Students at a leading Sydney university say they would have to carefully consider the running of any yoga classes after the practice was cancelled at a Canadian college because it might be culturally insensitive.
The University of Ottawa Student Federation raised international eyebrows when it cancelled yoga classes because of concerns about "cultural genocide", colonialism and "Western supremacy".
In an email from a student representative, yoga instructor Jennifer Scharf was told her seven-year-old program would be discontinued due to "cultural issues of implication" involved in the practice.
"Yoga has been under a lot of controversy lately due to how it is being practiced and what practices from what cultures (which are often sacred spiritual practices) they are being taken," the student wrote in an email exchange that was published by the Washington Post.
"Many of these cultures are cultures that have experienced oppression, cultural genocide and diasporas due to colonialism and western supremacy, and we need to be mindful of this and how we express ourselves and while practicing yoga."
Ms Scharf taught an inclusive yoga program for the Centre for Students with Disabilities. According to reports, the decision to halt the program was taken by the Student Federation, which describes itself in its charter as "the instrument of political action of the undergraduate student population".
Student leaders at Australian universities appear less inclined to wield the axe of political correctness, at least on this occasion. At the University of Sydney, free yoga classes were until recently run by the Health and Wellness Society, a club financed through the student-run University of Sydney Union (USU). The club lost its registration earlier in the year after failing to follow correct administrative procedure.
USU president Alisha Aitken-Radburn said that to the best of her knowledge, the organisation had not received any complaints about yoga and cultural appropriation. But Adam Ursino, one of four ethnic affairs officers on the Students' Representative Council, said students would have concerns about the return of yoga if it was stripped of its cultural context.
"It's really difficult to distinguish between cultural appreciation and cultural appropriation," he said, speaking on behalf of the four. "Because yoga is considered in the Hindu equivalent of the Bible ... we decided that it was inherently a Hindu ritual practice.
"And so because of that, taking it away from its spiritual significance – taking the 'yoganess' out of yoga – is problematic and it does render it culturally appropriative because it becomes colonial and secularised."
The Australian National University in Canberra provides free yoga classes as part of a range of fitness workshops. Concerns about cultural appropriation had never been raised at that institution, a representative said.
At the University of Melbourne, the student union's welfare department runs yoga classes twice a week and there is also a separate yoga club. The union's welfare officer, James Bashford, said there were no plans to stop the activity.
"We've never had any people raise concerns about our programs," he said. "It's something we're always going to be conscious and mindful of - making sure we're being respectful of all our students. If concerns were raised we've got processes we can go through to consult with people."
Back at the University of Ottawa, Ms Scharf initially offered to teach the class for free - and then suggested changing the name from "yoga" to something like "stretching for mental health". But ultimately the Student Federation opted to dump the class.
Responding to the cancellation, Ms Scharf said she understood, but also tried to act as the voice of reason.
"Yoga in its truest form is not a religion and is practised by many religions," she replied. "I would never want to culturally impose anything. I do wish I had been consulted on this decision because yoga has become a fixture for many students, who come back year on year and are happy to have the option of a free class that they feel good after doing."
A video on the Centre for Students with Disabilities website continues to spruik "free weekly yoga" as a service provided to students. Canada's National Post newspaper reported that the acting president of the Student Federation, Romeo Ahimakin, had previously described the program as "on hiatus" while consultations took place to make the classes more accessible and inclusive.
"We are trying to have those sessions done in a way in which students are aware of where the spiritual and cultural aspects come from, so that these sessions are done in a respectful manner," he was quoted as saying.
The scandal made headlines around the world after being picked up by a New York Times technology reporter and inflaming conservative pundits in Canada, the United States and Britain. But not all commentators thought it was an example of political correctness gone mad.
Over at the Guardian, writer Reni Eddo-Lodge said she sympathised with the Ottawa students, because yoga had become associated almost exclusively with people who were thin, white and blonde.
"Yoga really does have to become decolonised, wrenched away from the perception that it's only for a hyper-flexible, super-thin and very white elite few," she wrote.
