Yoga instructors first assumed the proposed ban was a prank

Jul 4, 2015 08:19 GMT  ·  By
Russian officials accuse yoga of being too cult-like, try to ban the practice
   Russian officials accuse yoga of being too cult-like, try to ban the practice

There was a time back in the days of the USSR when yoga was frowned upon across all Russian territories. Today, however, Russia has its own national yoga federation and even counts itself among the supporters of the International Yoga Day, celebrated annually on June 21. 

Even so, it looks like some folks in this corner of the world still don't trust the practice and think it dangerous enough to the spiritual wellbeing of the nation that it should be outlawed.

No, really, reports say that, towards the end of June, yoga studios in the city of Nizhnevartovsk in central Russia received letters asking them to quit holding classes in municipal buildings.

Further, it is understood that the head of the city's culture, sports, and education department also received one such quirky letter saying that yoga was too dangerous to be allowed in city institutions in Nizhnevartovsk and that efforts should be made to crack down on this practice.

Why would anyone want to ban yoga?

As it turns out, the high officials behind the bizarre letters received by yoga studios in Nizhnevartovsk and by the head of the city's department for physical culture and education think yoga is some sort of a gateway-practice bound to facilitate the spread of new cults and movements.

Occult and potentially destructive new cults and movements, to be more precise. In not so many words, the letters described yoga as being too cult-like to be allowed in municipal buildings.

Since yoga has nothing to do with the occult, instructors first thought the ban to be no more and no less than a prank. “It really stunned me, to put it mildly,” outraged yoga teacher Inga Pimenova of Nizhnevartovsk's Ingara School told the press in an interview, as cited by RFE/RL.

Another instructor suggested that, if people's health and wellbeing was truly their concern, the high officials looking to ban yoga should have turned their attention to outlawing sausages instead.

When asked what he thought of these letters, Nizhnevartovsk's mayor was quick to label them as pure nonsense. Still, word has it that, come July 7, the city's authorities will meet to discuss whether yoga classes should still be allowed to take place in city institutions.