Luckily, there’s still journalists who take a deep breath before pressing “publish“: Timely, and prompted by William J. Broad’s latest venture into the scientific jungle (Yoga and sex scandals: No surprise here), TIME Magazine puts things into perspective.
Swami Muktananda, one of the alleged culprits. (George Rose/Getty Images)
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“The quality of the data is questionable: the studies he references are either old, uncontrolled, or published in obscure journals. Two studies examine the effects of fast breathing, rather than yoga itself […].”
“Broad neglects to explore a critical issue. It’s not only powerful figures in yoga who have a tendency to stray. From John Kennedy and Newt Gingrich to Jimmy Swaggart and Warren Jeffs, top dogs — none of them yoga gurus — have long been known to take advantage of their position. It doesn’t take a yoga pose to arouse sexual appetites.”
The author bluntly finishes up with a lesson for Mr. Broad:
[…] “when considering connections between behaviors like sexual impropriety and yoga — or associations between drugs and certain side effects or other reported outcomes — it’s important to remember that correlation isn’t necessarily cause.”
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Read the full story here and an interesting discussion on Yoga Dork here.
Namaste!
Categories: Controversial
Yoga & Joyful Living 
Someone bought me that book as a gift when it first came out. I was disappointed when I began reading it (I couldn’t finish it), and I kept wondering.. Who is this guy??? And then a week or so later, when W. Broad came out with the hurtful article about John Friend, I realized, that sadly, he is not really a yogi, but a guy that sees opportunity to get his name and his book out there. It is almost like he wants to step in and be the authority on yoga…. boo. I see the errors of his ways, and hope he can too. Thanks for writing.
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Great article.
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