Many of us practise some form of self-cultivation regularly. It might be yoga, or meditation, or qigong or tai chi. We do it to improve and maintain health, calm our minds and reduce stress, and perhaps open ourselves up to some greater reality. We value the practice for what it adds to our lives, and we respect and value the teachers and traditions it stems from. However, everything has a front and back, so what might be the possible downsides of what appears to be an indisputable GOOD THING?
The yin and yang of self-cultivation
First, there is the risk of focusing on our own internal wellbeing at the expense of our relationship with the external world. This balance between what we might call the inner (yin) and the outer (yang) is found in many different fields.
I lived though the radical 1960s and 1970s, and witnessed the tension between the two. On the one hand, the ‘turn on, tune, drop out’ hippies, influenced by drug use and exposure to Asian philosophies, rejected conventional thinking and behaviour. They turned to alternative and complementary medicine, natural and organic foods, meditation, yoga, communal living and – in North America at least – back-to-nature, lifestyles.
On the other hand, in part triggered by the horrors of the Vietnam war, radical politics flourished. People (mostly young) demonstrated, campaigned, sometimes fought, and occasionally died to change political and military structures, racism, female oppression and more.
These divisions weren’t hard and fast, and some tried to embrace both, but the debates were intense. Was it OK to focus on personal development and wellbeing and ignore the evils happening all around us? Or was it OK to wear ourselves out in the search for political and social justice while neglecting personal development, especially if that went along with unexamined personal and gender relationships?
In another example, during the few years I was a practising Buddhist, I was introduced to the Hinayana and Mayahana schools. At the risk of over-simplification, the former focused on personal enlightenment, and the latter on devoting oneself to the enlightenment of all sentient beings.
The dark side
The Covid pandemic revealed and amplified certain characteristics of what might loosely be called the ‘new age’ movement. By that I mean the ever-growing numbers of people who practise yoga, meditation and qigong, embrace natural foods and ‘clean’ eating, and offer or receive complementary medicine. Large numbers of these were fanatically opposed to vaccination, sometimes claiming it was a sinister plot to enslave the population. Some declared Covid itself to be fake, said viruses didn’t exist, and claimed that eating, breathing and drinking pure meant one wouldn’t be infected. Tell that to the hundreds of millions of our ancestors who clearly hadn’t read the script and died in horrible ways, even though all food was organically grown, and most air and water unpolluted. These attitudes frequently morphed into a whole range of other conspiracy theories, from chemtrails to the assertion that a secret cabal was ruling the world. I find that amusing, since the cabals ruling the world are mostly doing so in plain sight.
One consequence of all this is that we witnessed what we might call ‘new agers’ standing alongside far right agitators in large and furious anti-vaccination/anti-lockdown/anti-mask demonstrations. [This is not so say that we shouldn’t have reasoned debate about these with careful consideration of the pros and cons].
But this shouldn’t have come as a shock. There has long been a far-right, indeed fascist element in many new age practices. Early 20th century proponents of yoga in the west, such as Francis Yeats-Brown and J.C.Fuller, were unashamed racists and fascists. Mircea Eliade was a supporter of Italian fascist leader Mussolini, and closely affiliated to the Iron Guard movement, a violent Rumanian fascist organisation. His book Yoga: Immortality and Freedom was on (and may still be on) the reading list of some UK yoga schools.
Heinrich Himmler, chief architect of the Nazi’s Final Solution, was immersed in alternative and occult practices including breathing exercises, meditation, visualisation and yoga-like exercises. The Nazi party in general promoted what they called lebensreform (life reform), espousing whole foods and vegetarianism, organic food, herbal medicine, naturopathy, sunlight and exercise.
The guru/acolyte trap
Most teachers are both genuine and compassionate, and only want the best for their students. But far too frequently we hear of so-called gurus who turn out to be sexual predators or grifters seeking fame and riches. Of course, this is also widely endemic elsewhere in (usually) male-dominated hierarchies, especially politics, the ruling elite, and the church.
When it comes to gurus, there is often the stated or implied expectation that we should believe everything they say and accept everything they do. This abandonment of critical thinking is dangerous, and history shows all too clearly the perils of doing so. It can lead to loss of autonomy and surrender of personal power, and open the door to uncritical acceptance of a whole host of other ideas and beliefs.
A good teacher encourages independence and questioning - even challenge - in their students. In fact, a student who does not question is not a good student. We can learn untold amounts from our teachers and owe them an enormous debt of gratitude, but it is safer to recognise that they are variously flawed humans. The ones we should value most are open about that, never allowing themselves to be put on a pedestal and remaining sincere and authentic. We can then respect them both for what they teach and who they are.
Capitalism - first they laugh at you, then they take over
The Yoga and “wellness” industry is now a multi-billion pound business. It generates vast profits and is increasingly dominated by multi-national chains and hedge funds. For example, the famous Triyoga chain is now owned by a hedge fund. These profit-focused enterprises reinforce an individualistic approach to wellness by catering primarily to the middle class and the financially self sufficient. Interwoven with this is the increasingly common ‘body-beautiful’ culture more usually found in gyms, which focuses more on what our bodies look like from the outside, than what they feel like on the inside. An attentive looking out at the world must surely be more rewarding than an obsession with being looked at.
Balancing the yin and yang of self-cultivation
It is estimated that three hundred million people in the world practise hatha yoga (the path of the body) regularly. This is only one of the ‘limbs’ of yoga and it would be interesting to know how many are taught about karma yoga (the path of action). This is selfless service without attachment to results. In practise it means helping others, volunteering, and generally being of service.
There is a Buddhist practice called the ‘giving away of merit’. At the end of a meditation session, the benefit is consciously offered to the world. It is considered to be a form of positive karmic energy that can change external reality. In some traditions, it was even believed that meditating for years alone in a cave could help heal the world. Personally I don’t subscribe to this kind of magical thinking. However, it seems obvious that we can (and should try to) carry the benefits of our practice into our daily interactions with our friends, our family, our community and the planet itself.
Given the example of the Nazi embrace of ‘new age’ ideas, it is clear that self-cultivation practices are politically neutral. They can be harnessed to noxious far right ideologies and religious extremism, or to altruistic, humanistic, socially engaged behaviour. This is the path with a heart.
Brighton Natural Health Foundation (bnhf.org)
I co-founded The Brighton Natural Health Foundation charity over 40 years ago. We believed that these wonderful self-cultivation traditions should be made available to all sectors of our City. That is why our outreach work is so important, both because it aims to reach those who cannot access such benefits, and because it strengthens local communities at the same time. It is unashamedly progressive and political (in the broadest sense of the word) and we hope that it will inspire the broader wellness community to embrace its humanitarian and social goals.
