~ Gravity : Power : Yoga ~

I’m the first person to make the argument that Yoga is as good physically as any workout regimen, with the added kicker of building mind<->body awareness.  But I’m finding that in the Yoga community there is a great deal of animosity for the “Western workout culture” and finding that a good bit of Yogi’s do not see any reason to bring Yoga to the masses.

If by teaching Yoga you are helping your students understand the true benefits of the practice, wouldn’t it make more sense to be able to have a larger audience, and therefore have the potential of positively effecting more lives?  I can quite honestly say that I did not get into Yoga for anything other than the pure benefits of the physical practice.  As an alternative to traditional physical therapy, I chose Yoga to keep my back and neck in proper working order.  It wasn’t until I’d been practicing for a while that I understood what it was all about and started working on my internal transformation.  If the goal of a Yogi is a life of nonviolence, peace, and understanding, why are we trying to keep this from getting out?  What are we afraid of?

Will Yoga ever be “mainstream” without commercialization, and will commercialization be the end of Yoga as we know it?