AllMovie

Yoga began as a Hindu discipline using physical postures to aid in meditation, but in 21st Century America, yoga has become the new hip route to physical fitness. No longer seen as an arcane spiritual pursuit, yoga has become a big (and very profitable) business, as yoga classes in major cities are filled to overflowing with yuppies looking for serenity and weight loss, while yoga is making its way into Middle America just as Starbucks brought the word "latte" into the Yankee vocabulary. But with the new popularity of yoga has come a new breed of instructors who see a potential to make a fortune, including Bikram Choudhary, often described as "the bad boy of yoga," who has attempted to copyright a number of yoga postures and charge a fee to others who want to teach (or learn) them. Choudhary has also been outspoken in his belief that yoga should be made an Olympic sport, which many traditional yoga enthusiasts believes flies in the face of its philosophy and intent. Filmmaker John Philp offers a witty look at this new world of yoga in Yoga Inc., a documentary which explores the pros and cons of its sudden acceptance in mainstream America. Yoga Inc. was screened as part of the 2007 Hot Docs International Film Festival.