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WASHINGTON D.C., U.S.A., May 29, 2003: Americans are making yoga stand on its head with creative innovations and marketing muscle in what appears to be the second coming in the United States of the ancient Indian practice. The number of Yoga practitioners in the US has tripled from 5 million in 1998 to 15 million, according to a survey to be released next week by the California-based Yoga Journal. “It’s not just plain old yoga anymore, although the original hatha yoga remains the most popular form,” says Dayna Macy, communications director of the California-based Yoga Journal. There is Aqua Yoga, Dance Yoga and Power Yoga, and in some cases, individuals are devising new yoga practices as in Bikram Yoga (after the Indian guru Bikram Choudhury, who has patented doing yoga in heated rooms). Yoga has gone from the social fringes to the mainstream by melding it with popular American culture. Typical of the culture is also relentless marketing of yoga products, from yoga mats to “Yogi Tea.” Most Americans are now accessing yoga through their regular gyms and fitness centers. Some are combining yoga with American dance forms like hip hop and disco, while others are imparting specialized instructions to niche segments as “yoga for would-be moms,” “yoga for have-been moms,” and “yoga for breast cancer survivors.” Two major national yoga magazines and 24 registered yoga associations cater to this resurgence.

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