Why does social media always cop the blame?

IT’S International Yoga Day, and yogis everywhere will be sharing photos of their sun salutations to celebrate. But is narcissism ruining this ancient practice?

Melissa Hoyer is sick of hearing social media cop the blame for everything.

OPINION

TO BLAME social media for an alleged demise in the art and historically rich practice of yoga seems pretty far-fetched.

There is no question that as an Indian physical, mental, and spiritual practice, the broad varieties of yoga have been embraced by Western culture as one of the best forms of physical maintenance and exercise.

But according to Australian National University yoga teacher and PhD student Gina Woodhill, it’s our culture of social media and narcissism, as well as a lack of regulation, that will make the practice of yoga in Australia a challenge.

“There are people who go and do their 200 hours of teacher training and become very arrogant,” Ms Woodhill said. “A lot of people get caught up in ego and showing off on social media. To be a yoga teacher requires more humility than anything else.”

It’s International Yoga Day. Shouldn’t we all chill out? Picture: Rachel Brathen Yoga Lifestyle

Ms Woodhill was venting her Shiva spleen ahead of International Yoga Day today, saying that for some people who take up yoga because it’s cool, social media can be very negative.

“Contorting your body into a pretzel on Instagram doesn’t mean you are doing yoga, that’s just your body type,’’ she says.

Hang on a minute. Here we go. Let’s blame social media. Again.

Let’s get something right here. With social media, you can choose to opt in. Or opt out. Be part of it. Not be part of it. Or just cruise in and out of it when and if you like.

Anyone who continues with an us-and-them attitude toward social media needs to get over it. It is here. It is vital. And it can’t be wholly and solely blamed for any evil that someone may think it is doing.

The art of yoga does come from a humble place, but so does raising money for charity and boy, the power that social media can bring to raising awareness of philanthropy is boundless.

Social media is here to stay. Whether it’s in our children’s lives, our lives, our parents’ lives, our grandparents’ lives, it is a pervasive part of day-to-day functioning.

And I’m not just talking about taking a mad old filtered selfie while you’re at your next yoga class.

Banking, taking your pulse, shopping, reading news, interacting with mates, dating, rating. They are all accessible by good ole social media platforms and apps.

Sure, your Saturday brekkie, night at the pub, Sunday brunch, day at the beach, party, wedding, divorce, whatever, they are all being captured by one or three of a huge swag of social media platforms. But that is life, now.

Sure, there are and will always be people using social media platforms for purely exploitative and horrendous purposes. Unfortunately, they’re the ones who taint it, so caution is always advised.

But overall, social media is a great way to share elements of life you choose to share. To share with those who you choose or in the case of Instagram, those who choose to follow you.

I don’t get why there should be an issue that a yoga aficionado may want to show their pretzel moves, their downward dog or their sultry salute to the sun?

If they are good at it and that’s their thing, boy, I’d be showing it off too. (Isn’t that was Kim Kardashian does with facial contouring and general posing?)

Social media is a reality. Whether people use when they are on a bus, train, at breakfast, at lunch or sitting in a park.

We used to, and many still do, sit down and read a hard copy newspaper or magazine. Did anyone complain about that? How is reading anything or darting away on your smartphone any different?

The problem is, as soon as you even look at your phone, some people around you assume you are looking for likes or comments or that you’re on “The Twitter”. (Yes, some people still say that.)

The technology surrounding social media is my work tool and one for many other people too. It is as essential to me as a stethoscope is to a doctor or a rig is to a truck driver.

Social media alerts, entertains, informs and allows me and millions others to do so much of our work on the run.

So when I read that Ms Woodhill, who I am sure is one mighty fine, disciplined and integrity-fuelled yoga devotee, believes social media is turning her practice into a vat of narcissism, I really cannot agree.

If anything, when I see an Instagram image of someone doing their yoga pose properly it inspires me. It inspires me to visit Google and find out what time the next class time is at the nearest yoga studio.

So that maybe, just maybe, I can make like a half cobra, a plank, a tree or a hare and say that, yes, I was inspired simply because of the yoga poses I came across on any one of my social media platforms.

Follow Melissa on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @melissahoyer