by Liz O’Brien: Why I believe Ashtanga yoga has become so popular in the West…
It’s interesting to me, this recent obsession in the West with Ashtanga yoga, largely spurred on by our favourite green-juice-drinking, handstand-walking, Instagramming yogi-superstars.
It’s interesting to me because I’m married to an Indian, and I’ve spent quite a lot of time in the vast sub-continent—a land drenched in prayer and spiritual devotion, and home to the city of Mysore, the birth-place of Ashtanga yoga. And yet few, if any, of the Indians I know rollout a mat and practice a vigorous.
What gives?
Here’s my theory: We Westerners, with our jittery minds and stiff bodies, need something really strong to capture our flighty attention; where is attention deficit disorder more prevalent than America, king of the West?