Free Ottawa yoga class scrapped over 'cultural issues'

[Divemaster]

This class was offered by the University of Ottawa's Centre (sic) for Students with Disabilities! Free yoga for disabled people shut down by a single complaint. Cultural issues my hairy ass. The instructor has some great quotes about the "complainant".

http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/11/20/...ultural-issues

BY AEDAN HELMER, OTTAWA SUN
FIRST POSTED: FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 2015 08:58 PM EST | UPDATED: SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2015 09:00 PM EST

Student leaders have pulled the mat out from 60 University of Ottawa students, ending a free on-campus yoga class over fears the teachings could be seen as a form of "cultural appropriation."

Jennifer Scharf, who has been offering free weekly yoga instruction to students since 2008, says she was shocked when told in September the program would be suspended, and saddened when she learned of the reasoning.

Staff at the Centre for Students with Disabilities believe that "while yoga is a really great idea and accessible and great for students ... there are cultural issues of implication involved in the practice," according to an email from the centre.

The centre is operated by the university's Student Federation, which first approached Scharf seven years ago about offering yoga instruction to students both with and without disabilities.

The centre goes on to say, "Yoga has been under a lot of controversy lately due to how it is being practiced," and which cultures those practices "are being taken from."

The centre official argues since many of those cultures "have experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy ... we need to be mindful of this and how we express ourselves while practising yoga."

The concept of cultural appropriation is normally applied when a dominant culture borrows symbols of a marginalized culture for dubious reasons -- such as the fad of hipsters donning indigenous headdresses as a fashion statement, without any regard to cultural significance or stereotype.

But Scharf, a yoga teacher with the downtown Rama Lotus Centre, said the concept does not apply in this case, arguing the complaint that killed the program came instead from a "social justice warrior" with "fainting heart ideologies" in search of a cause celebre.

"People are just looking for a reason to be offended by anything they can find," said Scharf.

"There's a real divide between reasonable people and those people just looking to jump on a bandwagon. And unfortunately, it ends up with good people getting punished for doing good things."

There were about 60 students who participated in the free program.

Acting student federation president Romeo Ahimakin denied the decision resulted from a complaint.

Ahimakin said the student federation put the yoga session on hiatus while they consult with students "to make it better, more accessible and more inclusive to certain groups of people that feel left out in yoga-like spaces. ... We are trying to have those sessions done in a way in which students are aware of where the spiritual and cultural aspects come from, so that these sessions are done in a respectful manner."

Scharf offered a compromise, suggesting she change the name from yoga to "mindful stretching," since that would reflect the content of the program and would "literally change nothing about the course."

"I'm not pretending to be some enlightened yogi master, and the point (of the program) isn't to educate people on the finer points of the ancient yogi scripture," she told the Sun.

"The point is to get people to have higher physical awareness for their own physical health and enjoyment."

According to email correspondence between Scharf and the centre, student leaders debated rebranding the program, but stumbled over how the French translation for "mindful stretching" would appear on a promotional poster, and eventually decided to suspend the program.

Student federation official Julie Seguin sympathized with Scharf over e-mail, defending the use of the term "yoga," and saying, "I am also still of the opinion that a single complaint does not outweigh all of the good that these classes have done."

Seguin said "labeling the CSD's yoga lessons as cultural appropriation is questionable (and) debatable" and called on further discussion with the student executive.

@OttSunHelmer

[Divemaster]

http://www.ottawasun.com/2015/11/22/...in-yoga-debate

Yoga students denied better lives in yoga 'debate'

MEGAN CAMPBELL FOR THE OTTAWA SUN

FIRST POSTED: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2015 09:10 PM EST | UPDATED: SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2015 09:16 PM EST

Editor's note: On Saturday, the Sun reported that the University of Ottawa Student Federation's Centre for Students with Disabilities had suspended a free yoga class, apparently due to fears of "cultural appropriation." We reached out to one local yoga instructor to ask her thoughts on the debate.

I am at a complete loss as to the premise for this "debate."

As Canadians, we pride ourselves on our tolerance and inclusiveness, which are also precepts of yoga. We are privileged to live in a culture where we have ample options to learn, discover and experience other cultures as well.

For students, yoga can be a support system benefiting body, mind and emotional health. It might also be a literal life saver, when the stress and pressures of scholastic life feels too much to bear.

An article from 'Psychology Today' cited the emotional benefits of the practice and two recent studies published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology confirm specific--and universal--health benefits of yoga by studying women with breast cancer.

Do these students, who are perhaps beyond broke since education and tuition payments are at an all-time high, not deserve an opportunity to experience these same benefits as everyone else?

The students who showed up to the class did so of their own free will with complete understanding that they were attending a yoga class.

It stymies the imagination to fathom the intention of any movement that would seek to 'ban' an optional, free (not for profit), offering, whereby the only intention is to assist students to become healthier and more focused and facilitates community which is comforting for many away from home for the first time.

It also fosters a greater sense of compassion and understanding, which then extends toward fellow students, teachers and university culture as a whole. In a time of bullying and hazing going to extreme degrees should this not be of great concern to those who are trying to put an end to it when this could possibly be a tool to eradicate it?

The more than two million practitioners nationwide who opt to attend this form of practice and its many variations (all combining a variety of physical, spiritual and mental disciplines) cannot be wrong.

Yoga was brought to the West with great excitement and enthusiasm in 1893 by Swami Vivekananda who, at the Parliament of Religions, said, "Sisters and Brothers of America, I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true."

To claim, with no merit or proof, that someone, or this practice, is "cultural appropriation" is beyond uninformed and oblivious to the history, philosophy, and system of acceptance of one's Self and others that it is. My hope is that the decision is reconsidered and these students are given back their choice and the teacher her ability to share this ancient art of living.

-- Megan Campbell has been teaching yoga locally and internationally for over ten years. She has graduated from three 200 hour teacher training programs and completed an 800 hour Yoga History and Philosophy course. www.megancampbell.ca

[blacksmoke]

F this...I've had enough and I'm moving to Canada!! What's that...? Wait what?! F#$k

[the squid]

The zombie apocalypse couldn't happen at a better time.

[Team Sergeant]

Shitte..... this just ruined my business plan for " Team Sergeant's Tactical Yoga" classes. @#%^%Y&#%^ *^&*#$@%$!@#

[Hand]

I read (tried to read) both of Divemasters articles and when I was done, my brain was rendered into a mash potatoe like mush and I was confused still as to what the fvck the problem was...

Is it mean to Indians to use their excercise methods in America? Is it the yoga pants that are somehow offensive? WTF over?

I found an article that explains it a little better for simpletons such as myself who dont get all this lgb-sis-trans islamaphobe lingo:

If you see a woman in tights smile as she leans back and spreads her legs, what's the first thing that comes to your mind?

Western colonialism, right?

Of course!

That's why it's understandable that the University of Ottowa has ended yoga classes there.

... yoga comes from India, once a British colony. And now, at one Canadian university, a yoga class designed to include disabled students has been canceled after concerns the practice was taken from a culture that “experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy,” according to the group that once sponsored it.

It's like six degrees of separation! Yoga comes from India. India was once a British colony. Therefore, yoga = colonialism!

It's like saying (1) Democratic Senate Majority Leader Robert Byrd was a Klansman. (2) Robert Byrd used to get his hair cut in Charleston. (3) His barber in Charleston drinks Coca-Cola. Therefore, Coca-Cola = racism.



Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/blog/...#ixzz3sQukEk1N

[blacksmoke]

What's the first thing that comes to my mind when I see fit young women in yoga pants? Colonialism!! LOL The brazilians better not find out about BJJ class.