Yoga is practiced by about 15 million people in the United States, for reasons almost as numerous \u201d\u201d from the physical benefits mapped in brain scans to the less tangible rewards that New Age journals call spiritual centering. Religion, for the most part, has nothing to do with it.<\/p>\n
But a group of Indian-Americans has ignited a surprisingly fierce debate in the gentle world of yoga by mounting a campaign to acquaint Westerners with the faith that it says underlies every single yoga style followed in gyms, ashrams and spas: Hinduism.<\/p>\n
The campaign, labeled \u201cTake Back Yoga,\u201d\u009d does not ask yoga devotees to become Hindu, or instructors to teach more about Hinduism. The small but increasingly influential group behind it, the Hindu American Foundation, suggests only that people become more aware of yoga\u2019s debt to the faith\u2019s ancient traditions.<\/p>\n