Welcome to Yoga Michigan, a forum to discuss yoga. The traditional goal of yoga has been to free oneself of the ego and discover ones true divine nature. This goal seems to have been watered down and even lost in some cases when yoga came to the materialistic western world.

Designer-wear-clad students sweat away to deafening music while the instructor shouts on her mike every 5 minutes "Oh yeah! This is enlightenment!!!" Some schools are run like a cult, with self-appointed gurus offering to certify you in THEIR style - as if to take credit for single-handedly revolutionizing this 5,000+ year-old pool of human knowledge - for a price. Students with fragile egos - perhaps with a hope to impress others and/or to validate their worth with "credentials" - seek the approval of a guru with an ego larger than their own, who is all too happy to take their money and impose his dogma onto anyone who is willingly to pay for the privilege.
>To see it for what it really is, one has but to contemplate on true spiritual masters. Would Jesus have issued certificates to his disciples? Would Buddha have done so?

While traditional yoga teaches that we should free ourselves from the ego, it also teaches us to respect and honor those who have different viewpoints than our own. So, with this in mind, please share your thoughts on the subject. And come back often to participate in thought-provoking discussions within the local yoga community who (hopefully) have the goal of deepening their practice beyond postures and certificates.

Namaste.