The practice isn’t just de rigueur for well-off Westerners; Linda Besner notes that Indian yoga televangelist Swami Ramdev has built a $250 million empire catering to India’s affluent. She’s not surprised:
It’s tempting to see an association between yoga and the rich, both in the West and in the East, as proof of the modern corruption of an old tradition. But it’s worth asking why we are surprised that yoga culture should be attractive to the wealthy. Asceticism largely appeals to people only when they have a choice. The Buddha was a prince, and early followers of his ascetic lifestyle were equally well-heeled. In Christian and Jewish culture as well, the documents left behind by early ascetic communities suggest that they were composed mainly of highly educated and comparatively wealthy believers. Voluntary simplicity is just that—voluntary. Eating bread and water when you can afford better is called asceticism; when you can’t, it’s just called starving.
The Dish 