Is it my imagination, or did the article referencing noted yoga dirtbag who name spelled backwards is MARKIB has disappeared as well as a subsequent thread that I started on it? Did his lawyers force a take down?
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I didn’t even see an article about yoga… that would be weird if they took it down, but why would they, if the take down was bogus (which these things usually are).
This one?
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Not sure. Yesterday morning I woke up, there was a thread (you can google it, using the name spelled backwards forward and BoingBoing - it’s still on the Google). And there were quite a few comments. I really wanted to hop in on the thread as I have quite a bit to say on it, and then poof it was gone. I started a bbs using his name in the topic and though it still is findable via my profile, I can’t see it in the BBS list.
I feel like I took crazy pills.
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I used his name spelled backwards assuming his lawyers have a feed going about him and then jump on articles to squelch them.
Yeppers
It’s still there. I just clicked the “magnifying glass” icon at the top-right of the screen and searched “Choudhury”, it was listed right there.
Westerners seem to only be able to handle Yogic culture in small diluted doses, but a lot of this is really a disconnect between expectations between Easterners and Westerners, and how they perceive “spiritual” roles in society. Yoga in India is often highly sexual. But Westerners (usually Christians) are often horrified by the notion of sexual relationships with their clergy, because their religious dogma prohibits it. So I strongly suspect that with Western Yogis, many of those who complain are too surprised to stop it and set boundaries, and complain only after the fact. This is my cultural interpretation, and in no way implies that claimants should not have accounts of victimization taken quite seriously.
As for the linked Choudhury articles, many of them characterize him based upon traditional Yogic practice, for instance, that a guru should be worshipped as a god, and that diligent yogic practice can cure any illness, and even confer immortality. I have read accounts in the US of this kind of thing being reported as some sort of horrific, cultish (whatever that means) brainwashing. But this is how Yoga has been popularly taught in India for more than a thousand years. Another cultural difference is that in the East, nearly all yogis are male - while for some reason in the West, nearly all yogis (yoginis) are female.
For some more background upon relationships in yoga and claims of efficacy and cultural expectations, I recommend reading a few classic texts on Yoga, such as “Hatha Yoga Pradipika”, “Gheranda Samhita”, and “Shiva Samhita”. Also check out some of the books by David Gordon White, such as “Sinister Yogis”, and “The Alchemical Body”. Mind also that Yogic teachings centered around male deities and principles (Saiva, Vaishnava) are going to be more paternalistic than those based around female deities and principles (Shakti, Kaula). Yoga is and has been based largely around the Tantras, which are often at their core highly sexual. Westerners should do their homework and be aware what they are getting themselves into, rather than buying into the Western white-washed ideas about Yogic traditions and practice.
And obviously, set limits with people! Don’t be intimidated to act out and speak up if those limits are not respected.
Well, Chourdhury and Patthabhi Jois are very well known to molest their students. It’s one thing to be in a “relationship,” another to be felt up in the middle of a room full of people without your permission, which is very very well known to be happening with these supposed gurus. (Patthabhi Jois is now dead but there are photos circulating of him in the process of molesting women in the middle of classes - and if you fear a Photoshop, I have spoken with women that it happened to).
Now, re: Rodney Yee and John Friend, who were out there soliciting sexual experiences with students, I’ve seen that kind of thing too but I think it’s more of a blurry line.
Normally articles don’t fall off the front page from 7 a.m. to 9 a.m. on the same day…I thought that was weird.
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