May 2005 | Editor’s Note
Bottom Line Asanas
The radio spot begins with a yoga teacher instructing students in a yoga pose. After a few moments, he pauses to refresh himself with a long draught of... beer! We don’t know what temperature the yoga studio is—Bikram-blazing or just ashtanga-toasty—but clearly this guy has a big thirst. He continues to alternate asana instructions with swigs of beer, until the commercial wraps up with the message that their beer is “The yin and yang of alcohol.”
Whatever the intention of the creative team behind this commercial, it made me laugh (although it didn’t inspire me to buy their product). A cold beer on a scorching day or with spicy food is almost irresistible, but yoga so centers me in my body that spring water or freshly-squeezed juice seems the only possible post-asana libation.
It was probably inevitable that yoga would find its way into advertising. It’s immense popularity has switched-on the little capitalist light bulb in our collective business brain—and why not make money promoting something that’s good for us? Of course, WLT has been doing that for years. We create a magazine that includes yoga and many other healthful ideas and practices, and sell advertising so that we can afford to bring you the information.
The business world has long promoted yoga attire and yoga tools and yoga publications, but, until recently, the practice itself was sacrosanct. Bikram Choudhury was the first pariah to try to assert ownership (pg. 32), and some believe he’s gone too far by attempting to copyright a series of poses. Can you imagine copyrighting the sun salutation?
Yoga Works is doing something different. The two entrepreneurs behind the company are consolidating individual studios under one banner to increase the benefits of economy of scale for all involved. I’m not familiar enough with Yoga Works’ tactics to judge, but their efforts have incited clamorous objections from yogis affronted by a perceived assault on yoga’s purity. For my own practice, I prefer a local studio, unique to my community—but in the big picture, if more people have the opportunity to experience yoga at a lower price, isn’t that a good thing? Imagine the planetary potential if everybody were practicing on a regular basis. Are people who do yoga less likely to go to war or despoil the environment? Are they more likely to be connected to spirit? I would think yes! I’m not arguing for Yoga Works or business consolidation (I won’t even set foot in Wal-mart), but I can’t find fault with bringing yoga to the masses. I hope you’ll read our story on pg. 30, take a couple of classes and share your conclusions with us.
It may not be as enticing as Ben & Jerry’s flavor of the month, but I’m about to ask you for a favor of the month—and your participation will bring you the possibility of winning something way more satisfying than an ice cream cone. We’re doing another reader survey, only this time, it’s in the magazine—you already passed it back on page 3. If you would please take a moment to flip back a couple of pages and fill it out, we’d be very grateful. If you’d rather read through the magazine first, I can certainly understand that. I get excited about every issue myself! But at some point between now and May 31, remember to fill the survey out and send it back to us so that we can enter you in a drawing to win five full days of wellness treatments at the Chopra Center. I haven’t visited their new center, but at all three former Chopra locations I’ve experienced, the level of care has been meticulous and life-changing.
Your responses to our survey will help ensure that WLT continues to offer you life-changing opportunities.
From my heart,
Abigail Lewis
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