Sickening ignorance

klusener

I just heard the most ignorant comment made this week, i don't want to disclose the specifics of the person, because there are so many members here, that maybe they will know the person...

I suppose you all know yoga, well I went to a local class just to see how Americans do it, being Indian myself, and the "teacher" starts by saying "you all should be glad, because you are going to learn an All-american exercise technique today" at that moment, I was really weighing the pros and cons of going to the front and punching that guy in the face. But i restrained myself and asked him what he meant by all-american, he responds that yoga is american and made by americans .. holy ****, i was thinking at that moment, how stupid can this guy be...

after this incident, i went to a local school, and decided to ask the students, i am still in high school, where they think yoga came from or who made yoga, just to get a census on this topic, out of the 48 people i asked, only 13 answered India, 28 answered China, and 7 answered America.. How can people with so much ignorance exist in this world, some of you might say that i am getting too angry over a small incident, and it is true to a certain degree, but still it irritates me..

well, i just want to know how many people here think yoga was made in america?

Kerrie

I knew yoga was an excercise that started in India. The whole purpose of yoga is to relax, be in touch with your breathing, maintain a good diet, and most of all, maintain positive thinking. Your above post doesn't promote the latter, so you really can't come down on others for being ignorant on the subject...

Evo

Of course yoga is American, it was invented by the All-American baseball hero Yogi Berra!!!

Sadly, a large proportion of Americans are woefully uneducated.

the number 42

Gee whiz, what would the Maharishi do? Shiva would have kneed him in the goodie bag for sure.

Yep. Invented in the US alright. I have asked all my friends and they all agree that yoga is an American invention. We aren't sure, but we think it was Timothy Leary. Either him or L Ron Hubbard.

Out of curiosity, I don't suppose you have taken up yoga as an anger-management aid?

tumor

Not knowing where does yoga came from is just a tip of an iceberg.Most of Americans can not even find India on the map.

Artman

I did not know the exact place of origin, but I would have guessed it was invented by Himalayan Monks or in India, no way would I have assumed it was USA in origin.

Nereid

Those eucalypts in CA, they're native to the US, right? And Al Gore invented the internet, right (or maybe it was Bill Gates or Steve Jobs)? The first stock market in the world is Wall Street, OK? Columbus discovered America, yeah? Baseball and basketball were invented in the good ol' USofA, of course!

iansmith

Basketball was invented in the USA but by a canadian

Ivan Seeking

We were attacked by Iraq on 911. We are fighting terrorist in Iraq.

Now that really does make me sick.

Evo

and back to the topic "how many people here think yoga was made in america?"

Andy

I think you all wrong, was invented by Brunel an Englishman!

wolram

You are all wrong Yogi bear invented it, thats why bo bo is always
so laid back.

Integral

Evo you are saddly misinformed, the originator was the All American Cartoon hero, Yogi BEAR!

Edit:Akk! wolram you beat me to it!

Les Sleeth

If you want to see how poorly informed Americans are, watch Jay Leno's little piece he sometimes does on his show called (I think) "Jay Walking" where he walks around LA asking people things everyone should know, but don't.


As to the origin of yoga, the answer isn't exactly straightforward. First, the practice of postures most Americans think yoga is, isn't what yoga orignially or mainly was. Yoga, which translated means "yoke," emerged from a movement in India during a period in first millennium B.C when old tribal units were breaking up, and many individuals were no longer satisfied with the rituals and speculations of the ancient Vedic religion.

Leaving family and social responsibilities behind, thousands of men took to the forests and roads to live a hermit’s life and explore the inner self. Their unsentimental investigative approach emphasized the development and application of inner technologies aimed specifically at meditation. The approach was decidedly ascetic, sometimes to the extreme, in an attempt to let go of attachment to the external world and one's own body.

The idea of a "yoke" then was a reference to what one DID attach to after letting go of the external world, and that was something inside oneself discovered through meditation. So Yoga came to stand for all the techniques used to help yoke one to the inner, and let go of the outer.

Since there were many teachers, there was also more than one variety of yoga. Around 200 BC, a teacher named Patanjali organized many of the more successful techniques into his system of Raja yoga. Later others developed other yogas like Tantric, Kundalini, Mantra, Laya, etc. including the purely posture yoga Americans know about called Hatha yoga.

Evo

I was going to mention Yogi Bear, but didn't think very many people (all these young whipper snappers) would understand. Whenever I say "smarter than the average bear" in my best Yogi Bear voice, no one knows what I am talking about.

Tsu

Hey! That's BOO BOO!! Not bo bo.

jimmy p

I am Yoga. And I was SO cute in Star Wars.