Slightly off topic but do Indians generally find Westerners doing Yoga cultural appropriation when it’s stripped from its original context? I actually see Yoga and Hinduism more broadly like open source software with its many philosophies as branches. As such developing a free app is in the same spirit of making (formerly) esoteric practices more accessible
Show HN: A simple, free yoga practice app for everyone
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Re: Show HN: A simple, free yoga practice app for everyone
#32Slightly off topic but do Indians generally find Westerners doing Yoga cultural appropriation when it’s stripped from its original context? I actually see Yoga and Hinduism more broadly like open source software with its many philosophies as branches. As such developing a free app is in the same spirit of making (formerly) esoteric practices more accessible
Can't answer for Indians, but as far I understand it is a bit complicated. Depending on the classification you are looking at there are like 6-8 branches of Yoga of which "Hatha Yoga" is one. Hatha Yoga is the one which most people think of as Yoga. It has the physical 'asanas' as the main component. It has other parts like 'Pranayam' as well which are breathing exercises with chanting of verses/sounds in some of them. Most people who practice yoga are doing 'asanas' primarily with 'pranayams' mixed in sometimes. 'Asanas' in themselves are mostly physical and I think anyone can do them without any context. So, feel free to do so. :)
Re: Show HN: A simple, free yoga practice app for everyone
#33I'm very yoga curious but the woo that often creeps in is a real turn off. For example, the first session I looked at sent me to https://youtu.be/s2NQhpFGIOg and at the one minute mark it tells me that a yoga mat (preferably made of cotton) is important because it prevents earthing of the energy that gets generated in the process.
My advice is dont listen to the woo, just practice. Your back’s health is more important.
Re: Show HN: A simple, free yoga practice app for everyone
#34I'm very yoga curious but the woo that often creeps in is a real turn off. For example, the first session I looked at sent me to https://youtu.be/s2NQhpFGIOg and at the one minute mark it tells me that a yoga mat (preferably made of cotton) is important because it prevents earthing of the energy that gets generated in the process.
I hear you; it was something that prevented my trying a real class for a long while, and I still struggle with the spiritual and "energy" side of it. But once I got past that and focused on the exercises and breathing I was amazed how much it helped me.
Re: Show HN: A simple, free yoga practice app for everyone
#35Some vocabulary info would help. As a beginner, words like "hatha" and "ashtanga" mean nothing, so hard to select.
As a 15+ year Yogi (who practices regularly, well at least until C19!) I've never heard of these either! According to Wikipedia: * Hatha is seems to be a branch of Yoga (Hatha apparently means "force") * Ashtanga is another type of Yoga brought to the modern world by Sri K. Pattabhi Jois and involves synchronizing breath with a series of positions. Interesting ... I'll have to look into them!
Yes, thats a fair point, I will add something to help explain each. To be honest I had never heard of Hatha until I started building this, but as I aggregated the data it is a keyword that came up quite a lot.
Thanks for the feedback!
Re: Show HN: A simple, free yoga practice app for everyone
#36Slightly off topic but do Indians generally find Westerners doing Yoga cultural appropriation when it’s stripped from its original context? I actually see Yoga and Hinduism more broadly like open source software with its many philosophies as branches. As such developing a free app is in the same spirit of making (formerly) esoteric practices more accessible
Not much as cultural appropriation but I consider it disrespectful to Hinduism that people don't acknowledge the origins with respect. This is not just about westerners but most Indians even Hindus do the same. Stripping Hinduism of all its good parts but vociferously pinning all the bad parts on it even if they have had strong social moorings. Even Govt of India has to say it is not religious to appease to the sentiments of Muslims and Christians.
To simplify, Yoga means union (with the existence) and the word has sacred/divine connotations. So using it for all sorts of things like say naked yoga etc and disregarding the sanskrit name for the yogasanas and calling it things like downward dog pose etc is uncomfortable. Hopefully the yogasana practicioners will get curious and go deeper into the philosophy and mindset of the Hindu philosophy.
If anyone wants the full Yoga experience I recommend organisations like ISHA Yoga Foundation.
Btw regarding open source software comparisons, people either want to force the original repo into drastically changing the rules of contribution or instead of forking it and acknowledging the original project they just want to copy it with same name but do their own thing (for eg mindfulness vs meditation)
Re: Show HN: A simple, free yoga practice app for everyone
#37I am a certified yoga therapist, and I agree with a lot of comments here regarding some yoga practices on YouTube. Some go way into the "woo woo" stuff that is unnecessary and impractical (i.e., you don't need a cotton yoga mat), and others teach it in ways that actually can exacerbate problems.
I have been seeing private clients for years on chronic pain issues, low back pain, migraines, anxiety/stress. Throughout my years of working with them, I've created short videos and sequences on poses/practices that have helped a lot of my clients again and again.
I try to make these videos practical and bite-sized, instead of 45min or hour long practices. I get that we are all busy, and my motto is always: do a little everyday, and that will take you all the way.
Here is a link to the library of therapeutic yoga practices (including a whole playlist for low back pain). I add new videos weekly: https://www.youtube.com/user/yogawithelaine/