We’re calling it. Today, May 21, 2009, yoga reached its tipping point. (‘Tipping point’ definition: “when something previously unique becomes common”.) In today’s New York Times, the largest and most authoritative metropolitan newspaper in the U.S., there are not only one, but two pieces about the practice of yoga – and one of them is currently the #2-most emailed article of the day.
The first NYT article regarding yoga is the well-written obituary published this morning for Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the Guruji of Ashtanga Yoga. The writer of this obituary was actually able to speak with Sharath Rangaswamy himself, which is a feat considering that no official quotations from Sharath have been published in the press up until this point.
The second NYT piece is titled “He Rocks, They Flock: The Yoga King“. It’s a lengthy profile piece on the Santa Monica-based yoga teacher Vinnie Marino, who through his intriguing background story and sheer star power seems to have cultivated what the article calls a “benign cult” of dedicated yoga students: nearly 90 people per class, two classes a day, six classes a week.
It seems ironically appropriate that on the exact same day, the NYT would publish a piece on the death of Pattabhi Jois, one of yoga’s Indian-based, tradition-rooted legends, and a major profile of Vinnie Marino, a hip, LA-based, recovering drug addict yoga teacher who enjoys playing rock music during class and begins many classes with sentences like “Come on people, let’s get started.” Both Jois and Marino have been described as gaining cult-like followings, both are known for their emphasis on practice over theory, and both count celebrities among their numerous devoted students. But one man is a product of long-established guru-based teaching traditions in India, and the other is a New York City-born product of the modern Western world.
Could there be any more irony and meaning in that? 
