A Canadian university¡¯s student body has announced that it will reinstate free yoga classes for students, after suspending the lessons over fears that they could be seen as a form of ¡°cultural appropriation¡± of a non-Western practice.

The University of Ottawa Student Federation¡¯s Centre for Students with Disabilities said in a that it would resume the weekly classes from this week.

In November, the student body suspended the classes stating in an email that ¡°while yoga is a really great idea and accessible and great for students...there are cultural issues of implication involved in the practice¡±, according to the?.

Romeo Ahimakin,?acting student federation president,?told the?Ottawa Sun?that the decision did not result from a complaint, but the yoga sessions had been suspended while the federation consulted with students ¡°to make it better, more accessible and more inclusive to certain groups of people that feel left out in yoga-like spaces¡±.

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However, the new classes will not be run by Jennifer Scharf, who has led the lessons since 2008, but by a new instructor, Priya Shah, who has questioned whether she was hired ¡°because I¡¯m Indian¡±. Ms Shah told that the review of the classes had not been mentioned to her by the student body.

¡°Nothing was brought to my attention to teach in a different way or do something differently than the other instructor because none of that was really mentioned to me,¡± she said.

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¡°When I read [about it], I was kind of thinking ¡®Did they hire me because I¡¯m Indian?¡­I was born in Calgary, I grew up in Canada but my background is Indian and I¡¯ve been there once before.?I was there for about five months.

¡°There are many people in my family who practise but?I¡¯ve never had the thought that since I¡¯m Indian that I¡¯m a better yoga teacher.¡±

ellie.bothwell@tesglobal.com