It was meant to be a quirky fitness activity to encourage people back into physical exercise following the coronavirus lockdown.
But a “yoga with cows” session held by a Lancashire dairy has sparked a transatlantic row over whether the activity is “culturally insensitive” by trivialising serious concepts of Hinduism.
Lancashire Farm Dairies hosted six people at a farm in Leyland for what it described as the UK’s first cow yoga class. Participants exercised while “enjoying the countryside and roaming with these wonderful animals”, which are thought to help reduce stress levels.
But it caught the attention of Hindu cleric Rajan Zed in Nevada. Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, criticised the event for trivialising two serious concepts of Hinduism: cows, which are viewed as sacred by Hindus and the ancient discipline of yoga.
He wrote to the dairy saying the classes should be discontinued before they became a “trendy fad with herds of people flocking to dairy farms to do yoga alongside cows, with many visualising it as an Instagram opportunity”.
“The cow is the seat of many deities and is sacred and has long been venerated in Hinduism,” Zed told HuffPost UK. “They should not be used as a prop for human entertainment.
“Cows were inappropriately used in such events, causing unnecessary disturbance to cows and putting them in stressful situations.
“Cows should be left well alone and accorded the respect they deserve.”
He also said the “frivolity” of the event “seemed to be diluting the profound, sacred and ancient discipline of yoga and that “unpredictable cows could be a distraction in a path of self-discovery that drew the yogi inwards.”
Zed told HuffPost UK: “We urged Lancashire Farm Dairies to rethink, revisit and reevaluate its yoga classes with cows.”
“The cow is the seat of many deities and is sacred and has long been venerated in Hinduism. They should not be used as a prop for human entertainment.”
- Rajan Zed, president of the Universal Society of Hinduism, based in Nevada, United States
He added: “We suggest that companies [...] should send their senior executives for training in religious and cultural sensitivity so that they have an understanding of the feelings of customers and communities when introducing new products, organising events or launching advertising.”
Jack Morrison, brand manager at Lancashire Farm Dairies, replied by e-mail to Rajan Zed’s complaint apologising for any offence caused.
“We can only apologise if the recent fitness activity has caused offence. As you can imagine, this wasn’t our intent,” he wrote.
“The activity itself was in reaction to a recent study saying physical exercise had fallen during the Covid-19 lockdown.
“As a brand which is about health and nutrition, we wanted to encourage people to enjoy the outdoors whilst engaging in some positive exercise in a socially distanced manner.
“We are big promoters of welfare, being the first and only free range yogurt brand.
“The cows weren’t disturbed, nor were they involved with the class itself.
“The event was a one-off exercise for an intimate group of six people and there will not be further events.”
Zed was happy with the outcome and told HuffPost UK: “We are thankful to Lancashire Farm Dairies for understanding the concerns of the Hindu community, which felt yoga with cows in a Lancashire farm was not a good idea.”
However, Satya Minhas, a Hindu leader who is also co-chair of the Hindu Council UK, told HuffPost UK he was baffled by the complaint from the US Hindu cleric. After looking at photographs of the yoga with cows session, he says he cannot see anything objectionable.
“There is nothing wrong with these ladies doing yoga with cows in the background,” he said. “This company is selling a very nice yogurt, not beef, so provided the cows are treated well, from a religious point of view, I personally cannot see anything wrong.
“There is nothing to do with meat or Hindu gods and there is no disrespect to Hinduism.”
Minhas told HuffPost UK that as Zed was writing from the US, he should have made an effort to contact British Hindu organisations for their views before firing off a complaint.
“It is not a sensible idea to seek an apology from innocent people to make a point,” he said. “I think it is about using common sense and there was clearly no disrespect intended and I do not see a problem or anything objectionable.
“The last thing we want is for people to start jumping up and down and saying there are problems where there aren’t.
“We should be promoting UK dairies as they are doing a good job and this man in the US should not be looking at this negatively.
“Rajan Zed should appreciate the efforts people are making to keep fit.
“Perhaps Lancashire Farm Dairies should contact the Hindu Council UK for the way forward in promoting yoga and their products. They seem like an excellent company and should be encouraged.
“The Hindu Council UK wants to see more companies promoting yoga and wellbeing.”
Zed, who describes himself as a distinguished religious statesman who has taken up Hindu, interfaith, religion and environment causes all over the world, has similarly criticised a dairy in Pennsylvania for a cow yoga session which farm bosses described as “udderly awesome”.
He also complained to New York breweries Pressure Drop Brewing and Big Ditch Brewing Company after they named their collaboration beer “Aqua Shiva” after a Hindu deity, which Zed described as “highly inappropriate”.
The companies apologised to the Hindu community for their poor choice in beer name and said the drink had been discontinued.
A Lancashire Farm Dairies spokesperson said: “At Lancashire Farm, we take the welfare and happiness of our cows very seriously.
“All our cows are free range and spend as much time outside as they want – just as nature intended.
“We hosted an intimate yoga class for six people at one of our farms as a fun way to encourage UK adults to exercise outdoors and experience the tranquility of the vast 500 acre farm.
“There are no plans to hold any further yoga events.”