(edit: I wrote this blog after the first day of a yoga therapy conference I went to last week. That first day was particularly disappointing. But there were some better presentations on the following days. And while some of the didactic pieces were interesting the practices that were offered were not. It was subpar. And it pissed me off. So I wrote this blog about "mushy yoga". I want more out of yoga and yoga therapy because I have been working hard, for many years, to bring it into the health care system. So I want professionals to get better trained and step up the game. Some people found my blog offensive. I was called "elitist" and "a snob." Then I felt bad about myself for writing it. Because I was acculturated to be a good girl, positive and sweet, like all little girls born in the 1960s. I took it down for a few days to rethink what I had written, now it's back up, unedited. If you need to pretend this blog was written by "Christopher Weber" instead of Kristine, that's just fine. And when you accuse him of being a snob, he won't care (and you probably would never accuse him of that anyway, you would just admire him for his clarity of thought). Worldview is the lens through which ALL of our perceptions are colored. I put the blog back up because it actually is important for this info to get out there, and anyway, I put on my big girl panties - I'm not afraid of trolls in my closet or my comments anymore).
Yoga is good and it works.
But there’s lots of yoga out there that could be a lot better – especially what could be called “mushy” yoga – or yoga that doesn’t have much methodology or a framework behind it. This kind of yoga is typically an amalgamation of a bunch of disparate techniques like what you find in Instagram reels – a few stretches here, some breathing practices there, throw in a little mindfulness, self-compassion, gratitude, some guided meditations, some relaxation training, maybe some yoga nidra and, viola, you’re now trained in mushy yoga.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the origins of mushy yoga and I think it can be traced back to colonialism. (If you’re thinking, “oh god, here she goes,” just gimme a second). I have spent a lot of time reading about the history of modern yoga from various scholarly perspectives – and you can actually point to some key privileged women who helped shape the mushy yoga in the West today.
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Madame Blavatsky, the founder of the Theosophical Society traveled to India in 1879, during the height of Victorian colonialism – and colonialism wasn’t just about stealing resources – it was an attitude of superiority that infected most privileged white people of the time. Its legacy persists (and is certainly evident) today.
Blavatsky went to India with an inkling that Indians knew something mysterious and mystical that she needed to learn. She studied yoga philosophy and subtle anatomy with Indian teachers for a short while and she then decided that she could most certainly “improve upon” it. Her books (and students who carried on her work like Annie Bessant and Charles Leadbeater) primed Westerners to treat any wisdom from the East as raw material just waiting to be properly upgraded by the Western mind.
At the same time, in the late 1800s, American women, including Genevieve Stebbins in New York City were teaching “harmonic gymnastics” a manifestation of early body-mind culture which then morphed, and eventually iterated into early yoga classes in the U.S. in the 60s and 70s – largely led by women.
An intersecting phenomenon is what was happening with social work. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth century privileged white women were founding and fundraising for their “settlement houses,” organized to uplift immigrants and the poor by blending moral "reform", hygiene, exercise, and civic improvement. But there was a massive disconnect between the experiences of these privileged “reformers” and the people they were trying to “uplift” – including cultural superiority, paternalistic frameworks and attitudes, blindness to power differentials of race and class, and a spotlight that was often shined on the moral rectitude, goodness, and magnanimity of the giver rather than the plight of the marginalized.
St. Mary's Settlement,1899
This attitude has been rigorously stamped out in modern day social work. But the myth of the privileged white woman as savior and bastion of morality and goodness was threaded unconsciously throughout the twentieth century in many aspects of American culture.
I’m always talking about worldview, and how if you don’t try to dig up yours, it will come back and bite you in the a…sana. 😁 The shovel has to excavate history - our own and that of our culture. So, here we have these two dominate, intersecting worldviews (largely unconscious) threaded into the worldview of our minds, that form the historical foundation of today’s mushy yoga – one is the idea that whatever comes from “backwards” cultures like India is inferior and the Western mind can and must improve upon it; and the other – that middle class white women are the natural saviors and moral beacons for the less fortunate who are suffering and downtrodden - perfect yoga teachers.
I cringe to think (and highly doubt) anyone teaching yoga these days believes either of these things – but they were still pretty dominant when our older teacher’s were learning about yoga. They are vestiges of past worldviews, very difficult to unravel, that continue to shape our current study of yoga in the west and influence the way it's taught.
The art and science of yoga teaching and yoga therapy have lineages in India. They are complex, ancient, highly nuanced, and take years to master – on a level with Ayurveda, Chinese Medicine, Chiropractic, Homeopathy, Psychotherapy, as well as Western medicine modalities.
I don’t know any successful acupuncturists practitioners without a training framework for what they do, who randomly select necessary herbs and needle placement. But it seems to be just fine to teach and train others in mushy yoga, no one objects.
It’s not that yoga teacher and yoga therapy trainers don’t mean well, of course they do. So did the early social workers. So did Madam Blavatsky. It’s not that yoga should stay stuck in antiquity either – of course it will evolve. But leaning hard into innovation and evolution shouldn't get anyone off the hook. And, when you have a solid system to work with - your outcomes are much better, and you feel a lot more confident in what you do and teach. I went through three yoga therapy training programs because although all the trainers were lovely people, they didn't know what they didn't know. It took me a long time to find a solid methodology that works.
Without being grounded in centuries of traditional wisdom, mushy yoga teaching is like a doctor figuring out how to treat patients by trial and error. It’s like trying to reinvent the wheel. It ignores the language, worldview, and thinking structures of experienced pracitioners.
But, if yoga is so helpful and low risk, what’s the harm in it being a little mushy?
Yeah, I get that.
Maybe Western people don't need or want the whole shebang. But, if we as a profession of yoga therapists, therapeutic yoga teachers, and/or yoga educators want to convince the western health care world that we have something efficacious to bring to the table, we need to step up our systems – we need to show that beyond helping people relax in the moment, we have the theory, methodology and application of practices that can help people transform their physiology, their neuro-endocrine immune systems, their psychology, and operationalize their spiritual assets. We need to look to the past if we are going to be effective in the future.
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Christine, you have written so much about Yoga and I’m sure you already have material you could put together for a book. I’d like to see that!
I’m working on it! Thank you Mary.
This resonates with me right now because I am in an on-line discussion group about racial healing. The colonialist attitude is prevalent still, not only in the negative aspects of our country today, but also in the “do-gooders”. Instead of asking people how we (I’m a white woman, by the way) can help. What do you need? We force what we think would be best for them. I know the analogy isn’t a perfect one when considering yoga, but having a solid background in yoga practice allows us to form our class to the needs of the students- older, physically challenged, younger, more flexible- rather than to just teach a mish-mash and hope it works, at least for some of the class.
I so appreciate that you take the time to communicate your thoughts on yoga and beyond to us. Thank you!
Thank you so much Cindy for your thoughtful response. Yes, I think these are interrelated issues. How do we both honor the past and where yoga has come from, and share it in a way that supports what folks needs are right now? and it’s the worldview that’s so insidious. Thank you!
I love your perspectives. Thank you.
💖Thanks Julie.
Kristine, I like the research and your thoughts ion mushy yoga. You mention 3 therapy trainings until you found the methodology that works. May I ask, which authentic lineage is subtle yoga founded on?
Viniyoga. I’ve studied with several teachers but mostly Gary Kraftsow.
In what way is Viniyoga not a “western upgrade” of authentic lineage teachings? The American Viniyoga Institute (complete with “®”) looks like just that.
Of course it is, and as I said in the article, of course yoga will morph and evolve, it’s the nature of any practice. I’m sure I don’t teach anything like what was going on in the Mysore Palace in the 1920s or in the Himalayan ashrams of the first millennium. My point here is that much of what is taught in the West isn’t grounded in a methodology – and I tried to explain why I think that’s so. I wish you the best with your yoga practice and teaching.
I appreciate your points and hope I am seen in agreement.
I believe this apparent disrespect for Yoga’s history and traditional practices has existed easily since the 1960s. Yoga became highly commercialized in the US and now this has spread to many other nations. Some call this “cultural appropriation”.
I know that some schools in the US that do focus on tradition, but media often distorts the messaging.
I think this reflects broader imbalances in our social order. (I could rant…)
Thank You
Good point Jim, thank you. I could rant too😁 LOL.
I’m glad you put this post back up, Christine. I met you 20 years ago when you were a guest instructor in my 200 hour teacher training in Asheville and connected to your teaching right away. As I continue to practice, teach and study my interest in understanding yoga’s true roots and history (beyond the superficial dominant narrative) grows. I’d love a scholar or title to explore, if you have one or two to suggest as a starting point. I will eagerly pre-order your own book when it’s available!
Hi Andrea, thanks so much for writing. I have learned a lot from Mark Singleton, Stephanie Sloman, and Shaman Hatley. But there are many others Kurt Lelands the Rainbow body is a brilliant look at the development of the western chakra system. fun read too.
Thank you, Kristine, for your sound and thoughtful reminder of the biased origins of yoga practice in North America, and the value of staying close to its roots in India. Deep wisdom for these superficial times.
Heather H.
Thanks so much Heather. Yes, and I think difficult times make it even more important to think a out these things. People really need to access the deeper teachings of yoga right now.
Good morning- So …since I have learned from certification with you, I incorporate things into my teaching that are probably not traditional yoga, but in those nervous system regulating families like Qi Gong (which I took for a long time some years back) and Feldenkrais and yes, some things I have learned in my own anatomical journey with physical therapy(Libby Hinsley). Am I correct in thinking that these items are not the “mush” ? Are you saying that the most central components are the energetic qualities of the yoga poses we use interspersed with those other offerings for well being? And that the sequencing and use of breath as primary guide are non negotiable and foundational? That’s the way I have internalized this teaching but have wondered how far I stray from the original teaching.
TBH I was a little pitta provoked when I wrote this – I’d just been to a conference full of yoga that was uncontextualized and it irritated me. Anyway, if I was a man my response would be completely acceptable, even applauded, but I did get some push back on this one – I should’ve been a bit more diplomatic. Anywho, yes, you are right on point IMHO. I am an innovator and synthesizer, but I do it in within a framework. Frameworks are important because they help us figure out how to sequence and what makes sense where. Thanks for the comment Carol! xoxo
Kristine,
Hi. I am a retired physician ( PMR physiatrist)
Who attended the same conference that you referenced.
I wish I had known you were there as I have followed your work for years.
I’m currently doing a 300 hour yoga teacher training with Ganesh Mohan in India, hoping to proceed with yoga therapy training eventually.
Would you be willing to have a telephone conversation with me. I’d love to talk further as I was at the same conference.
Hi Kristine, I have been following you for a few years now and have taken a few of your free courses and a handful of ones I paid for, I am 73 years old, retired from IT for 11 years, certified 200 hr yoga teacher since 2008 from Yoka Loka in Frenchtown NJ. We were taught Mukanda Styles joint freeing series, which are a series of gentle and restorative poses.
I was hurt by the way you described ”mushy yoga” because it sounds very much like the type of class I teach. I mostly work with seniors (from senior centers) and teach a chair class that draws over 30 people every week, my mat class is smaller but still over 12 people. Some of my seniors are not healthy so the softer and gentler I can move them, the better they respond.
It may not be like your subtle practice and it may be mushy but it’s very effective. I actually like the term “Mushy yoga” but not your comments about.
Hi Ana,
Wow Frenchtown? – did we know each other when I lived there – 1995-2001? I was teaching at the dance studio and in my friend’s garage back then. Please don’t take my blog personally – it’s not meant as an affront to any teacher personally and as I wrote twice, all yoga is good, it helps people. I’m sure what you teach is very helpful. My point here is that we need to look beneath the hood of what we’re doing. I tried to untangle where some of the mushiness comes from and how we need to recognize the worldview from which we are viewing what we do and teach. I wish you only the best with your work.
when you try to teach people about the effects of white privilege they will be offended because it’s true.
amy wheelers dad , glen
yes, there’s that. You have a very special daughter BTW! Thanks for chiming in.
Wonderful thoughts. I am a social work student right now so the parallels to white women and social work was cool to see. I feel two ways about what you wrote.
On one hand, I’m like hell yeah! Theory, methodology and application of practices! On the other hand, I’m like mhmm do I really want yoga to be part of the western healthcare system? I kind of like that it’s outside of the system or adjacent to it. It’s so special and I am protective of the idea of it being within the western healthcare system because I am not sure this system is “good enough” for it for lack of better wording. But that doesn’t mean it would not be valuable to have it in western healthcare.
yeah, it’s a mixed bag for sure. The health care system in the U.S. isn’t really health care at all, just sick care, and it’s terribly broken. and I still want yoga therapists to have a seat at the table. We have a lot to contribute, especially to Whole Health.
I so appreciate the granularity of your perspectives. You are the Heather Cox Richardson of Yoga!
Mushy Yoga is also the result of shortening and dumbing down Yoga teacher trainings without a requirement that instructors have a minimum of yoga teaching experience before they can hold themselves out as yoga teacher trainers.
In the first of my three yoga teacher, trainings, my teacher only graduated students when, in her opinion, they were ready. Some people studied two years, some five years. I am grateful that each of the trainings was deeply steep in yoga philosophy, and cosmology. I am still a perpetual student.
OMG your comment made me laugh Leila! I love HCR and certainly would never claim to have her history abilities, but I do appreciate the comment. I agree about being a perpetual student, me too. But, the problem is also about money and paying for trainings and when you are just scratching by as a yoga teacher it can be really challenging to justify shelling out more cash for something that’s giving you very little ROI. So we have a big problem with the profession too – not paying teachers what they’re worth, having too many undertrained teachers vying for a small piece of the pie, and then the corporatists raking in the spoils. Lots of intersecting issues.
Your reply really hits home for me. I did a 500 hours YTTC at the Mandala Yoga Ashram 20 odd years ago which was a fabulous foundation for me. Since then I’ve been teaching consistently (aside from a parenting-break) and for the last 13 years in regional Australia. I would dearly love to undertake a yoga therapy course, but it is completely unaffordable! I’ve taken several of your online workshops and had the pleasure of studying under Leila when she’s visited my area and I’m very grateful to be a member or your resilience society. I would obviously never claim to be a yoga therapist or teach therapeutic yoga, so I continue to teach my classes and hope that I do my bit. Thank you for re-posting this and don’t stop being you 🙏
I think you can say you teach therapeutic yoga Lucy, I don’t see anything wrong with that at all. The difference for YTs is assessment. But that doesn’t mean you can’t teach therapeutically. You are definitely qualified!
read the article several times to fully understand your perspective. At first, I found myself resistant—it initially came across as dismissive of approaches that are often rooted in care and good intention. However, after sitting with it and revisiting the piece, I began to better understand the distinction you are drawing between intention and methodology.
Your reflections prompted me to step back and revisit the various yoga frameworks and therapeutic models more intentionally. After some time away from teaching, I plan to return with a deeper respect for structure, lineage, and clinical reasoning, and to take your observations seriously as I refine my approach.
If you’re open to it, I would also appreciate an example—without naming names—from workshops or trainings you’ve attended that illustrate what you’re describing. A concrete example would help me better visualize the patterns you’re pointing to and apply the critique more thoughtfully.
Thank you for taking the time to share your perspective.
I really appreciate you reading the article carefully. When we try to deconstruct worldview, it can take some time. I feel like it took me years to understand the concept. So thank you for that. As for concrete examples. When someone says (and I’ve heard this in a workshop), “you can try nadi shodhana and if that doesn’t work, try lengthening your exhale, and if that doesn’t work, try ujjayi, and if that doesn’t work, try square breath.” That’s what I’m talking about. If you don’t know what these four distinct practices are meant to do in the nervous system, and you don’t understand how to use asanas to better prepare for it, and how to do it with ratios and valving, then it can seem like they are all equal. It’s like throwing spaghetti at a wall to see what sticks. That’s not methodology, IMHO. Thanks again for your thoughtful response.