Fake, Evil, Spiritual, Commodified; What’s the Truth About Popular Yoga?
What inspired you to write Selling Yoga? Near the beginning of my graduate school career, I…
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6 Overlooked Takeaways From a Reviewer of Controversial Texas Textbooks
In September 2014, I found myself standing before a mostly hostile Texas State Board of…
Read MoreSpeaking for Hinduism in the Absence of a Conversation
A Response to Michael Jerryson
Read MorePolicing Academic Freedom: A Book, a Controversy, and the Ominous Aftermath
The controversy over Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus has bolstered politically engaged religious groups in the United States and India to censor alternative voices.
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Global LGBT Recap: “Lavender Fascism,” Rage in India, Pope Francis Ousts Culture Warrior
From Australia to Ethiopia, more evidence that anti-gay activists from the U.S. are having a troubling influence abroad.
Read MoreInterfaith Group to Political Candidates: Ditch Divisive Religious Appeals
Respect the Constitution and the voters.
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Is Yoga Hindu?
Recent studies of yoga reveal the formative influence of (wait for it) Buddhism, Jainism, Sufism, television, military calisthenics, Swedish gymnastics and the YMCA, as well as of radical Hindu nationalism, upon today’s postural yoga practice. There is no doubt that the Vedas, Upanishads, and folk traditions of India have been formative toward yoga: yoga is almost inseparable from them. Nevertheless to assert that yoga is essentially and primarily a Hindu practice means to ignore millennia of generative influence from other quarters. Worse still, it means to step blindly into a political fight for the heart of India that has simmered for over two hundred years.
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Is Downward Dog the Path to Hell?
Evangelicals and fundamentalist Hindus come together in their denunciation of yoga.
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