BRANDING YOGA

A Harvard Business School Case Study

What is yoga?

a physical, mental and spiritual discipline,

which include breath control, simple meditation,

and specific bodily postures,

is widely practised for health and relaxation.

I guarantee you, yoga will compete with computers, music, sports, automobiles, the drug industry. Yoga will take over the world. - Bikram Choudhury

In a way, our issue is that yoga has thrived, but Hinduism has lost control of the brand. - Aseem Shukla

In 2008, almost 16 million people in the US were practitioners of YOGA.

18-34 years - 40.6%, 35-54 years - 41.0%,

over 55 years - 18.4%

Is this an industry?

What is the

History of Yoga?

Is yoga rooted in Hindu philosophy?

Vedas, contained some themes that may have been antecedents of yoga

theories and practices

The Bhagavad Gita, a part of Mahabharata, was a

philosophical cornerstone for yoga

The Yoga Sutras, a series of aphorisms authored by the Indian philosopher Patanjali, were also

among yoga’s most important precursors.

How Yoga comes to America

Why Yoga Succeeded in US?

Swami Vivekanand

a,was the

first to bring Yoga to

America.

Indira Devi, a Latvian actress

‘Mother of Western Yoga’

In 1947, She opened a Hatha Yoga Studio in Los

Angeles that quickly attracted a bevy of stars, including Greta Garbo and

Jennifer Jones

Margaret, daughter of former President Woodrow WilsonVisited India to learn yoga

BIKRAM CHOUDHURY

born in 1946 in Calcutta, India.

began his study of yoga at age four under his guru,Bishnu Ghosh.

won the National India Yoga Championship, thrice in a row.

In 1971, arrived in the U.S

open his first studio in LosAngeles.

yoga classes instructed students in 26asanas and two breathing exercises at a temperature of 50 degree centigrade.

By 1984, admission to classes at his Beverly Hills studio cost

$20 per person, a 10-class package cost $100, and the studio was taking in roughly

$1,000 a day

In 1979, Bikram obtained his first copyright, for this book

In 2002 he decided to patent the Bikram Style, including the asana series

and breathing exercise.

He started sending notices to studios, For violation of copyright.

By April 2003, Bikram had more than 700 studios in 220 countries.

By 2011, some 5000 Bikram Yoga Studios had opened around the world

CONTROVERSIES

In 2006, the Indian government responded to Bikram’s yoga patents by putting together a task force-a

panel of 100 historians and scientists that would catalog 1,500 yoga poses found in ancient Sanskrit, Urdu, and

Persian .

TARA STILES

Ballet Dancer, Model, Yoga Practitioner

Founder of the ‘Strala Yoga’

As a preteen, she discovered meditation including with her ballet

Joined Ford modelling agency. create and post promotional yoga videos on YouTube

In 2007, Stiles left Ford

Began to use Facebook to promote the yoga classes she taught out of her apartment, and offered private sessions In 2008, Stiles opened her own studio, StralaYoga

In 2010,Deepak Chopra and Stiles released a yoga iPad app ,"Authentic Yoga," and collaborated on a video.

Stiles's book, Slim Calm Sexy Yoga, was published in the summer of 2010

“I mean, Bikram doesn’t want people using his name without his certification, which I get. I think you can have a name of a studio, but it’s what goes on inside that really matters. People always ask what style I teach, and I’m like, it’s yoga”

HAF

an advocacy group for Hinduism in the U.S., examined editions of Yoga Journal, which had become a popular American yoga magazine. They saw no reference to Hinduism in the magazine and concluded that it associated Buddhism, Jainism, and Christianity with yoga more than it did Hinduism.

What they

concerned about?

“It was as if the Yoga Journal, as well as much of the $6 billion U.S. yoga industry, had agreed to some sort of unwritten covenant to use code words rather than what they deemed the unmarketable ‘H-word,’”

SUHAG SHUKLA Managing Director

HAF

wrote a letter to the editor of Yoga Journal and followed it with a phone call and there

was no responseHAF

As the result, HAF decided to launch “Take Back Yoga—Bringing to Light Yoga’s Hindu Roots”

On April 18, 2010, Aseem Shukla, a member of HAF’s board, wrote a

piece for the Washington Post’s On Faith column, entitled, “The Theft of

Yoga”

Hindus and Indians have an ax to grind. We have a tendency to claim ownership of everything, especially if it goes back to ancient times .

Hundreds of readers commented online on the piece of Aseem Shukla.A few days later, Deepak Chopra responded and said:

Can yoga be branded?

Do yoga gurus commercialize yoga for profits?

In March 2011, Sheetal Shah of HAF, Tara Stiles, Dr. Edwin

Bryant of Rutgers University, Dr.Virginia Cowen of the City University of New York, and

Edwin Stern, founder of Ashtanga Yoga NY, participated

in a discussion at Princeton University called “The Politics of Yoga”

Debate on commercialization of yoga

What we noticed . . . was that . . . while [Western yogis] are very accepting of the fact that yoga is rooted in ancient India,

there was a tension with calling it Hindu, or even accepting the fact that it was rooted in Hindu philosophy

Sheetal ShahHAF Senior Director

CONCLUSION Yoga is a root from the Hindu but it is not being called Hinduism

The westerns prefer Yoga as an art of achieving good health, body and mind and don't accept it as religion which is supported widely.

Both commercialization of Yoga and upholding it's root values is needed for a better position of Yoga in future.

RECAP1.What is yoga?

2. History of yoga.3. Yoga comes to America.

4. Bikram Choudhary, Tara Stiles, HAF5. Conflicts between HAF and Deepak Chopra.

6. Conference, ‘the Politics of Yoga’7. Conclusion.

CREDITShttps://www.food.ndtv.comhttps://www.buzzoop.com

https://www.bodywisdom.org.ukhttps://www.mindbodygreen.com

https://www.youtube.comhttps://www.paramyogaindia.wordpress.com

https://www.hindujagruti.orghttps://www.patheos.com

https://www.martialartsview.comhttps://www.mumbai.me

https://www.missionsharingknowledge.comhttps://www.pinterest.com

https://www.shiversupthespine.blogspot.comhttps://www.bikramhotyogatmr.com

https://www.dailymail.co.ukhttps://www.fox2now.comhttps://www.tarastiles.com

https://www.hafsite.orghttps://www.thenextweb.com

https://www.cnn.comhttps://www.theindianpanorama.com

https://www.allposters.com

DISCLAIMER

Created by Himanshu Umaria, IIT Delhi ,

as part of an internship done under the guidance of Prof.

Sameer Mathur (www.IIMInternship.com)

THANK YOU