Yoga originated in India, but how did it become so popular in western culture? What's the cultural background?

Native speaker’s answer

Rebecca

Good question! Yoga has been very popular in the West since the 19th century because it provides physical, mental, social, and emotional benefits. In addition to health benefits (it improves overall physical health and reduces stress), it is popular because it emphasizes spiritual freedom, which was attractive to people in the West because yoga was thought to provide spiritual freedom from the pressures of modern capitalist society. So we can see that yoga is not just a form of exercise, but also a type of spiritual practice.

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Popular Q&As

01/05

1
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"Yet that mean" here simply means "but that unkind" driver. He is comparing the "kindness" of "Darrel" to the "meanness" or unkindness of the "Buddy driver". The word "mean" has a few meanings in English. In this case, it is being used as an adjective to mean that someone is unkind or unpleasant. Ex: Stop being so mean to me! Ex: She just said it to be mean. "Yet" is being used as a conjunction and conveying a meaning similar to "but" and "that" is just being used as a pronoun to identify the person other than Darrel. Ex: I told you not to yet you still did it. Ex: You look so tired yet you have a lot of energy. That's amazing.

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