‘The Anti-“Yogi”‘ – Award-winning, funny, one woman solo show hits London for the first time 

A shade more than just a satire, sharp and a little on the knuckle perhaps – Mayuri Bhandari has something to say about yoga and its practice in the West…

IT’S not every day you run into a ‘professor of Yoga’ – but that’s what Mayuri Bhandari is – she teaches at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles and brings her debut one-woman show-play ‘The Anti-“Yogi’” to England for the first time. 

It opens at Soho Theatre in London tomorrow (May 6).

We meet over Zoom, when she is still at home and she explains what led to her creating a show that has won awards – at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2024 and at the Edinburgh Fringe last year where she was accoladed with the Asian Art Award Outstanding Solo Performer (Female). 

A self-identified, multi-hyphenate who also acts, dances and has figure skated, she wanted to tackle the many misconceptions and pretensions that often come with doing yoga in the West.

‘The Anti-“Yogi”‘ is a one-woman 60-minute variety show play, where she plays a number of characters.

A Jain by birth and practice, she told www.asianculturevulture.com: “I am just reflecting the reality of what exists around me. I’m literally putting a mirror to society and saying this is what exists.” 
 
Her starting point for ‘The Anti-“Yogi“‘ has developed over some time. 

“I think it was the shock and absurdity of what I was seeing around me over so long – like in so many spaces and like not just in the studio certifications or the studio setting, but also in academia, in whichever field I was in. And even outside of yoga, even though this show is about yoga, people will see that it’s much more than yoga.” 

She said she had noticed in her native LA especially, that people “of Indian heritage were not much in evidence and that the industry, such as it has become, seemed to be almost closed off to a community familiar with the practice. 
 
“We need to have our stories told from our perspective. And the exploitation of the industry is so dangerous that I was like, this needs to be talked about, not just because, okay, we feel bad, or, you know, this is something that is not great. This is actually affecting lives and not in a great way.”
 
Along with percussionist Neel Agarwal who provides a score and commentary of sorts (acv has not seen), Bhandari plays several characters, dances, does yoga positions and addresses the audience – with humour, passion and energy – see the clips in our Reel (pending). 
 
Some find it hard to believe her experiences recounted in ‘The Anti-Yogi‘ are rooted in reality. 
 
“The comedy lies in the naturalness of what is happening. I’m not doing anything to amp it up,” she assured us. These are actual scenes that I have experienced.” 
 
While yoga first originated in ancient India and was part of spiritual practice and still is, it’s popularity in the West has been driven more – she feels – by commercial exploitation and the consumerist pressure of ‘wellness capitalism’. 
 
She told acv that it has birthed a “pseudo-yoga culture” and taken the practice a long way from its origins and privileged some who haven’t the faintest clue really. 
 
“People are feeling more privileged and entitled because they are practise ‘spirituality’ when they’re not actually practising what it’s about,” she posited. 
 
Her own yoga practice is centred around Jain philosophy and ideas. 
 
“It’s the holistic way of life, it’s not just asanas (yoga postures) or meditation.” 

Bhandari’s alert to critiques of an approach that simply replaces one form of authenticity with another. 
 
She remains cautious about authority or hierarchy within the discipline, emphasising instead ongoing learning and education.  

“The teaching came my way, I never sought it. People kept saying: ‘You’re voice is so authentic, you need to teach’. I really didn’t want it but hey, here we are and that’s part of my journey.

“My class that I teach at the university, it’s a combination of philosophy and other disciplines, and even though it’s in the Dance department, its got postural practice, it’s got breath work and meditation.”

Her approach has generated strong reactions among some, particularly online, where misunderstandings about the play’s use of satire and mythological imagery sometimes arise – she invokes the Hindu goddess Kali in one part and there’s a scene where she switches between characters quickly and some miss the transition. 

Reactions online can be different to the one she elicits from audiences in person, she told us.
 
“I knew going in that this show was going to possibly offend people, and I’m not doing it to offend people. I think that that’s naturally what’s going to happen given the topic…” she mused with half a smile.

All pictures: ©AJVFotoworks

Mayuri Bhandari Reel (acv)

https://www.instagram.com/p/DX9iMSEinjz

Listing 
From tomorrow (May 6-16)  
The Anti-Yogi by Mayuri Bhandari, Soho Theatre, 21 Dean Street, London W1D 3NE  

https://sohotheatre.com/events/the-anti-yogi/#performances