According to a piece that aired on NPR's "Morning Edition" last week, yoga students are making Mysore a center of tourism. Apparently yoga attracts some 1,000 foreign yoga student-tourists each year.
They discussed the economic boom that these students have brought to the local folks, who cater to their every whim.
They also said that the tide turned in 2001, when Pattabhi Jois started doing international tours... (Um, he did his first big recent tour in 1999. And things really began to change when he moved to the posh suburb of Gokulam and opened the new shala - which fits 80 people rather than 12 - in 2002-3).
They quoted a British student, who claimed that there are entire suburbs in Mysore devoted to western yoga students.
Really?
And here I thought Gokulam existed so that the local bourgeoise and wild boar population could put some distance between them and the noise, dirt and teeming hordes of the city center.
Hear for yourself by clicking here.
Our new thing now is to lure yoga teachers here with the promise of certification, but then we tell them they're not quite ready and that they need to come back a few more times, further boosting our economy. Brilliant!
ReplyDeleteIndia still has the plague.
ReplyDeleteNot to big on the use of bleach.
We like to stick it to you people from the US. Come back 7-8 times, buy coconut juice from street peddlers.
ReplyDeleteHA-HA
How you know you not like
till you try?
Wow dats an mazing info!
ReplyDeleteHappy learning !