Yoga Crank - does anyone really believe all the hype about yoga?
In this time of "fake news" there has been a trend in the Western yoga community to embrace conspiracy theories. This will surely damage trust of yoga beyond the existing promotion of "woo-woo" by many yoga teachers. I see harm to a large market of current and potential students who will be turned off by the unsubstantiated opinions being shared on blogs and social media by yoga influencers.
Yoga practitioners are primed by a mind/body/spirit practice and philosophical/spiritual beliefs that operate outside proven scientific consensus, and are influenced by any number of things including Hinduism, Buddhism, Modern Paganism and related earth-based religions, goddess worship, Wicca, etc., New Age ideas. Thus, yogis and yoginis are more likely to be skeptical of scientific and regulatory authorities.
Indeed we have seen well-known yoga teachers sharing their suspicion and distrust of COVID19, vaccines, WHO and CDC recommendations, and so on. Wittingly or unwittingly, these influencers pass along conspiracies from QANON.
So, here we have not only the pre-existing distrust of the hype about the benefits of yoga, the antagonism from some Christians concerning yoga's roots in heretical practices, i.e., Hinduism and Buddhism, and explanations that run counter to science, general knowledge and common sense.
Fortunately, other yoga influencers are pushing back.
These are some of the issues this new blog is expected to address.
Conspiracy theories of QAnon find fertile ground in an unexpected place – the yoga world: QAnon's conspiracy theories have taken root among yogis and other adherents of natural medicine.
Redpilled: a list of wellness industry figures that have posted, shared, or explicitly created QAnon-related content. It’s important to note that people are quickly radicalized into this leaderless cult, and they may just as quickly abandon it. We make no claims about these figures’ current allegiances, interests, or political affiliations.
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