Although its origins are from India, one can find more yoga studios in white neighbourhoods such as Kitsilano or Orange County than in Kolkata. Participation in this activity requires large amounts of money and time, both of which white people have a lot of. Yoga is basically the practice of stretching for one hour. Stertching should only take five minutes, other peoples would rather spend the extra fifty five minutes playing in an actual sport or spending time with their families and friends.
Yoga is also an expensive activity. It gives white people the chance to showcase their $80 pants. The cost of four yoga classes is equal to the amount of money it would take to pay for uniforms and travel costs of an AAU Basketball team in the inner city. Lastly like other stuff that white people like, yoga feels exotic and foreign (ties into post #2 about eastern religions) and deep down in some way, white people feel that participation makes up for years of colonial rule in India.
Please note that opening up Yoga studios in Brampton or Surrey will yield little success
So true.
If it’s just stretching, why do you need so much specialized equipment?
I pooped my pants
you pooped for so many times. how many pants have you changed? or you just kept pooping into one? ew
I work at a yoga studio and I have to say this is very true but better to waste money on organic American made yoga pants and studio memberships than big screens and video games-though I am sure there are those who have both!
Exactly!
– annoymous white yoga instructor
Huh? What equipment?
Also, I don’t get why it’s being called expensive. I do yoga at home. It’s free.
Like anything else in America, it’s been subjected to the consumer machine and made expensive [in some cases]. They did that to water too.
this person knows his geography well. brampton would just not work!
My yoga outfit cost me 350 bucks
I know! My yoga pants cost WAY more than 80 bucks…..!!!
What is G-d’s name are is this outfit made of? Are the rhinestones genuine or plastic?
Well, I took some free Yoga classes at the Y (as part of my gym membership). Anywho, I didn’t spend extra money on Yoga clothes, just wore my old rags. I should at this point mention I live in Naperville, Illinois, an affluent suburb of Chicago that started out as it’s own stand-alone city in the 1830’s due to the brick industry and Dupage River waterway access. Urban sprawling pressed so far west we are now a suburb. But I digress… I find that Yoga is a lot more than stretching. You use your body’s resistance and gravity to build strength (i.e. warrior pose and downward dog). Admittedly I am no expert on Yoga, but it is a great way to supplement a gym work out to get in shape. However, I have back problems and found it to painful and the classes were very crowded.
Another thing white people like. trying to make their own town, village, or suburb as it may, seem significant or unique.
I PEED A LITTLE BIT LAUGHING
[...] Some parts of Stuff White People Like are a dead-on parody of liberal exoticists (via Sullivan): Yoga: Yoga is basically the practice of stretching for one hour. Stertching should only take five minutes, other peoples would rather spend the extra fifty five minutes playing in an actual sport or spending time with their families and friends… It gives white people the chance to showcase their $80 pants… deep down in some way, white people feel that participation makes up for years of colonial rule in India. [Link] [...]
Ugh, you got me again. The more different I think I am, the more typical I turn out to be. Now, excuse me while I take a stretching break from the computer… *bends into pretzel*
Yoga also makes your ass look damned good in its expensive yoga pants.
yoga makes you able to put your expensively panted legs behind your white ass head.
stuffblackpeoplelike - eating watermelon! hahaha!!!
stuffarabpeoplelike - pumping oil! hahaha!!!
stuffblackpeoplelike - gang warfare! hahaha!!!
stuffmexicanpeoplelike - eating beans! hahaha!!!
stuffchinesepeoplelike - shooting heroin! hahaha!!!
stuffblackpeoplelike - welfare! hahaha!!!
stuffjewishpeoplelike - keeping money! hahaha!!!
stuffmexicanpeoplelike - wearing sombreros! hahaha!!!
stuffchinesepeoplelike - eating rice! hahaha!!!
stuffarabpeoplelike - kissing goats! hahaha!!!
stuffmexicanpeoplelike - wearing sombreros! hahaha!!!
stuffblackpeoplelike - sniffing glue! hahaha!!!
aren’t i funny and clever!!!
don’t you dare call me a racist!!!
RACIST! Just playing. So true.
I’m white and I have never done Yoga. Am I fucking cool or what? Let’s hang out and NOT find our center, or whatever the heck those white people that aren’t as cool as me do.
lots of people do it because it’s trendy, and blow wads on stupid clothing, true. but if you knew jackshit about yoga you wouldn’t be so smug, it can actually be pretty incredible, on many levels. but that woudn’t fit into your self-hating need to feel superior all that neatly, now, would it?
I think the most incredible part is the wide variety of wacky names they come up with to describe their poses: “Greeting the Sun Goddess” “Awake and Unfold” “Stay Together, Cheeks, Stay Together!”
Whitey likes taking “boot camp” classes at the gym because they are so lazy they can’t do anything on their own.
Is there anything more pathetic than a man doing an aerobics class? And I must say, he is almost always white.
Fitness trainers??????? White/white/white.
Us brown and black folk like to build up our muscles climbing fences and breaking into places, then we get superbuff in prison. I think I can get white people to pay for getting them into the right prison…..
i work for a non-profit and i approached a well known yoga clothing company in vancouver for a donation, since they claim to be oh so
caring about the environment and such … and they denied any donations, monetary or otherwise because they just don’t donate … yet they sell yoga pants for about $100 each?!
I actually wish exercising wasn’t considered sooo white maybe then the endemic obesity and associated heart disease in minority commuinites would be reduced
not really we just don’t like going outside and we like eating food that tastes good and has sugar, salt and a decent fat content. at least we’re happy and we have good family values.
A friend of mine gave my some weird yoga stuff and put me into various stretches and yoga positons… I must say it actually felt really good. but yeah, yoga class is for tools…
Tools? Are you 12?
Yoga is fun and invigorating. And yes, it gives one a nice firm ass, etc…
It does make your ass nice and firm.
I hate yoga classes. Partner work with a stranger is so yucky. Yoga classes are too expensive and I also can’t afford to upgrade my “yoga wardrobe”. The classes I went to were always comprised of spoiled housewives. So I rent DVDs and tapes from my library. Now I can stretch for half an hour in the privacy of my own home, versus coughing up $80 - 100 per month. It really helps me to not be so tense and miserable. I find it helpful to recuperate after a day of mealy-mouthed, passive aggressive behavior (mine and others).
You are definitely Canadian, I’m guessing from Vancouver. Love the blog, I’m not white but I can relate to about half of them.
Took yoga classes at the YWCA when I was 16 years old.
I was able to fold my legs behind my head. It was pretty sweet.
Yuk! Only a white person would say, “Kolkata”, when they meant “Calcutta”.
The nameof the city “Calcutta” has been officially changed to “Kolkata”…Maybe that’s the reason…
why do white people do so many zany things?
Kill Whitey !
Why do numerous so-called intellectual egg heads believe that they can say “Yo, who’s in da house?” and be treated like royalty by every bloody person who isn’t a cracker?
you forgot to mention how the yoga class must be reminiscent of india, but not be not *too* ethnic. it must smell of incense, be decorated in earth tones, and be run a white teacher who can say a few obscure words in sanskrit - but anything more and it would just get weird.
I don’t do yoga. I just get laid a lot. That’s my yoga.
-Trout.
Actually, yoga is really cheap.
This whole posting sounds like someone is jealous of white people…. It’s ok though, we understand. I mean it must really hurt to think about the “accomplishments” of Africans, Asians, Hispanics and Arabs when compared to that of whites.
Oh lordy.
Sweetie, let me tell you a little something. The accomplishments you think give you bragging rights? Were those of OTHER white people… not YOU.
Einstein was a genius. This does not make you less of a moron.
Anyone who’s taken a decent yoga class knows that it feels pretty damn good. My appreciation for eastern religions may be fed by my yoga class participation however what gets me there is an addiction to pleasure.
Wahahaha. Brampton.
Another thing white people like to do in yoga class (and not just the guys) is NOT wear deodorant and sweat to all hell a mere 2 inches away from you. Of course, wearing deodorant is anti-spiritual and goes against any good farmer’s market going organic buying, coffee drinking, spiritual white person.
Don’t get me started on how much space they like to take up even though they should be “sharing” it with others. After all, $80 pants deserve to spread out.
Being Indian, and having done Yoga in India (for about 50 rupees an hour or about $1/hr) I find it funny that all the white people spend upward of $100/hr to do what they call Yoga (i.e. glorified stretching). Real Yoga in India includes praying to God even. It’s also funny when all the white people I know assume I’m a master at yoga when all I do is go to the gym every other day, work out and am more fit then they are.
Yoga is just a self-gratiating way to feel superior. It’s like being catholic. Yours is the one true way to enlightenment! I’m a master of Eastern Religions, so I am superior in every way to all of you cretins, which is why Eastern Religions promote tolerance and patience.
Yoga is actually a spiritual discipline to link oneself with the Supreme God, it was never mere body stretching until it came to the west. It’s very interesting to see all these white people doing funny stretches and calling it yoga… They’ve been cheated by fake gurus who’ve come to the west to make money.
You’re right. Yoga is Sanskrit for “Union” and is about much more than physical fitness. Leave it to the West to strip it of it’s spiritual roots and leave only the gimmicky garbage that all image obsessed assholes are suckers for.
Of the three yoga instructors at my fitness club, one is white, one middle eastern, and one black.
The participants are mostly white, though. Come to think of it, the whole club is.
Not to be too white or anything, but I LOVE my yoga. I did make fun my freinds before I tried it . . . but since my first class I developed a deep respect for anyone willing to check it out. Try holding yourself in “downward dog” for more than 60 seconds-it hurts! I got in to yoga because I was severely depressed (another thing white folks can’t get enough of!) and had major anxiety issues. It really did help bring me back to center for at least that hour. And as far as cost goes, I was lucky to have classes offered at the university I attend. It works out to about $2 per class, thanks for all you folks who subsidize public education
And I don’t care what I look like when I am in class so I wear whatever comfy clothing I can find at Target (is that on the list???) The people who are showing off their expensive work out clothes aren’t really there to gain the full effect (personal opinion).
Jordan, the author of the post IS white. Dumbass. It’s ironic that you’re bashing the group who came up with the exercise/form of spirituality you imply feeling entitled to take part in. Oh, white supremacists. I’m sorry you received such a shoddy, narcissistic “education” and a selective version of history. It’s nice how you think that capitalizing off of other’s intellectual and physical labor via unearned privilege and violence is an “accomplishment”.
Many flakey people seem to take yoga its true, and man I can tell you the MALES in a yoga class are usually in the extreme flakey category for sure. I am a male and not flakey, I have taken yoga to be a better and less injured hockey player, surfer, etc… Just please spare me the relaxation and spirituality aspects, I’m there to enhance my athletics. I would suggest to people they try a more westernized yoga geared towards athletics, not spirituality.
btw, the women in these classes are HOT!! Flakey (”Oh, I don’t own a TV…”), but hot!!
This post above mine has got to be the biggest load of BS I’ve ever read.
“All those OTHER guys I’ve seen in the yoga classes I MYSELF HAVE TAKEN are ‘flaky’, but I am a manly man who loves me some some women!”
Then he goes on to explain how he does some fakey yoga adapted to his liking while the so-called “flakes” are doing real yoga. What a tool. No way is he white.
I pay $5 for my yoga class and have not purchased any special clothes or equipment (just wear shorts and a t-shirt). It is a real yoga class that includes chanting, sun salutations, and visualizations. It is the best thing I have ever done for my mind and body. No more back problems!
Yoga isn’t about your clothes, it’s about your practice, and you can practice in anything comfy.. and we barter with our yoga instructor for art, so it’s free. We are lucky!
I don’t care much who is doing it for what trendy reason, I just stay focused on what I put into and get out of my own practice.
Also, I think it’s sad for those who haven’t found something they connect to yet to criticize others who have. Live and let live!
I thought this was an American blog…How you guys managed to reference Brampton blows my mind! I’m from Brampton (Ontario, Canada) and when I read that I laughed out loud!
Great Blog…
Yoga rocks!!
White people like to say stuff “rocks!”
Hahahah, back problems. I think that is something White people like to talk about. Chiropracting… and that is not yuppified, it’s more blue collar white people.
I like yoga I just don’t like some of the weirdness that goes along with it leave out the religion
I think it’s kinda hilarious that you say you like yoga but don’t like the “weirdness” and “religion” of it.
So things are only acceptable to you if they don’t bring you out of your comfort zone? Then take an aerobics class and stay out of yoga! The rest of us thank you!
@ 41 ellen:
“I like yoga I just don’t like some of the weirdness that goes along with it leave out the religion.”
It’s “spirituality”, remember? Whites aren’t religious, they’re spiritual. I say leave it IN. And I accuse those who want it out of starting a “War on Yoga.”
clearly someone who writes this blog lives in vancouver. you know what a kitsilano is! you know about ubc and it’s bounty of asian beauties! you know that opening a yoga studio is futile! ahh, a little piece of home.
You have obviously never been to the south.
although yoga in the united states is stereotypically a group activity in which people pay muchos dineros to participate, i know many people who incorporate yoga as well as meditation into daily health rituals. it is, in these cases, much less about the fad of doing yoga and more about the personalized experience each person gets with the practice. the wonderful thing about yoga is that it requires no equipment so it doesn’t limit itself to any socio-economic group or certain culture. love!
Those lululemon pants are REALLY popular here in Vancouver. Seriously, in Kits(short for Kitsilano), 12 out of every 10 women have some lululemon item of clothing, and are probably wearing it right now.
go Brampton!
FYI for the Americans, there’s a lot of immigrant Indians in Brampton. I’ve never met an immigrant who does yoga, the only (one) Indian I know who does it is a teacher.. and she’s first generation.
but I love the women in tight Lululemon/TNA yoga pants and spandex booty shorts.
*heh-heh, dirty old man laugh*
whatever race the author of this is, they are ignorant on yoga.
Wait… yoga doesn’t make up for colonialism?
LOL!
This list seems more like its all stuff that other races specifically don’t like…thats kinda garbage
http://www.garbarrassing.com
for funny stuff that everyone likes…
In some etymologies, “yoga” means “union.” And that’s what yoga is about - union with a supreme being. It’s both spiritual (as an earlier commenter mocked) and religious. Most “traditional” forms of yoga are based on the Yoga Sutras and the Tantric philosophies. Practitioners use meditation techniques and pranayama (breathing) techniques as well as “stretching.”
But, yeah, like anything else, yoga can be distorted and bastardized by people looking to make a profit or be made into a prophet. Hence all the expensive classes, clothing, props, jewelry, etc.
The good news is, many yoga organizations are striving to return to a more fundamental offering of yoga, one that gives EVERYONE access to practicing yoga - on and off the mat.
Namaste.
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Being an Indian and knowing a bit about Yoga, I would like to say something. It is not a compulsion to buy exclusive attires to practice yoga. Yoga mainly deals with the mind and a bit on the body. In fact, the exercises or asanas are just a subdivision of the major Yoga tree. I think the interpretation of the original stuff has been amplified badly to a large extent.
I find it appalling that white people get access to ancient yoga techniques for free and make money selling unnecessary accoutrements..
I wish my people had some sort of copyright on this stuff, I am sure white folk would! —- Hence the love for lawyers!
Brampton shout out!
Holla!!
Oh, Brampton!
Thank you for that.