It wasn't the book reviews that caught my eye, but rather this innocuous phrase, an explanation for why Americans are so enthralled by Yoga: "Maybe it's because yoga offers a cure for American body-hating Puritanism."
I never gave it much thought until now. American women at the gym, running, climbing, contorting, complaining to trainers that other trainers don't make them "sweat enough" - I always took it for granted. If you want to look good, you have to work hard for it, right? But now I take a step back and think of my own girlfriends, who would rather lounge by the pool, play tennis, smoke or go for walks rather than work out any of their slim body parts. And they look good too, in different ways.
Is this really the case? Are Americans body-hating Puritans? But what of all the body-worship then? All the plastic surgery, the real housewifes of..., Nip/Tuck, Dr. 90210, etc.? Could it be that that's just the other side of the same coin?
Bodies are vessels for the spirit. If the vessels are flawed, so what? That shouldn't impede the spirit's ability to enjoy life and make the best of it.
But if the body is the end in itself, then, the spirit must take a secondary position and abide by the vagaries of the flesh, which brings about self-hate or Narcissism (a la American Psycho), addictive behaviors and other pests.
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