Modern postural yoga started as a fusion of European gymnastics and selected hatha yoga principles in the early twentieth century, posits Mark Singleton. Around this time, yoga was exported to the US from India by Vivekananda and others, experiencing several waves of popularity before arriving at its current ubiquity. As yoga has exponentially grown in the west, it’s been re-exported to India igniting a nationalistic fervor, despite many modern forms being inextricably infused with western cultural norms (for instance, new age spirituality; positive thinking; pursuit of perfectionism and beauty/youth). Arguably, modern postural yoga, as were its initial iterations, is an evolution reflecting more of the current cultural context than anything ancient and enduring. Yet while the interpretation and meaning of yoga may have changed, many of the gymnastics, Indian martial arts, and actual yoga-derived postures have not. What does this mean for a global practice?

Today, yoga is practiced in many nations across the globe, including the Far East. China, dubbed “the new yoga superpower” by Yoga International magazine, has around 10 million practitioners (about 16 million Americans practice). “Yoga went to China via America,” according to one of B.K.S. Iyengar’s leading disciples, Faeq Biria, who routinely trains students in Beijing. “They see it from an American point of view. At first, they’re attracted by the byproducts: to be pretty, to digest well, sleep well, have a nice body, be intelligent, unstressed. It’s hard work to take them toward the deeper aspects.” Shares one studio owner, “yoga is a symbol of the outside world. Like thin women on the beach.” As in the US, yoga fits well there with the thirst for success. Yet Indian teachers are in increasing demand, with some advocates for yoga’s deeper teachings making inroads.

There’s another reason yoga has become so popular in China and other Asian cultures: it fits well with indigenous healing systems and spirituality/philosophy, from Taoist tai chi to Traditional Asian Medicine, Buddhism, and Confucianism. Yet Taoist tai chi is gentle, soothing, and rhythmic to facilitate a deeper connection to chi; most modern yoga conjures images of pretzels, headstands, and other gymnastics, reminiscent of the competitive environment in which it’s marinated. Thus, in a sign of the times, “hip Hong Kongers would rather splurge $35 on a flow class than flow [tai chi] with their grannies.”

Do you think the effects of globalization on yoga are primarily positive, negative or neither?

Part II: East and West Collide: Musculoskeletal implications of yoga in different cultural contexts