Yoga has been practiced for thousands of years, but only within the past century has it been introduced and begun to take root in Western society. The myriad aspects of yoga have made it both attractive and challenging for the Western culture to grapple with. The physical practice (asana) of yoga has become most popular for its benefits on both mind and body.
Research an aspect of yoga and its role in Western society. Begin with something that intrigues you or sheds light on an aspect of yoga you may or may not be familiar with and then research its cultural implication in Western society.
‘Why we practice: A short history of yoga in the west’
Some starting points:
- Yoga in education
- Yoga as therapy
- The industry of yoga
- Cultural appropriation of yoga
- Medical research and yoga/meditation
This is by no means an exhaustive list, but may help generate ideas and provide direction for your research.
YOGA IN SOCIETY Discussion Project:
Points for Completed Discussion Project = 10 points
- Research article(s) online that discuss Yoga in Western Society
- Log in to Canvas -Discussion on Canvas- copy and paste the weblink for the article of your choice a new reply to the Yoga in Society description.
- Provide a 2-3 sentence description of the article describing its main points pertaining to the research topic.
- Answer the question: What are the cultural implications of Yoga in Western society? What do you see as being some of the short/long term consequences of yoga’s introduction into Western society on this particular topic.
Extension:
- Comment on at least one other research thread posted by a classmate. Continue a discussion of the topic with additional information/insight based on your own research or experience.
https://www.goodtherapy.org/learn-about-therapy/types/yoga-therapy (Links to an external site.)
I chose this article because I was interested in learning about yoga as a form of therapy. Because of this class, I have learned how yoga has a powerful effect on both body and mind, however, I was curious how it can be used to treat and help in a medical sense. As I plan to work in the medical field, this is something I really wanted to learn more about. This article dived deep beyond just the fact that yoga is relaxing and calming. It made many valid medical points such as that stress has been linked to a wide variety of medical problems. Yoga therapy has been established as a treatment for depression and anxiety. It was also researched that yoga therapy also shows promise for the treatment of posttraumatic stress (PTSD) and schizophrenia. Additionally, yoga therapists have begun to develop treatment modalities to suit children with autism. Something that I already know is that persistently high levels of stress hormones such as cortisol can mess up the function of a person’s immune system and yoga can help with this as well. After researching yoga’s effect on the body, it is clear that its therapeutic value is far beyond what I ever knew. In addition to using yoga therapy on its own, it is extremely effective when used with other forms of health care. I hope to see more and more hospitals and centers for health care providing yoga to patients as means of therapy.
I do believe that yoga is growing in western civilization however I feel that it can be implemented into a lot more areas, reaching more people, and could be more accessible and available. I had no idea how many benefits yoga had as a form of therapy until I read this article and completed this project. I think that if the statistics are out there and show just how helpful yoga can be, it should be used more. Culturally, I believe that using yoga as a medical treatment can have a ton of positive effects. However, one of the issues in my opinion is that healthcare workers are either not informed on yogas benefits or do not believe them to be true. I believe that more education needs to be implemented in teaching people about yoga’s amazing properties. Also, many people who really find these benefits from yoga are people who make it their lifestyle and practice it significantly in their life. I feel as if people in western society lack patients and may not believe all of the pros it can have if it doesn’t magically happen after one day of practice. I truly believe that in the short term it may take people and health care workers time to open up to yoga is truly beneficial. However, if it is given more emphasis and implemented into more areas, in the long term they will see how much it truly helps and it will really end up benefiting our society as a whole.
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