Yoga Snobbery

By Brooke Hewes, 9-21-07

One morning a couple weeks ago I was greeted with the question “Are You a Yoga Snob?” in my inbox. Apparently, Yoga Journal wants to know about my relationship with yoga. This email, followed by recent conversations with friends and colleagues on the subject, followed by this week’s comments, got me thinking.

What is yoga snobbery, after all, and why all this fuss about it?

When I think “yoga snob” I think exclusive and elitist; I think judgment of others based on how far a person bends or how any years he or she has been rolling out their mat; I think of folks who feel that because they do yoga, they’ve got it all figured out. And like most of the people I have chatted with, I too feel aversion.

Most striking to me, however, is not the “snobs” themselves. Most striking is “our” judgment of “them.” Our aversion.

The Irony
Yoga is a non-dualistic tradition that considers all people connected with one other and with God. Actually, it is far more than a connection: at our essence, says the tradition, we are One. We are God. Judgment, on the other hand, is a symptom of dualism. And if we are not One, then we are “this” or “that” — we are good or bad or something in-between.

The ancient Indian sage Patanjali, author of the Yoga-Sutra, listed “ahimsa” (nonharming or nonviolence) as one of five universal ethics essential to the eight-limbed path of yoga. This moral pertains to both thoughts and actions. And though judgment itself cannot draw a sword and strike someone down, it is violent and can cause harm to both the person judging and the person being judged. In this context and regardless of intention, passing judgment on yoga practitioners can be considered a violent act — especially because branding someone a “snob” not only requires judgment of the “snob,” but judgment of oneself, the presumed “non-snob.”

Yoga, of course, isn’t the only activity that has its “snobs” and “non-snobs.” Any pastime — climbing, skiing, even shopping — that brings together like-minded, passionate individuals has its communities and cliques marked by inclusive and exclusive behavior. People in these circles are connected whether or not they even know one another by simply talking the same talk and walking the same walk. And though snobbery may not be intentional (and in my experience, it rarely is), your community may be someone else’s clique. From exclusion springs judgment, and from judgment springs harm.

Snobbery and snob pigeonholing within the context of yoga, however, is especially ironic given the spiritual context. If, as the tradition suggests, we let go of our egos and embrace the yogic ideal of non-self, snobbery becomes irrelevant. It is a moot point.

The Quiz
Still, we are human and most of us are just doing the best we can. We call other people snobs not to be violent or “non-yogic,” but to root ourselves at the inclusive, “non-snob” end of the snobbery spectrum.  Yoga Journal’s quiz, however, offers another way to clear our conscious of the snobbery branding. Log onto their website and answer 12 multiple-choice questions to decipher “Are You a Yoga Snob?” I pasted a short preview below.

• Where do you practice yoga?
o Everywhere.
o Only at studios that offer an elevated spiritual experience.
o Only at studios with senior teachers within my yoga style or discipline
o Only at the most elite, spa-astic, beautiful studios around. My perfectly pedicure toes cannot touch anything lese than the best.
o Only at studios that I know have eco-friendly floors and PVC-free mats.

• How do you choose a yoga class?
o I demand a resume and personal meeting with the teacher to ensure he or she hasn’t been influenced by any obscure methods.
o I send my personal assistant for a full report on which celebrities attend. I won’t practice with commoners.
o I follow my guru where he/she leads me. I’m interested more in the metaphysical (rather than the physical) experience of yoga.
o I go wherever my spirit leads me.
o I visit YogaJournal.com to search the yoga directory.

• Where did you purchase your last yoga outfit?
o It was a gift from my guru. I wear clothing only that has been blessed by a higher being.
o The diamond-encrusted sports bra I bought at the Dolce and Gabbana sample sale brings out my inner goddess.
o I don’t remember, but I’m sure it was fair-trade, organic, and tie-dyed.
o Target.
o I renounce all material goods in my search for enlightenment.

Answers to these and more questions are available at YJ online.

And then, when you are through, decide whether to take or leave the results. You can jump into the whole judgment thing or, in the spirit of “ahimsa,” you can disregard it all together. It is my hunch – quiz or no quiz – that we know in our hearts if we need to be more compassionate on and off the mat.