Every so often, my Instagram floods with pictures and advertisements for goat yoga classes. I usually scroll through the pictures and chuckle at the thought of a goat jumping on my back and accidentally doing its business right on top of me. That thought has deterred me from ever participating in goat yoga. However, the real issue with goat yoga is that it manipulates the principles of yoga to appeal to Western consumerism. 

In the last few centuries, the Western world, particularly the United States, has reduced this ancient practice to a trendy type of exercise which has led to cultural appropriation and cultural erasure. The Sanskrit word yoga can be defined as “union.” It is not solely about the physical, but more so about the practice of balancing the physical and mental throughout life. It is a religious practice that has been part of Indian culture for centuries.

The erasure of Indian culture by white people is nothing new, though. When the British colonized India in the 19th century, they placed a ban on yoga as colonizers sexualized the practice. They believed it was vulgar and it went against their Christian beliefs. Even with Britain’s effort at erasure, Indian freedom fighters and leaders were eventually able to reinstate yoga as a legal practice.

In 1893, yoga master Swami Vivekananda made a speech to the Parliament of Religions in Chicago that marked the start of the spread of yoga to the West. Americans began to practice yoga and gain relief from the Western culture of fast-paced living.

As yoga has spread into the Western world, our capitalistic society has continued to culturally appropriate the practice to gain money and power and has detached the practice from its original religious and cultural ties. Cultural appropriation is the inappropriate adoption of the customs, practices and ideas of a group by members of a more dominant people or society.  

Goat yoga — which involves doing yoga poses in a barn while goats jump around and on people — is a prime example of cultural appropriation. When white people participate in goat yoga or other yoga fads, they are ignoring the cultural significance, ideologies and history of the practice. Using the practice in this way is a form of cultural appropriation and erasure as it plays into the system of power, privilege and oppression from which white people benefit. Yoga is not just about fun poses and an Instagram-worthy moment; it is a cultural practice and a way of living.

Another example of cultural appropriation I’ve noticed is the use of yoga as a trend in clothing. I am sure most of us have walked by a store and seen a T-shirt with a phrase like “Namast’ay in bed” on it. This might seem cute and harmless, but profiting from the use of a word that is used in a religious and cultural context is cultural appropriation. This is especially true when considering that yoga in the Western world has become reserved for thin, able-bodied, white, upper-class women.

We need to learn how to appreciate yoga and not appropriate yoga. As a college student, it is hard for me to get to a yoga studio because of my lack of time and money. I have found Indian and South Asian creators and instructors on YouTube that I am able to learn from and support. Supporting instructors that can teach you about the history of yoga and help keep you accountable in not aiding cultural appropriation is a great way to contribute to the cause. 

Learning the Sanskrit names is a good start to honoring the practice and its historical roots. I had the privilege of taking yoga as a health and exercise course at NC State last semester, and my yoga instructor insisted on using Sanskrit to name poses. It helped me to identify that yoga was not developed in an English-speaking country and has deep cultural meaning that is important to remember. 

The cultural appropriation of yoga needs to stop. We need to keep our studios, online influencers, yoga instructors, clothing brands and ourselves accountable for creating change. Many small efforts can lead to big changes that can help reverse the cultural erasure of yoga and inhibit the Western world from appropriating the practice as its own.