guess maybe that one will be self-evident.
In my most recent yoga class, there was only one woman of (apparent) Indian descent, and the rest of us were white women, presumably upper class because of the neighborhood. We probably shouldn’t have been there. And certainly the black woman didn’t belong there (/sarcasm)
My brother-in-law is bringing his famous Cuban-style stuffing with chorizo to the Thanksgiving table. He’s half Cuban, so that’s OK - and his children are 1/4 Cuban so I guess they can eat it too - but the rest of us are out of luck! No habla espanol!
Crud … there’s going to be quite the conundrum this December 25 when all the Jews go out for Chinese! Is that a Jewish cultural tradition to be thought of fondly, or reappropriation from the Chinese? How does one “take over” another tradition?
And yes, this IS all funny, because this whole cultural reappropriation has gone completely over the top. No culture owns, has a monopoly or has a trademark on ANYTHING.
The “skinny,white women” stereotype does not reflect the people who practice at my studio. I practice with women and men of all ages, races, ethnicities, body types, etc. All are welcome.
Thank goodness my yoga class is mixed. All body types and a few men, various races. Just become a regular and you will become part of the group. One of my teachers is from India, but she never learned yoga while living there.
We get the most newcomers in January; these people are often the first to drop out.
All of us are only using the Internet bc we appropriated it from Al Gore:)
This is all very silly. Are we a multicultural society or are we not? I suppose this is what happens when the melting pot is changed to a crudite plate (tossed salad touches)! All the separate cultures stay separate, no interaction until dipped in one pot of ranch dressing (govt). Just what the founding folks had in mind…
Sorry, FallGirl! Not allowed! How DARE you! (storming off in a huff)
My yoga classes are open and completely welcoming to all shapes and sizes as well; it just so happens that when you put an expensive studio in an upscale area, you’ll get mostly slender, upscale white women with disposable income and the time to take yoga at 10 am. One of my favorite teachers there is male, gay and black; does that count? I suppose technically he doesn’t “belong” there any more than lily-white-me does, but he’s more oppressed than I am in general, so he gets points back to use towards yoga?