I've just stumbled across a few articles that make reference to mindfulness/medication and yoga.
Both articles argue that the Westernisation of both activities is "cultural appropriation" and that white folk in the West should think about how they are using these activities in every-day life. The key themes seem to be:
- We need to acknowledge the concepts and where they originated
- We must bring attention to the oppression that has been meted out onto minorities and other cultures if we are to use "their" concepts/activities
- We should never benefit financially from activities that are stolen from other cultures (e.g. white-middle-class women shouldn't teach yoga if they are getting money from it because it is stolen from another culture)
- We shouldn't just take the bits that are "relevant" to our culture - for example, using yoga for physical exercise and ignore the spiritual aspects of yoga.
So... what are people's thoughts on this?
TABU (they are being unreasonable, people who argue this)
TANBU (they aren't being unreasonable, we need to stop taking aspects of other people's cultures and respect all aspects of them)
I say they because I am undecided and wonder if I am missing something!