OBJECTIVES OF THE CASE

• Analysis of this case creates awareness about Indian culture

• The difference between the western culture and the Indian roots

• The yoga gurus who commercialize yoga for profits

• Debate of the origin of yoga from different religions

• Understand the relationship between marketing strategy and different market

situations

• Branding a culture into a trend

 History of Yoga

– The Sanskrit word Yoga came from root ‘yuj’, meaning – union.
– Earliest record of yoga practice were found in Indus valley.
–  Patanjali- Yoga sutras a series of aphorisms, Ashtanga Yoga (or
the eight limbs of yoga)
Cont.

Initial purpose:
–  Yoga was associated with quieting the mind, transcending the
physical self, and attaining communion with the divine

Modern-day yoga:
– It reflected ideas that teachers of yoga had passed down to their
students over thousands of years.
 Commercialisation of Yoga

• In 2008, almost 16 million people in the U.S. were practitioners of yoga.

• Yoga Journal pegged the industry, including classes, merchandise, and

vacations, at a whopping $5.7 billion.

• Take Back Yoga—Bringing to Light Yoga’s Hindu Roots.

• India’s Traditional Knowledge Digital Library.

• Interpretations of yoga in the U.S. varied widely.

 Bikram Choudhary

 Born in 1946 in calcultta, India.

 Studying yoga from the age of four under his guru

Brishnu Ghosh.

 Weightlifting Accident

 In 1971 he arrived in US, taught at resorts before

opening a studio in Los Angels.

 Bikram yoga classes and instructed students in

26 asaans and 2 breathing exercise.
 Yoga Guru

– Bikram beginning yoga classes

– In 1984, Bikram offered some intensive teacher training course, which led to rise
in number of Bikram studios.
– Cost of classes at were $20, package of 10 classes was $100.
– Studio was making Roughly $1000 a day.
– By 2000, he tried to accelerated training program was turning out about 200
teachers a year.
 Patent Right

– He once said “Nobody may teach others to become Bikram yoga teacher other than Bikram
choudhary himself”.
– In 2002 He found out that there are some yoga studios that are coping his style.
– Bikram decided to patent his style of yoga like asana series and breathing style.
– He filed a lawsuit against them And the fine was around $150000.
– A studio at costa mesa fought him at court and lost in 2003 and the settlement amount is still
undisclosed.
 Rise of Bikram

– By April 2003, he had more than 700 studios in 220 countries.

– By 2011, approx. 5000 studios were opened around the world.

– Bikram made more then 5 million a year.

– In 2006 Indian Govt. hired 100 historians & scientist to prepare 1500 yoga style without copying
Bikram’s style.

– Bikram continued to hunt down perceived copy cats and send cease and desist letters.
Tara Stiles

 Born in 1981
 Love for Ballet
 Contact with Ford Modelling Agency in Chicago & Yoga
 2000: New York city
 2006: Leave Ford
 2007:Blogger
 2008: Strala Yoga Studio
 Secular & Modern
Cont.

 In 2009: Promotional team with athelets, as thet look

good and fit.

 Nissan leaf, the brand's plug in car- Bringing you

back to youIn 2010: Reintroduced her fitness brand
"Team Fonda“

 Patent of yoga classes

The Hindu American Foundation
–In 2008, several members examined editions of Yoga Journal,
which had become a popular American yoga magazine.

–They saw no reference to Hinduism in the

magazine and concluded that it associated Buddhism, Jainism, and
Christianity with yoga more than it did Hinduism.

–HAF decided to launch “Take Back Yoga

—Bringing to Light Yoga’s Hindu Roots”
“It’s not about branding, but about

acknowledgment. . . It’ about

understanding that yoga is but one of

Hinduism’s great contributions to humanity”

-Suhag Shukla (M.D. HAF)

–In November 2010, The New York Times ran an article on the front page of its
Sunday edition about HAF’s “Take Back Yoga” campaign and the ongoing debate over
the origins of yoga.

–In March 2011, Sheetal Shah of HAF, Tara Stiles, Dr. Edwin Bryant of Rutgers
University, Dr. Virginia Cowen of the City University of New York, and Edwin
Stern, founder of Ashtanga Yoga NY, participated in a discussion at Princeton
University called “The Politics of Yoga”
“What we noticed . . . was that . . . While [Western yogis] are
very accepting of the fact that yoga is rooted in ancient India,
there was a tension with calling it Hindu, or even accepting
the fact that it was rooted in Hindu philosophy.
-Shah
Analysis

– Yoga is rooted to early Hindu origins but it should not associated with any religion.
– Yoga should be promoted as a brand so that it is accessible to a large audience and bring
people of different origins together on a same platform.
– Different brands also give different choices to various segment of the population.
– Effective marketing and branding should be done so that the benefits of yoga can be
utilized by all the sections of the society.
– The HAF trying to brand yoga and associating it with Hinduism will fall in the western
countries.
– They can instead use the Vedas inscribed in “Surya Namaskar”.
– A commercialization of yoga is indeed needed but a coolness factor will make it
more appealing to the younger generation.
– Yoga should not be involved in political or religious matters.
– Branding of yoga should be done but the poses and asanas should not be
patented and copyrighted.