Popularity of Global Yoga

In the United States, the popularity of global yoga has become interwoven with two trends. First, the renewed emphasis on physical fitness has called attention to yoga and health benefits. The vast majority of practitioners separates the practice of yoga from their spiritual beliefs and practice the positions and poses purely for their benefit as exercise.

Approximately 30 million Americans practice some form of Hatha Yoga, but only a small portion of those, many the aging ex-hippies of the 1960s counterculture, actually adhere to the traditional, spiritual yoga practice in a guru-shishya (teacher-student) relationship.

In addition to yoga having been embraced as a popular means of exercise, it has also become interwoven with the New Age movement of the late 20th century. This phenomenon encompasses a broad and highly individual process of spiritual exploration. Extremely eclectic in nature, New Age followers literally borrow from a variety of traditions at will to arrive at a spiritual combination that works for them as individuals. Many incorporate elements of yoga in their personal practice.

Is Yoga Here To Stay?

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Today yoga is routinely practiced in gyms, health clubs, and specific yoga studios. There are practitioners who go into nursing homes to provide the elderly with gentle exercises that promote flexibility and physical therapists who incorporate yoga movements into their work with patients. It is one of the most popular forms of low impact exercise in the United States and as our population struggles to get ahead of weight gain and the ill effects of an overly sedentary lifestyle, yoga will likely become even more popular.

Given the high stress level of modern life and the relaxing benefits yoga delivers, the practice shows every indication of becoming even more prevalent. Although most modern Western practitioners have no sense of the history of yoga or even a clue about the origins of yoga as a spiritual discipline, they are aware of its health and exercise advantages.

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