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A new generation of yoga teachers are losing the incense and ‘namastes’ and keeping it simple. No more complicated Sanskrit names, no more ‘Om’ and no statues of many-limbed gods. Shed (simplify, heal, empower, detox) is a plain-speaking common sense form of yoga developed by an osteopath and a yoga teacher who hope more people will be attracted to the discipline minus the mysticism.

Fun – for everyone

Kersel, the yoga teacher behind Shed, says that ‘Yoga’s millennia-old series of poses weren’t designed for bodies with modern ailments.’ She is referring to sore backs, stiff necks and tight hamstrings that come with spending hours at a computer every day. And the spiritual side of yoga, she adds, doesn’t appeal to everyone. ‘We want to make it fun, and want the average person to be able to do it. If you ask around any yoga class as to why people are there, 90% say they just want to look good in a bikini.’

Demystifying yoga

Shed isn’t the first attempting to simplify yoga and make it appeal to more people. Bikram yoga, with its 26 poses, was designed to make yoga more about the physical than the spiritual. The postures still have Sanskrit names, though, and clearly draw form hatha yoga.

American Tara Stiles also has a no-fuss approach to yoga. Her iPhone apps, including a routine called ‘high-heel yoga’, and YouTube videos get a big audience.

But both Bikram yoga and Stiles have come under criticism. Traditionalists have claimed that Bikram’s method sexualises yoga while Stiles’ is sexist and bastardised.

Missing the point

Some yoga practitioners argue that yoga without spirituality is missing the point. ‘It saddens me when yoga is restricted to its asanas [Sanskrit for poses]. It reduces human beings to just bodies and it’s not yoga. Yoga is a broad and ancient philosophy, and a focus on its physical side is out of balance with what it stands for,’ says Swami Pragyamurti Saraswati of the Satyananda Yoga Centre in London. It’s not just for ‘skinny girls under 40’, she says.

Is it yoga without the ‘Om’ and ‘namaste’? It depends what you’re looking for, really. As Stiles says: ‘Who made these rules?’

Tags: Keeping Healthy, meditation, yoga