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I find it a little problematic when these ancient practices are separated from their broader context. There are further, unknown implications by doing so. It is

I find it a little problematic when these ancient practices are separated from their broader context. There are further, unknown implications by doing so. It is similar to what was done with what we call "Yoga" here in the west. I am not saying that these practices cannot evolve, they must. But they are certainly part of a tradition that has been coherently applied and studied for centuries. In my opinion the result of this type of approach is a diluted, incomplete practice, focused mainly on symptom relief, which tends to forget the heart of the matter. There is nothing wrong with taking these practices as inspiration to help people, and I think your approach is a good way to bring them to know more about these practices. But perhaps you should bring a little more of the philosophical/theological side to this modern take on meditation, something like what Stephen Batchelor is doing with his Secular Buddhism.

andrei_says_ 6y ago
What we call Yoga in the west is mostly appropriation. The rest is misunderstanding because the concept does not fit in thinking western minds. The best we get is what tae bo is to professional boxing. Source: conversations and experiences with someone who had the fortune to study both in New Delhi yoga university and with a Yoga lineage in the Himalayas. The official university still didn’t touch, or know, of essential elements of the practices. Whether intentionally hidden or forgotten, they are completely unheard of in the West. In the west we have Yoga laptops for heavens sake.
- aliabramovitz 6y ago
  Thank you for your input! Our feeling is that we give deep reverence to the traditional practices and the thousands of years of wisdom with which they come, and we are attempting to help other people who haven't connected with those forms develop a mindfulness practice that does connect for them. We believe if more people in the world are practicing mindfulness the world will be a kinder, more compassionate place.
- dolgo 6y ago
  Yoga laptops are actually made by a Chinese company, which most people consider to be in the ‘east’. How does that fit into your idea of western appropriation?
  - jbob2000 6y ago
    Quite beautifully actually. I’m going to use this laptop on some Swedish furniture, wearing my indigenous moccasins, while watching a western anime, eating California roll sushi and drinking an americano from a Starbucks.
- cercatrova 6y ago
  What practices specifically in yoga do you speak of? I honestly appreciate that people in the west have secularized both yoga and meditation, as I personally find no value in the spiritual aspects and only find value in the exercise in the case of yoga and helping psychologically in the case of meditation. I'm curious to hear your perspective though, it seems to be different from mine.
  - tabulatouch 6y ago
    Yoga in the west is an effective stretching technique, with inspiring names and imaginary. So, very good indeed, but nothing to do with the source.
    - jbob2000 6y ago
      It’s awful for stretching, it doesn’t isolate muscles very well and strains joints. If it was good for stretching, you’d see NFL and MLB players doing it on the field before their games. It’s a ridiculous, roundabout way to do something that science has figured out can be done much quicker and easier, with less risk to the body. It’s just a vain feel good activity. Yoga practitioners talk all about their “practice” and improving themselves through their “practice”. You’ll hear yoga studios say stuff like “don’t go to church, just do yoga!”. There’s a bunch of pride wrapped up in getting the poses right, but this doesn’t benefit your body, it just lets you one-up on other people because your pose is “more correct”.
      - kritiko 6y ago
        There’s not strong evidence-based support for stretching. NFL and MLB players do tons of stuff like cupping or wearing magnets that are questionable. Doing yoga because it makes you feel accomplished seems about as harmless as channeling your ego into any sport or physical pursuit.
  - andrei_says_ 6y ago
    Sukshma
  - 6y ago
aliabramovitz 6y ago
Thank you so much for your feedback! We like to stay away from those aspects as it can be off putting for people who don't subscribe to a certain philosophy or theology. We, instead try to make more approachable for everyone where you don't need to believe in anything other than spreading kindness to yourself and others. We certainly pay homage to where the traditions come from when we talk about the practice, for example at the start of class, or in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUJhfjxvNDE&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUJhfjxvNDE&feature=youtu.be or in this blog post https://chorusmeditation.com/blog/founder-friday-mk-on-our-product-hunt-launch/ https://chorusmeditation.com/blog/founder-friday-mk-on-our-p...
- mathemagical 6y ago
  In doing this you are completely divorcing a people's fundamental belief system and heritage from them so that "people who don't subscribe to" the existence of that people's heritage, culture and belief system don't feel offended. This is complete cultural appropriation and you should stop perpetuating it while making money off of it.
  - cercatrova 6y ago
    I appreciate that it's been secularized, we shouldn't stop people from practicing yoga or meditation just because they don't want to subscribe to a religious ideology. Sure it did come from religions but there's no need to keep it tied to that religion if it can help more people outside of that, in a scientific sense (ie increased flexibility, breathing etc).
  - scpedicini 6y ago
    If we as a species didn't "culturally appropriate", the world would be hundreds of years behind in terms of progress. Invention itself is built on the idea of taking pre-existing concepts, combining and adapting them in new contexts. The idea that you can't borrow some existing body of knowledge because it's inherently sacrosanct and cannot be divided is just patently absurd.
    - 6y ago
dmje 6y ago
Agree. There’s a sort of woo popularity thing with a large tranche of mindfulness which is a bit too goal oriented and westernised for my tastes. I mean, each to their own but for me it’s a bit like abridged classic novels or pseudo classical renderings of Beethoven: it may have the essence of the real thing but in simplifying and “making easy”, it’s also loses much of the depth and richness. Proust and Beethoven aren’t meant into be “easy” or “accessible”, but if you make the effort, your life is richer because of that. Feels the same to me with meditative practice. I’m all for more people doing it but it all too easily feels transient, a passing fad, something that will only be popular with people while it’s fashionable. I’ve found the deeper parts of my practice by persevering through the hard times, by beginning to understand how grasping the human (particularly western) mind is, and by just sitting.

andrei_says_ 6y ago

What we call Yoga in the west is mostly appropriation. The rest is misunderstanding because the concept does not fit in thinking western minds. The best we get is what tae bo is to professional boxing. Source: conversations and experiences with someone who had the fortune to study both in New Delhi yoga university and with a Yoga lineage in the Himalayas. The official university still didn’t touch, or know, of essential elements of the practices. Whether intentionally hidden or forgotten, they are completely unheard of in the West. In the west we have Yoga laptops for heavens sake.

aliabramovitz 6y ago
Thank you for your input! Our feeling is that we give deep reverence to the traditional practices and the thousands of years of wisdom with which they come, and we are attempting to help other people who haven't connected with those forms develop a mindfulness practice that does connect for them. We believe if more people in the world are practicing mindfulness the world will be a kinder, more compassionate place.
dolgo 6y ago
Yoga laptops are actually made by a Chinese company, which most people consider to be in the ‘east’. How does that fit into your idea of western appropriation?
- jbob2000 6y ago
  Quite beautifully actually. I’m going to use this laptop on some Swedish furniture, wearing my indigenous moccasins, while watching a western anime, eating California roll sushi and drinking an americano from a Starbucks.
cercatrova 6y ago
What practices specifically in yoga do you speak of? I honestly appreciate that people in the west have secularized both yoga and meditation, as I personally find no value in the spiritual aspects and only find value in the exercise in the case of yoga and helping psychologically in the case of meditation. I'm curious to hear your perspective though, it seems to be different from mine.
- tabulatouch 6y ago
  Yoga in the west is an effective stretching technique, with inspiring names and imaginary. So, very good indeed, but nothing to do with the source.
  - jbob2000 6y ago
    It’s awful for stretching, it doesn’t isolate muscles very well and strains joints. If it was good for stretching, you’d see NFL and MLB players doing it on the field before their games. It’s a ridiculous, roundabout way to do something that science has figured out can be done much quicker and easier, with less risk to the body. It’s just a vain feel good activity. Yoga practitioners talk all about their “practice” and improving themselves through their “practice”. You’ll hear yoga studios say stuff like “don’t go to church, just do yoga!”. There’s a bunch of pride wrapped up in getting the poses right, but this doesn’t benefit your body, it just lets you one-up on other people because your pose is “more correct”.
    - kritiko 6y ago
      There’s not strong evidence-based support for stretching. NFL and MLB players do tons of stuff like cupping or wearing magnets that are questionable. Doing yoga because it makes you feel accomplished seems about as harmless as channeling your ego into any sport or physical pursuit.
- andrei_says_ 6y ago
  Sukshma
- 6y ago

aliabramovitz 6y ago

Thank you so much for your feedback! We like to stay away from those aspects as it can be off putting for people who don't subscribe to a certain philosophy or theology. We, instead try to make more approachable for everyone where you don't need to believe in anything other than spreading kindness to yourself and others. We certainly pay homage to where the traditions come from when we talk about the practice, for example at the start of class, or in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUJhfjxvNDE&feature=youtu.be https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUJhfjxvNDE&feature=youtu.be or in this blog post https://chorusmeditation.com/blog/founder-friday-mk-on-our-product-hunt-launch/ https://chorusmeditation.com/blog/founder-friday-mk-on-our-p...

mathemagical 6y ago
In doing this you are completely divorcing a people's fundamental belief system and heritage from them so that "people who don't subscribe to" the existence of that people's heritage, culture and belief system don't feel offended. This is complete cultural appropriation and you should stop perpetuating it while making money off of it.
- cercatrova 6y ago
  I appreciate that it's been secularized, we shouldn't stop people from practicing yoga or meditation just because they don't want to subscribe to a religious ideology. Sure it did come from religions but there's no need to keep it tied to that religion if it can help more people outside of that, in a scientific sense (ie increased flexibility, breathing etc).
- scpedicini 6y ago
  If we as a species didn't "culturally appropriate", the world would be hundreds of years behind in terms of progress. Invention itself is built on the idea of taking pre-existing concepts, combining and adapting them in new contexts. The idea that you can't borrow some existing body of knowledge because it's inherently sacrosanct and cannot be divided is just patently absurd.
  - 6y ago

dmje 6y ago

Agree. There’s a sort of woo popularity thing with a large tranche of mindfulness which is a bit too goal oriented and westernised for my tastes. I mean, each to their own but for me it’s a bit like abridged classic novels or pseudo classical renderings of Beethoven: it may have the essence of the real thing but in simplifying and “making easy”, it’s also loses much of the depth and richness. Proust and Beethoven aren’t meant into be “easy” or “accessible”, but if you make the effort, your life is richer because of that. Feels the same to me with meditative practice. I’m all for more people doing it but it all too easily feels transient, a passing fad, something that will only be popular with people while it’s fashionable. I’ve found the deeper parts of my practice by persevering through the hard times, by beginning to understand how grasping the human (particularly western) mind is, and by just sitting.