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NEW YORK CITY, U.S.A., December 12, 2002: In this droll look at New York’s famous fashion scene, Kate Betts’ “view” takes a fresh look at Hinduism’s ancient practice of Yoga. “The last thing I thought I would be buying at the Marc Jacobs boutique in SoHo (Manhattan) was a sticky yoga mat. Yoga was for sincere, mantra-chanting people who liked to do tree poses in public. Not something that ever seemed likely to preoccupy the glittering, self-besotted members of the fashion tribe. We follow trends, not gurus. Our masters are Miuccia Prada (clothes) and Manolo Blahnik (shoes). We worship at the altar of consumerism, and can see the universe in a bead on a Fendi baguette (a US$500 lady’s purse). We do not by nature believe there is a clear line between divinity and a divine pair of shoes. It’s hard to fathom why fashion, which has thrived for centuries on humanity’s most nakedly materialistic tendencies, would now be embracing a spiritual tradition that aspires to move people beyond the illusion of appearances. But yoga is not just fashionable, with some 18 million practitioners in the United States; it has come to permeate every nook of the fashion world itself. Christy Turlington was on a recent cover of Vogue demonstrating the bow pose in a Calvin Klein evening dress. At runway shows, you hear musical Indian names like Iyengar, Kripalu and Sivananda peppering conversations. Every stylist, makeup artist and fashion publicist worth her weight in Nuala sweats is bowing to some newfound guru at corner gymnasiums and SoHo lofts. Then I heard about Eddie Stern, a leading teacher of Ashtanga, and whose New York studio is the V.I.P. room of yoga. Ashtanga is known as boot camp yoga. Devotees break down in tears in the middle of the more difficult postures. The word is, an Ashtanga workout can change your life if you survive it. As karma would have it, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the 86-year-old brahmin-born guru of Ashtanga yoga, was making his twice-a-year visit to New York to conduct a workshop. Ashtanga enthusiasts were pouring into Manhattan from all over the country to practice with this amazingly elastic grandfather they called Guruji.” To conclude this long and humorous article, go to “source” above.

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