Short Summary: For our final media in the new age project I am going to cover the “take back yoga” campaign being launched by the American Hindu Foundation and the issues surrounding today’s representation of Yoga. This campaign has been put on because yoga in the United States focuses so much on the physical aspects with little recognition of its Hindu roots. For example, yoga magazines use many words like vedic or tantric but never mention the word Hindu. For many yoga practitioners, doing yoga is just like doing any other exercise at the gym. The goal of their campaign is for a broader knowledge and recogonition of yoga’s roots in Hinduism while still showing it as a universal and accessable to everyone. On the other side of the spectrum some yoga practitioners argue that they can practice and think about their from of yoga however they want to. Some arguments include that yoga is a foriegn concept implented in the U.S. long ago and has gone native. Or that their are hundreds of forms of yoga and not all have to do with spirtualtiy or religion. The “take back yoga” campaign seems to be working in the United States right now and gaining recognition.
Thesis: The “take back yoga” campaign launched by the American Hindu Foundation serves to change the perception of yoga in the United States from being soley a physical excericise to a practice acknowledged of Hindu orgins that includes mental, spiritual, and religous aspects.
Sources to be analyzed:
- http://www.npr.org/2012/04/11/150352063/to-some-hindus-modern-yoga-has-lost-its-way
- http://www.hafsite.org/media/pr/takeyogaback
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/leigh-e-schmidt/yoga-has-come-a-long-way_b_809120.html
- http://www.treehugger.com/green-food/yoga-its-not-about-ownership-its-about-origins.html
- http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/oct/31/yoga-lower-back-pain-treatments
- http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/living/not-as-old-as-you-think
- http://www.openthemagazine.com/article/international/the-ludicrousness-of-taking-back-yoga
- http://www.equinoxpub.com/blog/2012/04/yoga-and-the-question-of-religious-identity/
- http://michaeljaltman.net/2012/04/17/yoga-and-the-protestant-public-sphere-or-taking-back-yoga-where/
- http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/09/nyregion/in-queens-seeking-to-clear-a-path-between-yoga-and-islam.html?pagewanted=all
Description of the Project: For our project I am going to make a Prezi presentation. The presentation will contain texts, pictures, and videos desrcibing the issue. Here is a outline of what I am thinking for the Prezi:
– Start with what do you see in the media when you see yoga. How its portrayed.( show picture of typical u.s. yoga practitioners, then have a list of words in American yoga)
– Then have definition of where yoga came from/ what it means in the east( again picture and words desribing this) American Hindu Foundation representation.
– This is why the American Hindu foundation has started the take back the Yoga Campaign(picture) explain the campaign.
– Present the hindus side and argument for wanting recognition (have quotes, videos, and arguments made) AHF
– Present the American or new yoga side (quotes, video clips, arguments, etc)
– Some idea of the reconcilation that is taking place and how this practice can benefit all users with out being offensive.
Description of resources: So the only resources I will use for this project are prezi, youtube, and the internet. I have never created a prezi before but I have watched the introductory videos on it and should not need any other resources.
worldreligionsjorgensen 