The Yoga Revolution Will Not be on Instagram

Instagram displays the yoga community’s fascination, obsession, and addiction to perfection and illusion on social media. Hits of dopamine draw us into applications whose primary goal is to subvert us into spending more time on their applications. The word ADDICTION contains the word -DICTION. The a- at the start of addiction creates a reverse of the true meaning of the word after it. An addicted individual loses the ability to dictate their own life as they wish.

How does a yogi lose the ability to dictate their life? On a subconscious level, social media exposes a plethora of symbols, archetypes, trends, and standards which create comparison and dialectics in the yogi’s mind. This inner turmoil creates a consumer rather than a producer culture.

Most of the top yogis provide little to no content on YouTube or their websites. Forcing readers to consume information on an application with advertisements, a limited character count, and with a terrible computer interface, the community at large has sold out!

What artistic masterpieces do the yoga community stand on? Can you create a masterpiece on Instagram, Facebook, or a SquareSpace/Wix website?

Of course we can’t!

The great Jean Baudrillard said that ““We live in a world where there is more and more information, and less and less meaning.”

Do the systems present in the yoga community’s approach to Instagram contain the potential to change global consciousness? Systems perpetuating dialects that raise standards to a point of fantasy by marketing false images through displaying the perfect yogi and digestible “spiritual ideas,” do not lead us closer to a global awakening of consciousness. They manifest an unfulfilled life. An unfulfilled life that requires psychological inflation through the false self or super ego on social media to feel whole.

In this article we will explore the underlying core psychological issues of yoga’s reliance on Instagram, and a discussion on grassroots solutions to changing global consciousness outside of social media.

“Everything is dual; everything has poles; everything
has its pair of opposites; like and unlike are the same;
opposites are identical in nature, but different in degree;
extremes meet; all truths are but half-truths; all paradoxes
may be reconciled.”–The Kybalion.

Understating the laws of polarity are a necessary step for any student on the path toward enlightenment. Good VS evil. Love VS hate. Masculine VS feminine. Teacher VS Student. Force VS form. Capitalism VS Communism. Oppressor VS Victim. Each of these polarities exists on a spectrum where variations on the extreme can fall into.

French theorist Ferdinand Saussure postulated that meaning in language is created through binaries. Many occult schools of thought would agree with this. The Hermetic schools and the Qabalah is based in binary opposition. Most schools of yoga (excluding Samaykha) address the concept of the dual nature of the universe, but strive for a transcendence out of the binary by a merging with purusa.

Jacques Derrida opposed Saussure’s conception of binaries by arguing that a power imbalance exists within binaries. One side takes precedence over the other stemming from the human desire to take a side.

What the hell does this have to do with yoga and Instagram though???

A classical mind control technique is to present two extremes on opposite ends and let the subconscious mind of the consumer jump into one camp. However, most of the time these opposite ends are controlled by an overarching power structure that benefits from someone entering either side.

This works time and time again, because

ONLY ONE SIDE NEEDS TO BUY INTO THE LIE FOR THE DIALECTIC TO WORK.

If Alo or Lululemon pushes a fresh, expensive, and trendy style, everyone who buys into that image places themselves in opposition to a more grunge image. However, these companies are five steps ahead and have a roster of the opposition hired and trained to market their products in a different light. On a deeper level, big corporations know that these polarities will cause the other side to create their own events, products, retreats, and workshops.

But those independent yogis won’t make anywhere near what a sponsored yogi will. The constant social media bombardment of sponsored yogis driving their jeeps, holding retreats in tropic places, and living a nice lifestyle will drive independent yogi’s who are caught in the dialectic to seek more income.

Most will fail, and turn to the same corporations that drove them into this polarity in the first place for income. The corporation will sponsor them in some capacity, and then parade them around on their roster to further push the division.

Tripping off dopamine hits from all the flip flopping, the average yogi hits buy.