I truly don't consider any of it crossing the line. Does chakra panties somehow hinder the practice? If any of this had a true bearing on the ability to sit and meditate and do your asanas on a daily basis, I would be against it. But, we live in a commercial world. A world where British people pilot and Mexican ship for the United States to go to Iraq to get oil from Saudi Arabia. A global world. I think chakra panties and durga shirts and drinks with people meditating on them are all fun and good. And if you want to pay for them fine, it has no bearing on Yoga.
People with nothing better to do with their time boohoo about what the west is doing to yoga etc. There will always be those who keep a fundamentalist strict attitude and keep traditions alive, and those who do their on stuff.
Don't forget the various Xtian Churches are a big industry.

Ok, so chakra panties is a little too far, and quite disrespectful. Other than that I don't see the problem with something that is so good for people becoming mainstream. People commercialize Christianity as well, but it doesn't stop the people who really believe from believing. If our world is filled with a little more yoga because of this why not?

Hummmmm, a Yoga line of panties... Not a bad idea for a satirical bit on the YogaDawg website.

I saw the clips of the documentary and I must say it is quite scary to me to see that yoga business is feeding a lot of egos.
I mean, it's ok to have a yoga business, but they should be ethical and coherent.
And with yoga competitions it seems the message and purpose of yoga disappears.
I'm not a teacher and I'm graduated in advertising and marketing so I know that you can do everything to fill your banc account, but i also know that if you defend the yoga message you have to be ethical and responsable. And what I saw in the documentary was absolutely unresponsible because the yoga word is used and sold appart from it's essence and for me that's totally wrong.
And the existence of other spiritual industries or whatever you wanna call it are not an excuse,'cause yoga should make you aware and give you consciousness, something most religions don't give you(that's one of the reasons yoga is so good).
And it is worst when the ones selling yoga pratice it, they should be more responsable 'cause they heve the knowledge.

I recall being at a yoga conference and listening to a speaker referring to a small, unassuming yoga studio on Manhattan's lower east side. The gist of the discussion was that this studio has been there for 50 or 60 years or more and people go there in their sweatpants and t-shirts to practice. As new studios pop up all around it they are forced to compete for their market share and so we have seen the explosion of products, studio boutiques, hybrid classes, etc. When all the hoopla dies down the people who have been going to this "old-fashioned" studio will don their sweats (as opposed to their yoga gear with Ganesha on the pants and mandalas on their ornate mat bags, etc. ) and go back to their mats, if they even use them.
My opinion is that anyone has the right to put their creative spin on an ancient tradition and put it out there in the marketplace but we, as practitioners, should be mindful of how WE respond to it. We have the choice over what to let into our lives and how it affects us. For me it is a constant calling back to the roots of the tradition. If we accept the original premise of Patanjali that yoga is for the stilling of the thought waves in the mind we have to recognize that the marketing of yoga is just more waves and nothing more. More "stuff" pulling consciousness away from it's source.
As co-owners of a yoga studio my wife and I have resisted the temptation to market yoga products to our students. If they want them there are many places in town to go (I'm guessing Target carries a full product line) and the Internet is a mouse-click away for most everyone. Our preference is to follow the example of the little studio in Manhattan and stick close to the heart of the practice and let everything else take care of itself.

Even the fabulous Margot Fonteyn had a lovely quote about (paraphrasing) taking ones work seriously is essential but taking oneself too seriously is disastrous.

I see nothing wrong with bring a bit of humour and demystification into yoga. Hey, it they aren't too expensive I'll buy a full set ;~)

Yoga is a practice, something that you do. If you are worried about what other people do, you missed the whole point. I am more worried about the yoga fundamentalists (who are exactly the same as the Christian and Muslim varieties) than the yoga commercialists. At least chakras on panties really exist, since chakras in the body are a silly superstition. (The idea that there are wheels of energy spinning at the speed of light within the body that cannot be scientifically detected is absurd.) Yoga is about self awareness and health, not worrying about what kind of panties perfect stangers wear!

It's absolute nonsense to compare yoga traditionalists to Christian and Muslim fundamentalists. Give me an example of the former ever engaging in violence against (or attempts to control the lives of) anyone anywhere. This is about respect for the practice. If you don't believe in standards--then stop calling what you're doing yoga. If you believe that chakra panties and the like are acceptable--then you don't take yoga seriously. If that's true--then why bother?

The fact that yoga is becoming increasingly commercialised in some respects is, at least, a reflection of its popularity.
Yes, the idea of chakra parties might sound ridiculous and phoney, but they won't do any harm... whatever does it for you.
In the world we live in, commercialism - even when it applies to yoga - to some degree is inevitable and perhaps not all bad.

I was glancing at a magazine the other day and saw an ad for cat food that showed a cat and its owner doing yoga. Marketing run amok? Perhaps. I've noticed an increase in marketing that uses yoga or yoga symbology. However, we all have the choice to evaluate these messages for ourselves. It's certainly less offensive than many other marketing approaches that target women. I guess what concerns me most about the concept is that the yoga audience is so often presumed to be female. All you guy yogis out there bothered by that?

I see all of this as a way we as a people try to grasp hope and make sense of something our greater selves know to be important. Our broken system has not found a way to process it, but it tries. What worries me is the extremes in this discussion. When "sensible yogis" stand on their mats and indignantly proclaim that their way is the "best way" or the "only way", that religion has it wrong and they have it right, that commercialism is evil and everyone should jump on board with the way they see it, never mind that my eyes can't possibly see the same through their's. If we energetically judge the yogi next to us or the store down the street, are we doing anything to better ourselves or the world?

Right on amykay!!!

One key lesson of yoga (both in and out of class) is to focus on yourself and not let the actions and opinions of others affect you. Everyone has their own unique path and when truly following it, there's no time or desire to judge others. Let people conduct their yoga-related business the way they see fit. If you are focused on your own progress then what others do or don't do have no affect on your practice.

Studies that are not institutionalized have no head, so there is no requirement to maintain yoga's purity. And since the world is full of gullible and trendy consumers, we buy whatever is packaged effectively. It's Nature's way of initiating Man's decline in the Universe, just part of our natural cycle. First we rise, then we falls. Have you seen what they've done to granola bars?

I think people should think about bigger problems - like poverty or any token world issue - than chakras on panties.

Eventually, if marketing is taken to the extreme because of human greed, everything is become commercialized. It's up to us to decide personally where we stand and act upon that. We can only control our own actions and lead, perhaps, by example. Getting emotional about these kinds of things just creates unnecessary stress and conflict.