Yoga piracy
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Yoga piracy is the appropriation of postures and techniques that are found in ancient and traditional yoga treatises belonging to Hinduism and India. India yogis have been concerned by such people as fitness instructors in the West who claim patents and copyrights on asanas (yoga poses), pranayama techniques and sequences, and ayurvedic medicine. Typically, western practitioners and teachers have taken over the traditional knowledge, although the case of Bikram Yoga is also relevant.
The Government of India has initiated the documentation of 1,500 yoga asana or postures - from the ancient Yoga Sutras of Patanjali to present times - and is storing them in a Digital Traditional Knowledge Library to be made available to patent offices globally. One-third of the estimated 30 million database pages have already been compiled under the Commerce Ministry. Fifteen of the most prominent yoga schools in India are involved including the Iyengar Institute and Kaivalyadham, run by Nitin Unkule.
While knowledge about yoga has been in public domain in India in various vernacular languages, the same was not available to patent examiners abroad, which is why outsiders have been granted patents on something that has been around in India for thousands of years.
New Delhi’s action assumes significance as there is huge money involved in yoga, which according to some estimates[citation needed], is a $3 billion industry in the US alone.
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| Yogas: | Agni Yoga - Anahata Yoga - Anusara Yoga - Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga - Bikram Yoga - Hatha yoga - Integral yoga - Iyengar Yoga - Kriya yoga - Kundalini yoga - Natya Yoga - Sahaj Marg - Sahaja Yoga - Satyananda Yoga - Sivananda Yoga - Six yogas of Naropa (Tummo) - Surat Shabd Yoga - Viniyoga - Yoga in Daily Life - Yoga Nidra |
| Texts: | Hatha Yoga Pradipika - Yoga Sutra - Gherand Samhita |
| Hinduism paths: | Bhakti yoga - Karma Yoga - Jnana Yoga - Raja Yoga |
| Raja Yoga limbs: | Yama - Niyama - Asana - Pranayama - Pratyahara - Dharana - Dhyana - Samadhi |
| Lists: | Yoga schools and their gurus - Hatha yoga postures |
| Related topics: | Ayurveda - Chakra - Mantra - Tantra - Vedanta - Yoga (alternative medicine) - Yoga as exercise |
