Yoga
Schmidt 2004
6
2000). It is not surprising that yoga should become a part of this religion of weight loss, for it
offers a very ritualistic practice infused with mystic meaning.
Garrett also discusses the transformative potential of yoga and other practices related to
the New Age Movement. In her article: “Transcendental Meditation, Reiki and Yoga: Suffering,
Ritual and Self Transformation,” she examines the Ritualistic practices of yoga, especially by
those who suffer from chronic pain. New Age practitioners (and others) engage in ritualistic
behaviors to help alleviate suffering, a process Garrett describes as a “search for liberation or
salvation. The notion of ‘salvation’ implies a relationship between freedom and health, as not
only religion, but also political liberation movements make clear: their search is not to escape
painful reality, but to transform it” (Garrett 2001, 330).
She examines yoga and the other practices as a reentering of her body coupled with “new
awareness” that transforms behavior and fosters an ethical relationship with the world. Garrett
defines rituals as “the means people use to change the way they live” (2001, 331). Embedded in
these rituals is a belief that physical practices can lead to material and spiritual self-
transformation that in turn enables a deeper personal/interpersonal connection with others. This
conviction is coupled with a magical “belief, however ‘secular’, that regular performance of the
ritual will somehow change [participants] and solve their personal problems” and that personal
change can affect social change (Garrett 2001, 334). Garrett identifies the current western
popularity of her chosen practices as a “search for the sacred” and especially as a response to a
protestant mind-body dualism which rationalized control of the body (2001, 336). These practices
also support a link between health and morality.
Part of yoga’s appeal is, thus, its promise of physical, mental, spiritual, and social
transformation. The search for transformation through personal practice is an important aspect of
the ideology of the New Age Movement, which can also be seen as a response to perceived
inadequacies of western religious traditions.
Convention