I was searching through youtube with the keyword "yoga" yesterday and I was a little dismayed by the fact that so many of the results on the first few pages returned scantily clad yoginis with a camera focused on their rear during downward dog. Search google for the term "tantric yoga" and you'll get a number of results about tantric sex, but you'll have to scroll to the bottom of the page for anything related to "white tantric yoga". Yoga on the web seems to be more about sex and vanity than union with the Divine.
These page results reflect what's getting the most views and the most buzz. It's a sad fact that more people are interested in what amounts to 'yoga porn' than yoga as a practice that aligns us with our inner being. BUT, There IS something that we can do about that!!
There are many factors that effect a page's search engine rank. And there are many things, that WE as internet users can do to support quality content on the web and help that content's true value be reflected in the search engine results page (SERP) rank.
Here are a few things you can do to support valuable content on the web:
1. if you don't like it, ignore it. Search engines don't differentiate between good comments and bad comments. From a search engine's perspective, comments = value. So if you come across something you don't like, the best thing you can do is ignore it.
2. If you like it, leave a comment. Yes, the same rules apply here as above. Comments let the search engines know that a certain page contains quality content. Speak up if you like something!
3. Bookmark it! Set up an account with Delicious or Digg or any other number of social bookmarking sites. This is a great way to keep track of all the good stuff you come across on the web and allows you to easily reference it later. It also helps the page you bookmark when you link to it. Bookmarked pages become inbound links for the website which help tremendously with SERP rank.
4. Share it, Like it, Tweet it, Stumble it, Buzz it! The more views a page gets, the better it's rank in the SERPs. If you like a page... if you find value in it, one of the single most important things YOU can do, is tell others about it!
One of the best things about the internet is that it is a consumer driven medium. If a page isn't getting views, it will remain virtually invisible. On the other hand, if a page is getting a ton of views it naturally takes center stage. If all of us who love yoga as a spiritual practice ban together and follow these four basic rules we can help steer yoga's presence on the web away from 'yoga porn' and toward 'yoga as a spiritual practice' where it belongs. .
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These are good points and can apply to any topic on the web.
THANK YOU for writing this. I have an article on my yoga blog that reviews Namaste Yoga (shown on TV). I found the series to be a bit exploitative of women. I have also critically reviewed certain videos by certain kundalini yoga teachers who utilize a young woman to demonstrate the poses, who is basically in underwear – in one part of the “kundalini yoga” video she is shown dancing around in a top that shows her nipples poking through!
You’d be surprised at the amount of defensive, attacking comments I have received (mostly by men) about these reviews of mine, telling me I must be an ugly old hag to be offended.
So I feel it’s not just what’s on the Internet that’s the problem, but yoga TV shows and yoga videos that also contribute. Yoga Journal is also a huge offender by mostly showing young 20something models on their covers.
I try to support serious yoga that is not about being a hot woman but about growing mentally, physically and spiritually. I try not to give money or attention to organizations that contribute to yoga-exploitation. (Yoga Journal, that includes YOU!)
What will also help would be to emphasis that yoga is for people of all ages, and ask places like Yoga Journal to show more diverse people on their covers.
Sadly it is a reflection of our times. When I tell people of the opposite sex who don’t know me that I practice yoga, the most common response is a knowing look and a ‘can you get your leg behind your head’ type of comment. If I told someone I was a Catholic, would they ask me to get out my rosary and give them three hail Marys? Unlikely and yet yoga is as much a spiritual practice as religion is for others but doesn’t seem to receive the same level of respect.
[...] Read the rest here: http://www.spiritvoyage.com/blog/index.php/help-stop-yoga-porn/ [...]
I totally agree Stephanie! I clicked on one of their videos and that was enough for me. But like I said in the post, it’s best to just ignore these websites and content distributors. Every time we talk about them, (esp. by name) we’re marketing FOR THEM. I once heard that McDonald’s considers their trash as marketing material. In other words, even though one might see a piece of trash on the ground as a bad thing, McDonald’s marketing dept sees it as branding. The more times they can get your eyes on their logo the better. And the same goes for bad reviews on the internet. The more attention we draw to them…the more attention we draw to them
If you really want to advocate for a cause via blogging, link to what’s good! Support positive content with positive comments and share that content. Yoga Journal feeds the demand of their readers. If more people share articles about yoga for different ages for example, Yoga Journal will meet that demand with more of the same content. We the readers hold the power 
I feel lucky that I haven’t encountered exhibitionists at my kundalini classes. We are all different sizes as well as ages. I did encounter a young woman who had a yoga studio and she placed an image of herself on her website. I thought it was pushing things a bit. Just a little too seductive in her pose. It bothered me a bit because this is not what yoga is about. This teacher was supposed to be very serious but I guess her vanity came through.
Anyway, a toast to people of all ages, sizes and shapes.
I did not renew my subscription to Yoga Journal several years ago because of their growing emphasis on vanity and sex. I was tired of seeing young, skinny and scantily clad women on the covers. This is exploitation. My yoga teacher several years back had decided to pull his ads in Yoga Journal because he said that their covers and articles were looking more like Cosmo than a respected Yoga magazine. Their answer to him was that they printed what sold, and that when they ran those covers and articles, they sold more copy. Sad, but true.
Attention is attention whether is it is positive or negative, so I agree with not leaving negative comments as these are even used for gain!
I knew a woman at Yale University who wrote a thesis on the beneficiary nature of porn.
I am all for yoga porn, why! Hopefully a lot of men, along with their Coors light/ amphetamine routines will
begin to slow their jack off processes down. Think about it.