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The latest #metoo scandal in the yoga world

A few days ago my friend send me a link to an article which he thought would interest me. No doubt it did. It was a text by Matthew Remsky, a scholar, a yogi who made his name by demystifying various aspects of yoga. He wrote much about physical yoga injuries and now it seems his focus moved to the mental ones.

The text was about the recently revealed sexual abuse scandal in the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta organisation. The founder of the style, Swami Vishnudevananda, turned out to abuse quite a few of his close female associates and students over many years, (including his final years when he was bed-ridden!)

Swami Vishnudevananda

I shouldn’t be surprised. There were so many of yoga gurus and celebrities that got exposed as sex offenders before him… The most recent are the famous cases of Bikram Choudhury of Bikram Yoga and Pattabhi Jois of Ashtanga Yoga. I guess styles less familiar to the general public get less exposure. For exmple, I completely missed out on the earlier scandal with Swami Satyananda Saraswati -(the man who invented Yoga Nidra relaxation technique)- who, together with other swamis abused minors.

What’s wrong with Sivananda yoga?

This time the scandal hit the organisation I was very familiar with. The one I followed strictly, with all my heart and conviction for around a decade. A style that drew me into the world of yoga in the first place.

The article didn’t stop at listing the sexual abuse. It mentioned how ‘fake’ Swami Vishnu was. How he mortgaged the Sivananda Yoga Centre in New York just to upgrade his private jet, for example.

What I read was in stark contrast to the official organisation’s propaganda, presenting at each satsang (spiritual gathering) a vision of a sage, a person with no vices, with a special aura, higher than a ‘normal’ human being.

Do the real gurus exist?

With one Indian guru falling from the pedestal every few months, one eventually comes to the conclusion that the ‘real’, truly enlightened gurus simply don’t exist.

The best documentary showing the psychological process of creating the guru by his own disciples was ‘Kumare’. This psychological experiment was led by an American journalist of Indian ethnic origin who posed as a guru. Within a few months, he gathered a group of devout followers who found it eventually very hard to accept that he was a fake.

Kumare movie poster

A close relationship to somebody we consider extraordinary changes ones life forever. An award-winning Netflix documentary series ‘Wild Wild Country’ about a particularly controversial Indian guru- Osho- is probably the best documentary I’ve ever seen. All the thriller- like twists of action notwithstanding, what hooked me the most were the interviews with the people who are until now, in one way or the other, under the strong influence of a long time deceased man.

Osho

I don’t think I ever was so close as to believe word by word the hagiography of Swami Vishnudevananda and his master, Swami Sivananda. Yet, the idea that they were somehow different or better did appeal to me at the time.

The mechanism inside a yoga organisation

Fond memories from the teachers’ trainings

The human nature of the swamis (senior teachers who quit the life in society and become celibates), was clear to me from the beginning. I met quite a few of them on both teachers training courses and at the London Sivananda Centre. There were among them fanatic, strict and very cold women, men corrupted by power, money and prestige but also people with healthy, optimistic attitude to life who seemed to genuinely follow the ideals of yoga.

My Teachers Training Course in Poland

As for the organisation itself, I had mixed feelings. I totally loved both of my teachers training courses with the Sivananda organisation. I enjoyed being cut off from the world for an entire month, without worries, in a state of permanent bliss.

I didn’t mind overpaying for the the basic services I was provided but I had no doubt the cost of running those programs was far lower than organising them, particularly that neither teachers nor staff was paid.

Divorcing from Sivananda organisation

For whatever reason, the Sivananda Centre in London didn’t get me even close to that state of bliss and elation. What the Remsky’s article describes as ‘bombardment with love’ always felt fake to me. Fake smiles, fake proximity, fake care. I didn’t feel I belong there. My relationship with that place was on an exchange basis.

I just came to London and didn’t have money to attend yoga classes so I volunteered at the centre to be able to come to the classes for free. I polished the ritual brass utensils, cleaned the bathrooms of the residents, tidied the yoga studio and baked cookies not from the devotion to the organisation or from the wish to do some karma yoga (selfless action) but because I wanted to get something very specific in return.

At the Sivananda Centre in London

That pragmatic approach set me in contrast with other karma yogis who were coming to the centre straight from their 9 to 5 jobs or leaving their families because they believed they were doing something good: both for their own spiritual growth and for the community.

But the idea that baking cookies that will be sold to the students or endlessly, obsessively cleaning something already clean was something useful or inherently good seemed absolutely ridiculous to me. Karma yoga should be something of real use to the society like feeding the homeless, not slaving for free at the yoga studio.

The last straw that made me turn my back on Sivananada was the remark of one of the swamis who asked me with reproach why was I eating so much when he saw me having a free meal after a few hours of voluntary work. Really? That’s how you show your gratitude and compassion, loving swami?

My experience with the teacher involved in the scandal

Training with Prahlada

The Sivananda scandal involves two men: the late Swami Vishnu and one of the senior teachers, Prahlada. Prahlada led the Advanced Teachers Training in Tamil Nadu I completed in 2011. I actually really admired him as not only had he a great sense of humour and lots of knowledge but was also a vocal critic of what went wrong with the organisation.

I remember his stories about the swami from the flagship Kerala ashram who was obese, had a collection of Rolex watches and – I’ve seen it myself- would routinely fall asleep during satsangs.

Selfless or sleazy?

The incident during the ATTC (Advanced Teachers Training Course which totally didn’t raise my suspicions at that time, now gives me a second thought. Prahlada claimed he was from the family of chiropractors and was an adept of that art himself. He invited some of the students for the posture- correction sessions.

I had a tilt in my neck which was particularly visible when i was in a headstand. It’s actually unthinkable why wasn’t I ever dissuaded to do this inherently risky pose if I couldn’t transfer my body weight evenly over the fragile cervical vertebraes. Many Sivananda teachers, including swamis, would simply ignore it. Prahlada saw it and wanted to fix it.

My neck in a not quite right place

It’s been a while ago so I don’t remember the whole situation clearly but I do remember I had to strip waist up. I thought: it was a bit weird and awkward as he was my teacher but he was also a health professional and I should not let any ethnic stereotypes make me paranoid. I decided to trust him.

I think he made me look at the mirror where the asymmetries were indeed very visible and then he just swiftly cracked my back. I heard it, I felt it and later I could see the red mark where the movement happened. That was it. Nothing inappropriate happened. This being said, I remember vaguely that the other girls who went for the consultation found it unpleasant and creepy. Why or how? I cannot recall by now.

The danger lies in blind trust

When I read parts of the article to my mum she couldn’t believe how a man on the verge of dying could abuse a young, strong woman. Well, it has nothing to do with physical violence. It’s all about trust.

However I liked this style of yoga and felt attached to it, I never got fully immersed in the personality cult. Perhaps if the guru was alive and cast his ‘spell’ on me, it would have been different.

But my close friend is still now a member of a very similar community hailing from India. She follows her living guru blindly: asking him for his blessing before taking any important decision in her life.

For me, as an outsider, the followers’ fascination with that guru is a complete mystery: the man totally lacks any charisma or public speech skills and his lectures are fuzzy, incoherent and very boring. Yet, everybody around him hangs on every word he says.

My friend is skeptical about her yoga organisation for the same reasons I was skeptical about mine: lots of internal politics, back-stabbing and atmosphere far from loving and empathetic. This rational approach wouldn’t extend to judging her guru, though.

What if one day her guru wanted to take an advantage? What if he told her she’d need to engage in some tantric ritual with him to receive the grace of enlightenment? Would her common sense prevail or would she trust her guru till the end, no matter how confusing would it be? It’s scary but I cannot be sure what would she do in such situation.

Do we need traditional yoga now?

In the original tradition of yoga, (which is very much lost in the days of fashionable, postural yoga styles), the disciple would lose himself, his ego, his possessions, his attachments to the outside world, his doubt, his critical thinking and any trace of his independence in order to totally submit to his guru, who was seen as an extension of the ancient lineage. Those were the preconditions for any success on the spiritual path, path towards the existence, knowledge and bliss absolute.

A yogi in the Himalayas

That is exactly what the traditional styles of yoga – the ones with the lineage, gurus and spiritual teachings – still preach. There are still some people to whom this scenario appeals. I won’t even pretend that it attracts me at all.

Yoga as a lonely path

Yoga is a process of self-development

Yoga is a powerful, wonderful tool for self-improvement on a multitude of levels. Starting usually with the body, we soon build the awareness which is unavailable to the vast majority of the world’s population. This awareness: of our mind patterns, habitual reactions, hidden traumas and many more things – is the potential for a deep and positive change within us. I don’t think we really need anybody to lead us by the hand in that process. The only ones that can save us from our self-destructive ego is ourselves.

Apply a healthy dose of mistrust

Just as I have deep mistrust of religious organisations, I don’t believe cultish yoga organisations could be any better. There is too much potential for perversion of the original, no doubt noble, ideas.

Often just a single yoga teacher would start using his influence in an inappropriate way, not to mention the entire organisation! Humans are only humans, even if they wear orange robes and long beards. The gurus, teachers, leaders aren’t omniscient and should be never, ever followed blindly.

The teacher within you

That’s why I always try to wake an inner teacher within my students. Encourage critical thinking. If something feels wrong, it probably is wrong. The sooner you let go of the ideal of an infallible teacher or guru, the better for you.