(image: c/o Time inc; Jean Chung/Corbis)
Inspired by the recent Malaysian fatwa against yoga, Time magazine just published a shrewd commentary on yoga in the Muslim world--the most comprehensive I've ever read. (It's a blog entry, so don't get too excited--they're not going front cover with this.)
The writer, Azadeh Moaveni, who has practiced yoga all over the Middle East (in Egypt, Lebannon, Iran, and Iraq etc) gives us insights into yoga outside the Judeo-Christian US, ones that might inspire us North American-bound folks to look up a bit (up away from our navels...).
For example, did you know (could you have guessed?) that in Iran, even in religious cities, every kind of yoga is available to every kind of person--from kids' yoga, to toning yoga, to austere or rigorous yoga--much as it is in the US? Or that in Beirut, Lebannon, people actually prefer gym yoga?
Moaveni quips, "Attending a yoga class at one of the city's [Beirut's] many posh fitness centers means that ministers can chat on their yoga mats, and pop stars can show off their headstands, a convenient way of getting centered and being seen at the same time."
Moaveni frets over the fate of yoga post-fatwa, but eventually decides that most likely it will continue unchanged. "That the forums' experts and mediators rule so contradictorily — some rule haram, while many more judge yoga harmless — suggests there is no fixed Islamic position on yoga, just as there is no fixed type of yoga itself."
So if everyone keeps their cool, this passion for mums, babies, professionals, expats, yuppies, celebrities and the general middle class will continue to flourish across the muslim world. Now what about those problematic Christian yogis...
Read the piece here.