LA ROCHEFOUCAULD said:" Death and the sun are not to be looked at in the face ". Maybe YOGA neither is.There are so many articles, books, conferences and videos about YOGA, so many YOGA styles with so many different teachers that it seems like this enormous octopus of endless tentacles is growing bigger and bigger and will never stop. This metaphor of YOGA is neither negative nor positive, that is a fact. Too many choices, too many words may create confusion as we get lost in an ocean of information.

Saying that YOGA is a growing market is not a scoop , we know it is, we also do know that there is nothing wrong with it. Affirming that the new generations are more materialistic and less concerned with spirituality sounds a bit naive and moralistic.  The growing popularity of YOGA is not problematical and does not lead to a reductionism and distortion of the traditional yogic heritage. Popularity isn't either bad o good, it only means that more people have the opportunity to practice YOGA.

The reductionism would be to think that YOGA is reserved to a few elected people. YOGA just as any Art form, gives anyone the right to appropriate it the way he or she wants . There is not only one door to walk into YOGA, but many of them . There are no diktat, edicts about the best YOGA style or the best YOGA teacher. YOGA is a path of liberation, not a bondage.

It is surprising to read in some very serious YOGA journals things like "Many new students doubt their ability to ever progress in the arduous path of YOGA." or " as they look at their teachers or other accomplished practicants  they wonder how they will ever get from their relative feeling of confusion to clarity, grace and precision they see in the masterful art of YOGA."

These kind of words are not constructive. A man can't ever be measured and classified through his time  practicing YOGA. We are never accomplished  YOGA practicants, we are always new students. Only if we remain that, we have a chance to get from a feeling of confusion to clarity.

The path of YOGA is the path of life.  Spirituality is not about living alone in a Thailand´s popular Island and meditating all day long, spirituality is about going through real life with courage and determination, sometimes alone , sometimes along with someone,interacting o sharing with others,  running, walking , stopping for a while or resting forever. The seed of our own spiritual investigation takes root  in the other as the reflection of ourselves through the mirror of our consciousness. 

The best background for any yogis is not Ashtanga, Lyengar , Bikram o Hatha yoga, their best background is life.
YOGA´s  spirituality has been pushed inside and not aside with the increased popularity of YOGA,  and has never been more alive. Underlying the differences between the ones and the others is a deep incoherence and a demonstration of intolerance. It seems like sometimes YOGA practice and meditation run parallel to the art of living and sharing with others.

Reading some YOGA books o listening to some internationally renown spiritual master can be intimidating and frustrating for some. We may feel that we never will be good enough or that we are always missing the point, but the point is that there is no point.
The world changes, we are always changing, and that is what make us human, and as human beings we are totally unpredictable.
Who says what is better for us?  We do, because we are smart and we have learned to wash the dishes. That is what make us human, our ability to wash the dishes sooner o later.
So let it be and let it be the changes.