The coverage of yoga by The New York Times this week has been nothing if not comprehensive. As I wrote earlier this week, the Times had three stories on yoga in last Sunday’s paper. It had another yesterday, and yet another today–five stories this week on yoga!
My earlier post noted that all three Sunday stories treated yoga flippantly or negatively, leading me to wonder why the Times seemed so frightened of yoga–or, at best, uninformed.
I’m happy to say that the two most recent stories are quite different. Yesterday, Sam Dolnick wrote about people who like to exercise in the heat, and he led with Bikram yoga, which is done in a heated room–no matter what the temperature is outside. He interviews a few people and manages to explain why they like it without making fun of yoga or of them. It’s just straight reporting. Then he goes on to interview runners and others who like to exercise in the heat.
Today Michiko Kakutani reviews Stefanie Syman’s book on the history of yoga in America. Unlike the review of the book in last Sunday’s Times–which dismissed yoga as the product of frauds and charlatans–this review simply assesses the book. Kakutani acknowledges that it can mean many things to many people, but allows that for some it is a serious practice:
Although there are many devoted students of yoga, who regard it as an exacting physical and spiritual discipline, there are also many trendy yoga consumers today, who regard it simply as another form of exercise like spinning or Pilates, as a hip new way to stay fit and lower stress, or even as a celebrity-inspired fad.
That is precisely the kind of balance that was lacking in all three stories last Sunday.
Congrats to the Times for writing straight news and commentary on yoga. And now–do you think you could write about something else for a while?
– Paul Raeburn
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