Yoga democratised for the masses, minus its spiritual context
From Vancouver's Stanley Park to a Bali beach and a Hong Kong hotel, yoga is being repackaged as 'flowga', 'broga', and as plain exercise, and winning new adherents
On a vast field in Vancouver's Stanley Park, against the downtown skyline glowing in sunset hues, a few thousand people formed their bodies into a down dog, flowing along to silky tunes spun by a live DJ.
This wasn't your usual yoga class - a rock concert awaited after, to top off a day that began with a 21km race around the city's famed seawall. Run, yoga, party: the annual Lululemon SeaWheeze two Saturdays ago is part of a collective that's democratising yoga.
"Yoga is becoming more accessible to everybody," says Travis McKenzie, global events manager with Lululemon, the yoga and fitness apparel company. "There are more studios, more online practices available. There aren't as many barriers to entry. People are becoming more mindful and aware of slowing themselves down and becoming more present."
The trend is apparent in Hong Kong: more people, especially men, are picking up yoga, notes yoga instructor Victor Chau. "Yoga, to a lot of people, is very deep, super spiritual and you need to be flexible to practise it. This is not necessarily true," he says.
Yoga originated in India thousands of years ago as a philosophical and spiritual discipline to deliver practitioners from suffering or disease. These days, yoga is often treated as exercise or even complementary therapy for cardiovascular and respiratory disease. To many, yoga is not a way of life; it's just a workout.