Branding “Yoga”

I guarantee you, yoga will compete with computers, music, sports, automobiles, the drug industry.

Yoga will take over the world!

-Bikram Choudhury.

Isn’t that surprising?

Yoga is not an exercise

anymore.

Its an industry!!!

Yoga journal pegged the industry, including classes,Merchandise, and vacations at a whooping $5.7 billion.

In 2008,

Yoga started turning to A

Commercial entity.

Preference was given to “Yoga” alone,

Rather than its history.

This worried its owners

Indians!!!!

was concerned about this.

An intensive claiming campaign

was launched

Its goal was,To make everyone

acknowledge,that Yoga has its roots

in Hinduism.

And this grew Big.

Deepak Chopra criticized,

“Hindus and Indians have an ax to grind. We have tendency to claim ownership of almost everything,

Especially when it goes back to ancient times.

Indian government had already begun to catalog 1500 yoga poses in digital library

to avoid someone claiming its copyrights.

But one thing to be admitted!!

Without this marketing culture of the U.S,

Yoga wouldn’t be where it is now.

History of Yoga

Earliest records of yoga were found,In Indus valley archeological relics.

Patanjali, and Indian Philosopher Wrote about

Ashtanga Yoga

Baghavad Gita was the philosophical cornerstone

Of Yoga.

All these texts were sacred to Hindus.

But some Historians argued, ” Yoga predated Hinduism.”

One historian said ,

“ Technically Yoga is a part of three ‘world religions’, Hinduism, Buddhism, & Jainism.

Types of yoga,

Yoga comes to America.

Vivekananda,Was the

First to bring Yoga toAmerica.

Margaret, daughter of Woodrow Wilson

VisitedIndia to learn yoga

Indira Devi, a Latvian actress,Started teaching yoga.

Published Light on Yoga.

BikramYoga

Bikram was a Yoga championSince he was at age 13.

He won National Yoga ChampionFor four consecutive years.

Bishnu Ghosh Was his Guru.

At first he went to Japan

Where he invented his technique of

Yoga practice inHeated room.

In 1971, he arrived in U.S.

He started teaching in spas,Then he started his studio.

Bikram yoga classes instructed26 asanas and 2 breathing exercises

He began to charge money for that,Which was unusual at that time,

His firstCopyright.

In 2002,He decided to patent the bikram

Style of hot yoga with music.

He started sending notices to studios, For violation of copyright.

By 2003,Bikram had more than

700 studios in 220 countries.

In 2003,Open source yoga university

Filed a suit againstBikram that his patents are invalid.

In 2006,India govt responded to this case By catalog of 1500 yoga poses into

Traditional Knowledge Digital Library.

By 2011 bikram started earningOver $5 million dollar per year.

Bikram continued to Hunt down perceived copycats

And send cease-and-desist letters.

Tara Stiles

Practiced yoga since childhood.

A model and ballet dancer.

Disliked the way of yoga at that time.

Decided to practice alone.Continued dancing.

Joined Ford modelling agency.

Started videos of yoga teaching.

Quit ford in 2007.

Started using facebook, To promote the yoga classes,

She taught out of her apartment.

Hired as blogger by

In 2008, started Strala Yoga

Her concept was,

Stile started making yoga “cool”.

She is improvising, breaking rule,adding music; in our minds

Connecting with later generations.

New way to get closer to public.

IN 2010,She wrote a book.

After working with Jane Fonda.

Re-Introduced her fitness brand.

Team Fonda, a group of yoga Instructors

All these things madeHAF think thatIndia is loosing

Yoga from its hands.

Started Take Back Yoga

campaign

Created a lot of buzz in the society.

An event at Princeton University,“The Politics of Yoga”

Happened.

Things discussed were,1.Definition of yoga

2. Commercialization of yoga3. Validity of yoga whether yogabelong to Hinduism alone or not.

Sheetal Shah of HAF said,

“What we noticed.. was that.. While[Western yogis] are accepting of the fact that

Yoga is rooted in ancient India, There was a tension with calling it Hindu,

Or even accepting the fact that it was rooted in Hindu Philosophy.

Presentation by Phanindra Sura

As a part of internshipUnder the Guidance ofProf. Sameer Mathur

Thank You.