Meditation Enters the Mainstream

Meditation enters the mainstream. What happens when yoga and meditation meets the modern day western mind? When the practice, teachers and methods become commodities to be branded and sold?  Take the recent merger of Deepak and Oprah: https://chopracentermeditation.com/store which is as an example of mainstream voices and visionaries getting into the business.  Once the corporate juggernaut realizes there is big money in spirituality and related practices, then where will it go?  Sure there are the commodities that can be created and sold:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr1l4G9l_VAI feel we lose something when yoga just becomes a vehicle to sell footwear and sexy yoga pants.

What happens when these practices intersect with big business and modern technology that is increasingly ruling the way we live our day and think?  A recent NYTimes article talks about the insertion of meditation into many corporate cultures as a way to allow workers to have a small bit of peace or to get a promotion.  I’m not sure that this is really the way it needs to go, I thought the whole point of yoga was to provide contentment and bliss, not as a tool to get further along the corporate ladder!

        But what is the effect of this intersection? Perhaps the teachings will fundamentally shift the culture.  Perhaps at some point the true messages of non-attachment, non-harm, contentment and self inquiry will come through into the mainstream teachings.  It seems we are at a crossroads: Either we strip the practice of all its traditional roots, and just make it stretching, breathing and mindfulness or we acknowledge that asana, pranayama and meditation are part of a complete system that was channeled from ancient seers and has the potential of transforming the us completely.  A recent article in the Times of India discusses how traditional indian yogis view the modern teachings and practices of yoga http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/kolkata/Yoga-liberates-the-self-Yogi-Ashwini/articleshow/25529684.cms

Perhaps when the two worlds meet, the minds that create the way we think will realize that consciousness has already been beta tested and that the mind is the real technology at getting to this version of reality.