Transformation of Yoga in the United States

[bananas]

http://psychcentral.com/news/2015/05/01/transformation-of-yoga-in-the-united-states/84132.html

Transformation of Yoga in the United States
By Rick Nauert PhD
Last reviewed: By John M. Grohol, Psy.D. on 1 May 2015

A new study traces the evolution of yoga in the US marketplace over the last thirty years. For some, the commercial success of yoga has been a blessing while for traditional practitioners, the new practice patterns are a disturbing trend.

In the review, researchers from Chapman University discovered the meaning of yoga is decreasingly associated with spirituality and increasingly associated with medicine and fitness. The study argues that the shift in the meanings are due to the changes in how yoga gurus are trained, how healthcare markets have learned to appreciate the benefits of the practice, and how capitalism has commercialized the product.

<snip>

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-04/cu-cur042915.php

Public Release: 30-Apr-2015

Chapman University research on the yoga market from 1980 to the present

Research shows how meanings and practice of yoga changed as it was adapted by the US market
Chapman University

ORANGE, Calif. - Researchers in Chapman University's Argyros School of Business and Economics and their collaborators have just published a study on the evolution of yoga in the marketplace. Assistant Professor Gokcen Coskuner-Balli, Ph.D., co-authored the study, which examined how the meaning of yoga transformed in the past three decades. The results show that yoga became decreasingly associated with spirituality and increasingly associated with medicine and fitness. The study argues that the shift in the meanings are due to the changes in how yoga gurus are trained, market contests amongst different meanings and the distinct branding practices of small and big players in the market.

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[bananas]

1. Navigating the Institutional Logics of Markets: Implications for Strategic Brand Management

"AMA" is "American Marketing Association"

http://journals.ama.org/doi/abs/10.1509/jm.13.0218

Article Citation:
Burçak Ertimur and Gokcen Coskuner-Balli (2015) Navigating the Institutional Logics of Markets: Implications for Strategic Brand Management. Journal of Marketing: March 2015, Vol. 79, No. 2, pp. 40-61.
doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1509/jm.13.0218

Navigating the Institutional Logics of Markets: Implications for Strategic Brand Management
Burçak Ertimur & Gokcen Coskuner-Balli

Adopting an institutional theoretic framework, this article examines the evolution and competitive dynamics of markets composed of multiple practices, beliefs, and rule systems. The 30-year historical analysis of the U.S. yoga market illustrates the coexistence of spirituality, medical, fitness, and commercial logics. Using data gathered through archival sources, netnography, in-depth interviews, and participant observations, the authors link shifting emphases on institutional logics and their sustenance to institutional entrepreneurs' accumulation and transmission of cultural capital, strategies to legitimize plural logics, distinct branding practices, and contestations among the pervading logics. The study offers a managerial framework for managing conflicting demands of logics, conveying brand legitimacy, and creating a coherent brand identity in plural logic markets; in addition, it develops a theoretical account of links between institutional logics, competitive dynamics, and market evolution.

Keywords: institutional logics, market evolution, strategic branding, competition, yoga

Burçak Ertimur is Assistant Professor of Marketing, Silberman College of Business, Fairleigh Dickinson University (e-mail: [email protected]).

Gokcen Coskuner-Balli is Assistant Professor of Marketing, Argyros School of Business and Economics, Chapman University (e-mail: balli@chapman. edu).

The authors thank Fevzi Balli, Steven Chen, Yonca Ertimur, Eileen Fischer, Mary C. Gilly, Ashlee Humphreys, Darcy F. Kamal, Lisa Peñaloza, and participants at the Anthropology of Markets and Consumption conference for their insightful comments on earlier versions of this article. They are grateful for the guidance and helpful remarks of the JM review team. Robert Kozinets served as area editor for this article.

[pscot]

3. Derp

[Binkie The Clown]

2. It wasn't too long ago I heard "Yoga is Satanism"

and "Yoga will poison your mind, and make you susceptible to demon possession."

There are still a lot of fundies who think that way.

[enough]

4. I was talking with a woman at the gym recently who said in no uncertain terms

"I wouldn't do anything that has anything to do with yoga. I'm a Christian."

[JayhawkSD]

5. A school in San Doego was including Yoga in physical education.

Parents sued the school to cease and desist, claiming it was a "religious practice," and the case actually went to trial. As I recall it was a bench trial, not a jury, but I'm not certain of that. The parents lost and the Yoga classes continued.