On the Yoga "Boom"

Another friend just said it in conversation. That there’s a “yoga boom.” And I suppose if Vanity Fair does a 20-page glam yoga spread on it (Planet Yoga, June 2007) it’s for real!

Some quick searches on the number of estimated yoga practitioners, shows 20 million just in the U.S. So was he just commenting on the large number surfacing in the past decade? After all, this has been around for a long, long time. And for those of us who started way back then – it’s not really news, is it?

I suppose he meant that people want to know about it. They are seeking out classes, teachers, web sites like YogaHub. That they are willing to take the time to study yoga. Well that’s my ideal image of what is happening anyway.
But then it could just mean that there are lots of yoga “things” out there: mats, towels, clothes, blankets, jewelry, props, gadgets, DVDs- that people can buy to get them closer to yoga. But “things” are a funny thing sometimes.

I was recently in a yoga shop at a yoga studio and watched a woman wanting to buy something-well she wanted to buy the practice of yoga really. She had an urgent conversation with the woman at the cash register about what she WANTED. She wanted to slim down mainly, but of course get all the other benefits she had heard some much about.

She walked out clutching a yoga DVD. I hope she gets what she WANTS- and all the other benefits she had heard so much about too!