People are NOT Happy With ​This Controversial Yoga Parody

Yoga is supposed to help you center your soul, connect your body to the universe, and find your greater purpose, so you'd think that yoga instructors would channel all that productive, positive energy and live the dream in its entirety — especially if you follow any clean-eating, back-bending, inspirational-quote-posting yogis on Instagram.

But the popular new web series "Namaste, Bitches" casts doubt on whether contemporary yogis really drink the (green) Kool-Aid. Produced by former yoga teacher Summer Chastant​, the six-episode parody follows a fictional character named Sabine as she acclimates to teaching at a Los Angeles yoga studio. There, instructors obsess over building out their personal brands, racially profile Indians who attend their classes, sleep with students, underpay apprentices, and snort cocaine — and that's just the half of it. In sum, the series sheds light on the contradiction between yoga's ancient pillars and its modern-day commercialization.

"I think the show is resonating because it's almost an exposé," said Ava Taylor, founder of the yoga teacher agency YAMA Talent in New York City, according to a recent New York Times article about the web series. "People are realizing their yoga teachers are human. Is there anything in that show I've never seen a yoga teacher do? No."​

While the response to "Namaste, Bitches" has been resoundingly appreciative, some story lines, in particular, can be construed as offensive to some people — like, say, a woman who alleged she was raped by the yoga guru Bikram Choudhury​ during teacher training. She probably doesn't find certain scenes so funny — like one in episode three, where a fellow instructor thrusts her body against Sabine to demonstrate a highly sexualized technique she uses to keep her students coming back.

That said, there's not much of a vocal outcry from those who take offense to "Namaste, Bitches" — at least on social media. But then again, it's entirely possible that the yogis who find it most disgusting take their yoga practices so seriously that they're off practicing poses instead of watching parodies of themselves on the Internet and hate-tweeting about it.

Because Chastant​ told the Times she's been approached to take her web series to television, the parody is likely to garner even more attention pretty soon. So to those yogis who are all for Chastant's brand of humor? Get ready for more lolz.

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