Branding yoga

Branding Yoga
Harvard Business School Case
By Rohit Deshpande, Kerry Herman & Annelena Lobb

FACTS OF THE CASE
• Yoga is a Physical, Mental & Spiritual Discipline that originated in
Ancient India.
• Over 1,500 yoga poses catalogued by the Indian Authorities as part of
their Digital Knowledge Library program.
• Almost 16 million practitioners of Yoga in the U.S. in 2008.
• U.S.A has over 2 million Hindu’s.
• Grown into a popular physical activity practiced across the world.
• Almost a $6 Billion a year industry in the United States of America.
2Branding Yoga, Harvard Business School Case

Key Mascots of Yoga (1/8)
• Bikram Chaudhary
• Born in 1946 in Calcutta, India.
• Indian-American Yoga Guru & Practitioner of Hatha Yoga, studied under
prominent Guru Bishnu Ghosh.
• Was National India Yoga Champion before touring abroad to spread the
message of yoga as a young adult of 24 years of age.
• Founder of the Bikram Yoga Chain of Yoga Studios, more than 5,000 in number
across the world. $5 million a year business.
• Helped Yoga grow as a brand & business, successfully by combining cultural
roots of Yoga with its Effectiveness as a Physical Exercise.

• Believes in power of yoga to heal injuries and cure the body. Uses hot
chambers in his studios to make people sweat more, stretch more and go
deeper into the body and feel less hurt.
• Starting teaching in U.S.A. at resorts and spas in 1971. Moved on to publish
Bikram’s Beginning Yoga Class by 1979 and by 1984 the Bikram Yoga Beverly
Hills Studio made over $1000 a day.
• By 1994, Bikram started training students to become instructors under an
advanced course in two months. This led to a vast increase in the number of
yoga studios across the world.

• “When in America, make Bikram copyright and trademark.” Bikram, in 2002,
sued others who copied his methodology, and patented his style and elements
of training and poses. Many complied and offered apologies and settlements.
• A counter suit by the Open Source Yoga Unity (OYSU), claiming poses cant be
trademarked, was settled out of court in 2005.
• The Indian Government also sought to remove granting of bad patents and
started digitizing over 1500 Yoga poses and other traditional remedies as part
of its Traditional Knowledge Digital Library (TKDL).
• The hunt for copycats by Bikram still continues, for “Nobody may teach others
to become Bikram Yoga teachers other than Bikram Choudhary himself.”

• Deepak Chopra
• Indian born self-help author and medical doctor.
• Vocal supporter & practitioner of Yoga as a Physical Exercise.
• Rejects association of Yoga with any one particular religion, such as
Hinduism.
• Believes it’s petty to associate Yoga with Hinduism or any religion.
• To quote, in response to the same thought, “[O]ne detects the resentment of an
inventor who discovered Coca-Cola or Teflon but neglected to patent it. Isn’t that a
rather petty basis for painting such a negative picture?”
• Believes Yoga predated Hinduism, and originated in consciousness alone,
or what is also referred to as Sanatana Dharma (Vedic Knowledge).

• Hindu American Foundation
• Advocacy Group for Hinduism.
• Strong proponents of a link between Yoga & Hinduism.
• Launched massive Take Back Yoga Campaign to highlight Hindu Roots of
Yoga.
• Believe people have misconception about Yoga & avoid the H-word
(Hinduism) intentionally, believing it is unmarketable.
• Phone conversation with Yoga Journal, a leading journal on Yoga, proves the
same.

• Hindu American Foundation
• To quote, “It’s not about branding, but about acknowledgement… [I]t’s
about understanding that yoga is one of Hinduism’s great contributions
to Humanity.”
• Take Back Yoga featured on the front page of the New York Times.
• Believe Hinduism and Sanatana Dharma are synonymous and Hindus
were those who espoused Sanatana Dharma.

• Tara Stiles
• Model turned Owner of Strala Yoga, famous chain of Yoga Studios with many
prominent followers.
• Quit Modelling as she started identifying herself more with Yoga and its
practice.
• Actively Blogged at Women’s Health, Huffington Post & Strong Voice in Yoga
Community.
• Advocates Yoga as a purely physical, but spiritually intimate, exercise.
• Disparages “guru things” and promoting Yoga through merchandise.
• Believes that “People need yoga, not another religious leader.”
• Teaches Yoga without any reference to the Sanskrit Language or Yoga’s
religious roots.

• Tara Stiles
• Believes in making Yoga cool and relevant to the society and especially the
younger generation.
• Author of Slim Calm Sexy Yoga, an Amazon No. 1 Bestseller and released an
iPad app, called Authentic Yoga, along with Deepak Chopra to make Yoga more
accessible to all.
• Worked with Jane Fonda on integrating fitness and health through Yoga.
• Believes that Bikram has the right to copyright the name of the studio but not
the practice.
• To quote, “it’s what goes inside that really matters. People ask what style I
teach, and, it’s yoga.”

History of Yoga (1/2)
• Earliest records found in Indus Valley relics dating back to 3000 B.C.E.,
predating many earlier foundational Yoga texts.
• Yoga, meaning “to yoke”, came from the Sanskrit root “yuj” meaning union.
• Yoga has through the ages been associated with quieting the mind,
transcending the physical self, and attaining communion with the divine.
• Physical form of yoga is one amongst others such as Yoga of Devotion, Yoga
of Service, Yoga of Knowledge & Mental Growth through Meditation.

History of Yoga (2/2)
• Many ancient texts give foundational credence to practice of Yoga.
• Yoga Sutras, a series of aphorisms, authored by Indian philosopher Patanjali, talk
about the 8 limbs of Ashtanga Yoga.
• Many ancient texts that act as a basis for many yoga theories and practices
also sacred in Hinduism.
• Vedas (circa 1500 – 1000 B.C.E.) contain many themes antecedent to yoga theories.
• Bhagavad Gita, part of the Hindu Epic, Mahabharata, a philosophical cornerstone of
Yoga.
• However, many authors argue as well that Yoga was a part of 3 world
religions, Hinduism, Buddhism & Jainism.

Yoga Comes to America (1/3)
• Story began in mid 19th century when Transcendentalists such as
Emerson and Thoreau began exploring Indic & Hindu culture.
• Thoreau noted that, “[seen] through the prism of Indian thought and
yoga, which make purifying one’s mind and body a spiritual
precondition of spiritual practice.”
• Swami Vivekananda, a prominent Hindu Nationalist, was one of the
first to speak about Hinduism at the World Parliament of Religions in
Chicago.
• By 1940, the connection was clear and as a sign of that, Margaret
Woodrow Wilson, daughter of former President Woodrow Wilson, left
U.S.A for an ashram in Pondicherry.

Yoga Comes to America (2/3)
• Eugenie Peterson, aka Indra Devi, a Latvian and Indian actress, was the
first to open a Hath Yoga studio in Los Angeles in 1947.
• Yoga for Health a Spiritual and Physical Yoga Book, by Richard
Hittleman, and TV Show ran from 1961-81.
• B.K.S. Iyengar published Light on Yoga, considered by the Yoga Journal
as a “Bible on serious asana practice.”
• The Beatles, after visiting Maharishi Mahesh Yogi in 1968, popularized
Transcendental Meditation, aimed at increasing mental awareness.
• Chopra collaborated with Maharishi to write a book called Quantum
Healing that aims at mind-body healing, a way of thinking that became
extremely popular in the United States of America.

Present Status Quo (1/3)
• Yoga practiced widely throughout the world, individually and in a group
in Yoga Studios or in other cultural settings.
• Many advocates, such as Deepak Chopra and Tara Stiles, advocate Yoga
as a cool physical exercise designed to make one look cool and feel
great, that doesn’t necessarily need an ancient or religious connect.
• Yoga would make “relationships better, sex better, and it centers and grounds
you.” From the Book, Slim Calm Sexy Yoga, by Tara Stiles.
• “The rise of Hinduism as a religion came centuries after the foundation of yoga
in consciousness and consciousness alone…” – Deepak Chopra.
• Practiced as part of the curriculum in some U.S. schools.
• In some places across the world Yoga competitions are even held. Bikram
Chaudhary was a National Yoga Champion in India.

• However, many disagree with, and strike down, the dissociation of Yoga
with its cultural and religious roots, rested primarily in Hinduism.
• The Hindu American Foundation (HAF), recently launched a self explanatory
campaign called, “Take Back Yoga – Bringing To Light Yoga’s Hindu Roots.”
• They believe it is essential to restore Yoga’s disconnect from its Hindu roots,
due to over commercialization.
• Papers published by HAF as part of the same, promulgate that, “yoga is a lot
more than asana (posture)… and yoga in its entirety is rooted in the Hindu
philosophy.”
• Some classes even offer variations such as Christian Yoga.

• Yoga also marketed as a mix of both, the spiritual and physical.
• Bikram Yoga Studios, started by Bikram Chaudhary, take a fees and teach 26
postures and 2 breathing exercises.
• Bikram Chaudhary patented this package and teaches them exclusively,
through his army of instructors, in his hot studios.
• Yoga studios such as ones by Bikram Chaudhary in huge abundance across the
world, which promote yoga as wholesome exercise for the body and soul.

Questions Asked ? (1/2)
• What is Yoga, and how should it be branded ?
• Is it a physical exercise or a spiritual practice or both ?
• Competitive sport to be practiced professionally or a free for all ?
• Is it associated with one religion, more than one or none ?
• Should Yogic teachings & practices be thought of as purely public wealth's of
knowledge or should they be marketed as a business ?
• Can only be taught in Yoga Studios or taken up from any medium of
learning ?

Questions Asked ? (2/2)
• Is it someone’s patent and exclusive right (see the 26+2 postures
package taught and patented by Bikram Yoga Studios) or is it a world
heritage to be used by one and all (the TKDL Digital Initiative by the
Indian Authorities)
• Who’s responsibility is it to brand yoga ?
• Should it be considered a professional sport and be led by a world organization
?
• Should it be the responsibility of independent organizations/governments ?

Exploration & Hypothesis
• As stated in the case, Yoga is a physical, mental and spiritual discipline that
originated in Ancient India; the practice of Yoga would help its practitioners
transcend their physical bodies and individual minds to attain communion
with the divine.
• No one way in general, but a certain integrated approach of the physical,
spiritual, cultural, religious and commercial way is proposed as a cohesion, a
truly wholesome solution, an output of Yoga itself ironically, as the way to go
forward. The same is done in parts in the following slides.

• Physical: Yoga should be promoted as a physical exercise as proposed
by Tara Stiles and Deepak Chopra since positively impacting one’s
physical fitness and health is one of the most tangible and visible
outcomes of Yoga and something that is easily visible, and assuring to
the practitioner. This will help give a very tangible outcome that can
easily be measured and tested in terms of one’s weight, physical
wellbeing, flexibility and basic health parameters such as blood sugar,
cholesterol etc. that Yoga claims to help cure (espoused by Bikram
Choudhary as well).

• Spiritual: Yoga is a deeply moving and intimate experience as agreed to by
all mascots of the practice. As espoused by Chopra and Maharishi, in their
book Quantum Healing, just as the connection between the physical body
and the mind cannot be ignored and they must be treated as one, therefore
when we start moving into the intangibles and look at what makes up a
spiritual experience, as proposed by Tara Stiles, Bikram Chaudhary and the
like, Yoga being a truly wholesome experience affecting the body and mind
in effect affects the soul as well and moves it, as the definition espouses
towards attainment of communion with the divine.

• Cultural: There is no denying the fact that Yoga is a cultural part of India’s
ancient heritage and at the same time, a huge cultural contribution to the
world’s culture itself that aims at world peace and harmony between men,
women and people of all kinds, races, religions and nationalities. Its
counterproductive to speak of Yoga as the property of one country’s culture,
but should be thought of rather to build on the words of the HAF, one of
India’s biggest cultural contributions to the world’s heritage and culture.
Yoga is an all inclusive solution, its branding must also aim at uniting the
world and becoming a part of the entire world’s culture itself.

• Religious: Diana Eck of Harvard wrote, “This turn of mind (uniting body
and mind, Quantum Healing) has gradually saturated the whole of
American Culture with essentially Hindu, more broadly Asian ideas
without speaking of them as such.” At the “Politics of Yoga” conference
at Princeton, it was noted that, “while [Western yogis] are very
accepting of the fact that yoga is rooted in ancient India, there was a
tension with calling it Hindu, or even accepting the fact that it was
rooted in Hindu philosophy.” This was seen in HAF’s discussion with
Yoga Journal as well.

• Religious: I believe when it comes to religion, Yoga, coming from India, a
secular land itself, must be branded as an essentially secular activity.
Acknowledging roots in Hinduism can be done as asked by the HAF, only till
when its suggested that practicing Yoga doesn’t mean you start believing in
Hinduism (see Margaret Wilson’s press coverage of her trip to Pondicherry,
India). The hesitation comes from the intersection of suggestion of religious
conversion and acknowledgement of Hindu roots, even as Indian roots were
acknowledged. This people feel impinges on their secular rights.
Encouraging diversity in Yoga studios and cross national events will increase
the spread of yoga and its utility as a secular and wholesome experience. A
clear line needs to be drawn on acknowledgement not leading to conversion
through diverse classrooms and greater messaging and not disparaging
campaigns, if at all.

• Commercial: Yoga as a free lunch, and as a commercial (and even
professional competitive sport) venture both make for excellent
marketing and brand building and both are completely acceptable. The
commercial-ity of the whole exercise is only limited to people willingly
want to learn in a particular direction that suits their overall well being
and is not done out of compulsion. The same can be self guided and so
forcing one over the other should not be done for Yoga is a public
wealth and trainers motivating trainees does not imply patent and
copyright of the trainer on the posture, for here a copyright would
imply sole ownership which is not possible for a public wealth.

• Can only be taught in Yoga Studios or taken up from any medium of
learning ? Is it someone’s patent and exclusive right (see the 26+2
postures package taught and patented by Bikram Yoga Studios) or is it
a world heritage to be used by one and all (the TKDL Digital Initiative by
the Indian Authorities)
• Answered in the previous slide. To each his own  For that is the true
spirit of Yoga and its integration as a global public wealth and cultural
heritage.

• Who’s responsibility is it to brand yoga ?
• Should it be considered a professional sport and be led by a world organization ?
• Should it be the responsibility of independent organizations/governments ?
• I believe it’s the responsibility of all independent organizations and
governments to make possible Yoga’s growth as a part of our global heritage
as mentioned earlier. Since, its utility is both tangible and intangible I do not
completely believe it should be marketed as a professional sport with
targeted parameters for judging, for how do you distinguish in full one’s
spiritual experience from the other, one indeterminate from the other and
trivializing an intimate exercise to a professional sport might end up sullying
the whole endeavor.

Takeaways
• There maybe many ways to brand any entity but can there at any given
time exist a “one fits all model” ?
• Can we generalize the insights gained ?
• How do we decide ownership when it comes to phenomenon of global
value ?

Credits & References
• Flickr.com
• Images.google.com
• Branding Yoga, Harvard Business School Case, By Rohit Deshpande,
Kerry Herman & Annelena Lobb

Created by Dhananjay Goel, IIT Delhi, During an Internship by Prof.
Sameer Mathur, IIM Lucknow. www.IIMInternship.com
31
PROF. SAMEER MATHUR
IIM LUCKNOW
DHANANJAY GOEL
IIT DELHI
Branding Yoga, Harvard Business School Case

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