-Nikunj G Katkoria-NIT Surat

What is yoga?

A physical, mental, and spiritual

discipline that originated in ancient

India

Who are the players?

Deepak Chopra

Bikram Choudhury

Tara

Stile

s

16 Million people practice

yoga

Yoga journal pegged in

industry at a whooping $5.7

billion

Bikram Choudhury had

patented a series of poses in his classes

under U.S. copyright law.

Tara Stiles offered entirely exercise-focused classes

HAF Launched

Indian government had already begun to catalog 1500 yoga poses in

a digital library

Branding Sector : Yoga

What the case is all about?

Is everything

Different paths of 2 successful yoga teachers

Is yoga associated with Hinduism?

Earliest records were found in Indus Valley archeological relics

Philosophical Cornerstones of yoga

Parts of epic Mahabharata

Yoga comes to

America

Began when 2 American writers were fascinated by Indic and Hindu Literature

First Hindu to bring

yoga in U.S. in 1893

Maharishi and Chopra

partnered to focus on mind-

body medicine in 1980s and

1990s

Bikram Choudhury’s approach

Taught 26 asanas and 2 breathing exercises

Started teaching Hath yoga

Arrived in U.S. in 1971 and opened his first studio

First went to Japan, and due to cold in winters, began using space heater

Decided to patent the

Bikram style when other yoga instructors used

his methods

Sent cease-and-desist letters to other yoga instructors who used his

methods

By April 2003, Bikram had more

than 700 studios in 220

countries

Indian government responded to Bikram’s yoga by putting some people to catalog 1500 poses

found in ancient Sanskrit, Urdu and Persian

The goal was to keep

others from following

Bikram’s example

By 2011, some 5,000 Bikram

Yoga studios had opened around

the world

Continued to hunt

down perceived

copycats and send

cease-and-desist

letters

Tara Stiles’ approach

Left Ford in 2007, and started teaching yoga in her apartment

Went on several fashion shoots that involved yoga apparel 2006

Disliked New York yoga scene

Moved to New York in 2000

Learned yoga with ballet

Moved to Chicago to study ballet

Used facebook to promote her yoga classes

Opened her own studio in 2008, named strala yoga

Did not used Sanskrit words

for poses or chant in class

Worked in team Fonda, who launched new workout videos in 2010, along with Jane

Fonda

Published her book “Slim Calm Sexy Yoga” in 2010

Released a yoga ipad app with chopra in 2010

Did not think to patent her yoga

classes

As what really matters is what

goes on inside yoga classes

Discussion-The politics of yoga

Participating members

•Sheetal Shah of HAF•Tara Stiles•Dr. Edwin Bryant of Rutgers University•Dr. Virginia cowen of the city of New York•Edwin Stern, founder of ashtanga yoga NY

Topics included

•Definition of yoga•Commercialization of yoga•Validity of yoga•Whether yoga belonged to Hinduism or any one tradition

HAF, after examining yoga

journal, concluded that there is no

reference to Hinduism in the magazine, and

concluded that it associated Buddhism,

Jainism, and Christianity