White people practising yoga is racist and a tool for white supremacists, according to bonkers claim by top professor at Michigan State University

WHITE people who practise yoga are contributing to "white supremacy" and to a “system of power and oppression”, according to a professor.

Shreena Gandhi, a religious studies teacher at Michigan State University in the US, claims fitness fans who do the downward-facing dog are taking part in “cultural appropriation”.

In a paper she co-authored, she said white Americans should learn yoga’s history and possibly reduce the cost of yoga classes for poor people, reports

Gandhi argues that “recent immigrants, such as Indian women to whom this practice rightfully belongs,” should instead be encouraged to practise.

She co-wrote the piece, titled Yoga and the Roots of Cultural Appropriation, with Lillie Wolff, a self-described “anti-racist white Jewish organiser, facilitator, and healer”.

The pair have called for the “decolonising” of yoga, the reported.

They said “the explosion of yoga studios, yoga video, apps, yoga pants, and other yoga swag over the last two decades is evidence” of the “(mis)appropriation of yoga”.

The paper said this “is part of systemic racism” built on “the labour of black people and people of the global south”.

“We would argue one of the goals of white supremacy is to buffer white people from the pain that comes from the process of exchanging cultural grounding for the unearned power and privilege of whiteness,” they wrote.

They continued: “…this modern-day trend of cultural appropriation of yoga is a continuation of white supremacy and colonialism, maintaining the pattern of white people consuming the stuff of culture that is convenient and portable.”

The writers also claimed white yoga enthusiasts are “ignoring the well-being and liberation of Indian people”.

Gandhi and the Religious Studies Department at MSU did not respond to Fox News’ request for comment.

Gandhi said few white people “make the connection between their attraction to yoga and the cultural loss their ancestors and relatives experienced when they bought into white dominant culture in order to access resources".

But white people who twist their bodies in different yoga positions can do something about it, according to Gandhi.

“Given a deeper analysis of yoga, white yoga practitioners and teachers can engage in yoga in a decolonising way that reduces harm and seeks greater cultural accountability,” she wrote.

She added: “We must ask, in what ways are we complicit in a system that harms people of colour, queer and trans people, poor people, people with disabilities, and immigrants?”

A version of this article originally appeared in .

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