Downward Facing Blog

(it’s gotten ridiculous)
Although we cringed when that one American model coined the term yoga butt, it probably did more good than bad in that it probably was good marketing to get people in the door to yoga studios. I’ve heard Bikram yoga aficionados declare similarly when confronted with the facts that it’s a fairly soulless exercise routine: “well, at least it gets people in the door!”

True enough. I’m on a mission myself. An evangelist of sorts even. Like many zealots throughout history I have this notion that the more people do yoga, well, it may just make the world better. Or lead to more divorces? Apparently there is this odd modern trend of women getting into yoga, and finding their husbands lagging behind on the upward evolutionary track and then leaving him in the dust. Or maybe we should all just do ecstasy, peak at the same time, and hug each other? Either way, yoga butt or no yoga butt, the world continues in it’s multicolored variety of complete odd contrasts- and with all the good vibes I’ve sent out, there’s still no shortage of suffering. 

What probably comes to mind first when you think of suffering would be humans, right? It’s true of course, and as Ken Wilbur would agree, in relative importance - we would deem our own race more worthy of saving than others. Naturally. That said however, we could perhaps extend the idea that our animal neighbors are feeling creatures as well. While we could argue the sentience-level birds with low IQ have, I doubt they find living in a chicken house pleasant. In fact, it looks like hell. I know- I actually worked in one on an Israeli kibbutz a lifetime ago. Compound hell X mass scale and you get the particularly gnarly hen houses used to fuel the Kentucky Fried Chicken (KFC) machine:

Looks like a concentration camp doesn’t it?

Reasonably sentient human beings know about the sub humane treatment of animals grown for food. After all, PETA organization among others have done some clever eye catching protests such as this one: ( I feel like looking, don’t you?)

The irony

Today I was fortunate to capture these ridiculous pictures on the Bangkok skytrain. Yup, that’s a guy doing marichasana A, eating a drumstick. The same pose dedicated to one of the Vedic rishis, son of Brahma. Uh. Well I was complaining that ad firms are getting incredibly dull when always using “SEXY” to sell everything- I hadn’t really figured they’d stoop this low. It’s pretty stupid. Does this work on anyone??

“Let’s think- healthy is trendy now- so we have to make people think KFC is healthy… hmmm… how??”

“I know: YOGA!”

Sigh. I’ve been on a mission, like I said, to spread “the real thing” for the past eight years here. It looks like I didn’t quite get my point out. It is good to get the yoga butt and find yourself getting the yoga mind along the way. It isn’t good however to link crap poison food based on cruelty to YOGA.  In any case, I’ve come around to the “whatever gets them in the door” policy. My door would be nice, but I’m also generally altruistic… I want you ALL to start doing yoga!
(and avoid the chicken)