Young tourists performing yoga at sacred temple criticised in Thai media

[jbauer]

45slap, I appreciate that you gave further explanation of your comment, even though I personally disagree with your stance. Sorry for the earlier post, where I assumed you were just some "I have the right to do whatever" knucklehead.

In my opinion, proper respect for a good law should remain the same anywhere, and should not be affected by the environment; I would not murder someone in Thailand, because it is wrong, not because I feel I must obey Thailand's laws out of politeness or because I don't have citizenship, etc. The fact I am in Thailand does not affect my refusal to rob a bank any more than being in my own country would.

However, obeying does not mean agreeing, and it does not mean I feel I shouldn't have a voice. I may not be Thai, but I don't see why I can't affect change; I would actually listen to a foreigner in my own country if he criticized some aspect of it,and would then choose to agree or disagree with him. I would not dissuade him from saying it. By voicing an opinion, I might, in a small way, affect the mind of a Thai person (however unbelievable that might seem). I realize many people would vehemently disagree with this, and say that I have no right to influence a different country, or post that bwana picture again. I am not someone who means to oppress. However, I do feel my opinion should be allowed; it's just that no one has to listen to it if they don't want to.

If Thailand allowed (legal) slavery, I would vocally disagree with it. I know that I might well then be pressured to leave, but there are some moral absolutes that I won't abandon for the sake of the independence of another culture. If this makes me a fool, so be it- maybe I could change things, even if only in a minute way I don't believe I would be being hypocritical about disagreeing with a law, though, as there is no law saying I am not allowed to communicate my disagreement (apart from on certain things, although this situation does indeed make me feel somewhat of a hypocrite, regardless of whether I hypothetically agreed or disagreed with them).

You have made me think quite deeply about my stance; thank you.

Edited January 12, 2015 by jbauer

[louse1953]

Another example of an overreaction by a Thai.

At least a monk isn't slapping them, they are not drunk and are not in a bikini.

The bloke is topless though,no respect,no idea.And i'm an atheist.

[louse1953]

Is this really just an excuse to attack a person of white skin by yet another racist, over sensitive thai taking their oh so precious culture a little too seriously? And if there is a choice between some Chinese tourist publicly defecating and some westerners doing yoga, which do they choose? I bet if there were some young Thais doing yoga there they wouldn't have minded, probably would have cited it as an example of good, clean living people of their country.

But it wasn't young Thai's,was it,and i doubt it ever would be.

[Tycoon]

Once again, your a visitor here, know your place and worth. No way would a Thai do this in the forecourt of a temple

And we are not talking about rogue one off thais making an ass of themselves either

Another example of an overreaction by a Thai.

At least a monk isn't slapping them, they are not drunk and are not in a bikini.

[Rangsitreppin]

So the locals were angus at the fact that they were farang or that they were doing yoga.

[PaPiPuPePo]

Another (my) view of this topic

Calling this circus acrobatics little demonstration Yoga is... inappropriate

http://takelessons.com/blog/benefits-of-inversion-yoga

Supported Shoulder Stand (Salamba Sarvangasana)

What these two people are doing is NOT even close to what you linked to, NJ, you really don't see the difference? Maybe that's because you've never practiced yoga?

I haven't done it recently, but I'll wager that if you page through Iyengar's "Light on Yoga," which has more yoga asanas pictured than any other book, you will not find this "yoga" "pose."

To me this looks like two typically self-involved 20-somethings who want to get a photo of their acrobatic selves in a "spiritual" setting so they can show off the photos to their "friends" to get more "likes" and thereby feel better about themselves.

As your linked website shows, a lot of (most?) young women practicing yoga these days do so in tights; in fact, this is a bad idea since one of the purposes of performing asanas (which is a part of, NOT the whole of yoga practice, far from it in fact) is to increase circulation to the extremities, and quality yoga manuals and teachers (I've had a fair amount of experience with both) recommend loose clothing for yoga practice.

But that prevents all the yogini-wannabes from showing off their yoga/spinning/zoomba/exercise-flavor-of-the-month-toned legs and rear ends....the same this young lady is pointing right at the temple. If you don't get the offence in I'll wager, politely, that you're practicing wilful blindness.

It's a bit more egregious than the too-common inappropriate dress at temples and not out of bounds for Thais to criticise it.

The temple fair antics are interesting; it's possible that the sexualised behaviour is a manifestation of one of the many pre-Buddhist animist practices that have survived in Thai society, related to the fertility worship you see throughout Asia (like the wood phalluses you see some times). I'm very well aware that the Thais don't do much more than pay lip-service to their Buddhism, but even so the underage coyote dancers don't make sense unless there's some quasi-religious or customary reason for it.

[AyG]

The temple fair antics are interesting; it's possible that the sexualised behaviour is a manifestation of one of the many pre-Buddhist animist practices that have survived in Thai society, related to the fertility worship you see throughout Asia

Alternatively, it might simply be an updated version of the traditional Thai temple dancers, reflecting more modern tastes in dance.

[ToYoungToRetire]

If youd would like you mental midget I would be more than happy to help you understand

Edited January 15, 2015 by ToYoungToRetire