Anonymous wrote:Indian here, and I have done yoga for decades as have my parents and grandparents. The whole yoga craze and commodification in the West is just a bit...much. For one, this was a *free* thing that people did for centuries (maybe millenia). In fact, most of the Hindu temples in the DMV *still* run completely free yoga classes (and you don't have to "belong" to the temple - anyone is welcome and I see non Indians there all the time). Will the people there be doing yoga in 105 degree temperature in Lululemon? No of course not. What's more there are plenty of excellent free videos online. It seems a waste to pay for a yoga class, let alone for a private instructor.
Sorry I don't mean to be rude but I can only say such things in an anonymous forum. I keep mum when my non Indian friends go to hot yoga with goats in candlelight or whatever. It's their money.
Well yes, this is America and there is a long tradition of importing elements of other cultures and adapting them into our melting pot hyper-capitalist society. Halloween is simply an adaptation of a Gaelic pagan festival called Samhain.