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Yoga Lifestyles 101
Double-consciousness and the branding of BIPOC Yoga
Patrick McCartney CC-By Attribution 4.0 International
As relative levels of disposable incomes rise it enables more participation in leisure behaviors within the global wellness industry. There is a curious overlap between the consumption of both yoga-inflected lifestyles and skin whitening products, which occurs through the pursuit of spirituality, wellness, beauty, and social justice activism.
What this essays intends to explore is the correlation between the rising consumption of yoga lifestyles and skin whitening products, which is complicated through the activation of yoga as an instrument for social justice through the broader concept of self care, which is intended to operate as a radical intervention against perceived white supremacy, as Hi‘ilei Julia Kawehipuaakahaopulani Hobart and Tamara Kneese explain, radical care is a survival strategy for uncertain times.
One might not immediately think about 21st century transnational yoga’s potential entanglement with an obsession for lighter skin or how yoga might be employed for marketing purposes to suggest that yoga can help make one’s skin whiter or the double consciousness it might invoke. Yet, this is what appears to be happening, at least, on some levels within the beauty…
