Patenting Yoga

The US Government has decided to tap into Indian culture by patenting Yoga. According to Suketu Mehta's OP-ED in The New York Times today, "The United States patent and Trademark Office has issued 150 yoga-related copyrights, 134 patents on yoga accessories, and 2,315 yoga trademarks," producing "$3 billion a year in America alone."

The issue of who owns what regarding Yoga has also been brought in question in India with regards to Bikram Chowdhury's Bikram Yoga. The Indian government is creating a library of the asanas in order to prevent people from patenting different aspects of the ancient practice, and this library would be available to the US. Apparently, that's not enough for the US Government though. We'd rather own it because then we can make money off of it.

When will we, as Americans, learn that all of life is not about money? Sometimes life is about feeding your soul and helping better the universe. Instead, e have managed to strip the soul right out of Yoga by turning it into a commercialized profit-industry, just like everything else in America.