Lululemon
A sports fashion clothing retail chain that includes, but is
not limited to Yoga wear.
Of late, there appears to be a genuine backlash growing amongst
the greater yoga community. The basic sentiment is that Lululemon is not an
ethical company and is cynically leveraging off Yoga without demonstrating
values that are aligned with the fundamental philosophy of the practice.
I've been of two minds about how I feel about this reaction.
I'm not a great fan of the overt commercialisation of Yoga, but I have come to
realise that I neither own nor control the word "yoga" nor what it
stands for. The fact is, several years ago I got a formal teacher qualification
and I am therefore allowed to call myself a "yoga teacher". At times
calling myself such has really bugged me. For reasons that range from the
stereo-type expectations of who I am and what it is I offer, to the genuine
distaste I have of certain gurus and/or their particular systems of yoga -that
have swept western culture like wildfire, soaking up a lot of money in the
process.
My initial instinct regarding Lululemon is that it is a "business"
that saw an opportunity and realised it. I have never seen that company as representative
of anything but big business in the new age holistic fitness industry. I had a
friend who used to perform Acro Yoga in one of their stores as a marketing ploy,
and for doing so was gifted free clothing. Whether I think this is a useful representation
of what Yoga is, at the end of the day, is irrelevant. As a libertarian my
underlying attitude is that this was an agreement freely made by adults who
both saw mutual benefits in the arrangement and my judgement is neither
required or useful.
Lululemon sell clothes. They sell pretty and functional
sports clothes. It seems like they are meeting a market requirement. while I
don't think they represent Yoga in any sincere sense of the word, I'm not
really sure where the depth of hostility towards the company is really coming
from. I don't see that as a clothing company they are interfering with anyone else's
Yoga "business". There seems to be this idea that lululemon has the
power to alter peoples consciousness and divert them from the "true message"
of Yoga. In my opinion I think that is an overreach. Anyone who's yoga practice
is primarily defined by the brand of clothing they wear can't really blame a
company who is ready to exploit their vanity, as the cause of their shallow
yogic perceptions. All though it may be tempting, when it comes to our capacity
to think for ourselves, that responsibility falls to each and every one of us
as individuals.
Lastly, and I'm just going to say this. Fashion is part of
human culture. For better or worse, it has deeply found it's way into Yoga, I
mean seriously, the sheer volume of high-fashion yoga-asana photo's that roll
past my fb newsfeed everyday is massive. These photo's are very much used with
a commercial imperative to catch eyes; improve hits; and gain subscriptions;
followers etc. Again, I've realised it is not my place to judge, I don't own
Yoga, but I am free to define and evolve it in the way that feels truest to me,
and especially of late, I do so without really giving a damn about what anyone
else thinks. Surely, therefore I am obliged to return that favour lest I call myself a hypocrite?!?
So bottom line, as far as I'm concerned Lululemon can keep
doing what they do, I'm never going to buy anything from one of their stores. Surely that in itself is all I need to say on the matter.
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