好英语网瑜伽和性丑闻
The wholesome image of yoga took a hit in the past few weeks as a rising star of the discipline came tumbling back to earth. After accusations of sexual impropriety with female students, John Friend, the founder of Anusara, one of the world’s fastest-growing styles, told followers that he was stepping down for an indefinite period of “self-reflection, therapy and personal retreat.”
随着瑜伽界一颗冉冉上升的明星被打回原形，这项运动的健康形象在过去几周里遭受重创。当世界上增长最快的瑜伽类型之一——阿努萨拉式（Anusara）的创始人约翰·弗兰德（John Friend）被指控与女学生有不正当性关系之后，他告诉追随者，自己将退位，以进行一段未明确时间的“自我反省、治疗和个人静修。”
Mr. Friend preached a gospel of gentle poses mixed with openness aimed at fostering love and happiness. But Elena Brower, a former confidante, has said that insiders knew of his “penchant for women” and his love of “partying and fun.”
弗兰德宣扬将柔和的姿势与开放相结合的教义，旨在促进爱情和幸福。但他从前的红颜知己埃莱娜·布劳尔（Elena Brower）则说，知晓内情的人士了解他“对于女人的嗜好”以及对“派对和玩乐”的钟情。
Few had any idea about his sexual indiscretions, she added. The apparent hypocrisy has upset many followers.
她补充说，很少有人知道他在性方面的轻率。这一明目张胆的虚伪已让众多追随者深感失望。
“Those folks are devastated,” Ms. Brower wrote in The Huffington Post. “They’re understandably disappointed to hear that he cheated on his girlfriends repeatedly” and “lied to so many.”
布劳尔在赫芬顿邮报（Huffington Post）上写道：“这些人被击垮了。当他们听说他一再欺骗自己的女朋友们”并“对这么多人撒谎时，理所当然会失望”。
But this is hardly the first time that yoga’s enlightened facade has been cracked by sexual scandal. Why does yoga produce so many philanderers? And why do the resulting uproars leave so many people shocked and distraught?
但瑜伽的堂皇门面因性丑闻而产生裂痕绝不是第一次。为什么瑜伽能催生出这么多风流汉呢？为什么其后产生的鼓噪会使得那么多人感到震惊和不安呢？
One factor is ignorance. Yoga teachers and how-to books seldom mention that the discipline began as a sex cult — an omission that leaves many practitioners open to libidinal surprise.
一个因素是无知。瑜伽教师和指导书籍很少提及这项运动源自一种性崇拜。这一疏漏让很多练习者对性欲上的意外变化毫无防备。
Hatha yoga — the parent of the styles now practiced around the globe — began as a branch of Tantra. In medieval India, Tantra devotees sought to fuse the male and female aspects of the cosmos into a blissful state of consciousness.
如今世界各地修习的各式瑜伽的鼻祖——哈达瑜伽（Hatha）始于密宗的一个分支。在中世纪的印度，密宗信徒寻求将宇宙的阴阳两性融合成一种愉悦的神志状态。
The rites of Tantric cults, while often steeped in symbolism, could also include group and individual sex. One text advised devotees to revere the female sex organ and enjoy vigorous intercourse. Candidates for worship included actresses and prostitutes, as well as the sisters of practitioners.
尽管密宗崇拜仪式经常沉浸在象征主义中，但它也包括群体和个体的性行为。一篇经文建议信徒们崇拜女性性器官并享受频繁的性行为。用于供奉的人选包括女演员和妓女，以及信徒的姐妹们。
Hatha originated as a way to speed the Tantric agenda. It used poses, deep breathing and stimulating acts — including intercourse — to hasten rapturous bliss. In time, Tantra and Hatha developed bad reputations. The main charge was that practitioners indulged in sexual debauchery under the pretext of spirituality.
哈达是作为加快密宗修行过程的一种方式而产生的。它使用身体姿态、深呼吸和包括性交在内的刺激行为来促进极乐的感觉。后来，密宗和哈达变得声名狼藉。对它们的主要指责便是：练习者在精神灵性的借口下沉迷于声色犬马之中。
Early in the 20th century, the founders of modern yoga worked hard to remove the Tantric stain. They devised a sanitized discipline that played down the old eroticism for a new emphasis on health and fitness.
20世纪早期，现代瑜伽的创始人竭尽全力要消除密宗的这一污点。他们制定了一种经过净化的教义，淡化了旧有的情色成分，强调健康和健身。
B. K. S. Iyengar, the author of “Light on Yoga,” published in 1965, exemplified the change. His book made no mention of Hatha’s Tantric roots and praised the discipline as a panacea that could cure nearly 100 ailments and diseases. And so modern practitioners have embraced a whitewashed simulacrum of Hatha.
出版于1965年的《瑜伽之光》（Light on Yoga）的作者B.K.S.·艾扬格（B. K. S. Iyengar）就例证了这一变化。他的书中没有提及哈达的密宗根源，而是将该学科誉为能治愈近百种大小疾病的灵丹妙药。于是，现代练习者接受了哈达那经过粉饰的幻象。
But over the decades, many have discovered from personal experience that the practice can fan the sexual flames. Pelvic regions can feel more sensitive and orgasms more intense.
但几十年来，许多人从个人体验中发现，这种运动可以煽动性的烈焰。骨盆区域会变得更敏感，性高潮会更强烈。
Science has begun to clarify the inner mechanisms. In Russia and India, scientists have measured sharp rises in testosterone — a main hormone of sexual arousal in both men and women. Czech scientists working with electroencephalographs have shown how poses can result in bursts of brainwaves indistinguishable from those of lovers. More recently, scientists at the University of British Columbia have documented how fast breathing — done in many yoga classes — can increase blood flow through the genitals. The effect was found to be strong enough to promote sexual arousal not only in healthy individuals but among those with diminished libidos.
科学已经开始阐明瑜伽的内在机制。在俄罗斯和印度，科学家们测量出睾酮——即男女体内唤起性欲的主要激素——会大幅上升。捷克科学家在脑电图方面的研究显示出瑜伽动作所产生的脑波脉冲与恋人间的毫无二致。最近，不列颠哥伦比亚大学的科学家们也证明了许多瑜伽课中所做的快速呼吸是怎样增加生殖器的血流量的。该效果被认为强大到不仅可以促进健康人的性欲，对性欲减退的人也有推动作用。
In India, recent clinical studies have shown that men and women who take up yoga report wide improvements in their sex lives, including enhanced feelings of pleasure and satisfaction as well as emotional closeness with partners.
在印度，近期临床研究表明，练习瑜伽的男女反映他们的性生活得到了广泛改善，包括快感、满足感以及与伴侣的感情亲密度的提高。
At Rutgers University, scientists are investigating how yoga and related practices can foster autoerotic bliss. It turns out that some individuals can think themselves into states of sexual ecstasy — a phenomenon known clinically as spontaneous orgasm and popularly as “thinking off.”
罗格斯大学（Rutgers University）的科学家们正在研究瑜伽和相关练习是如何促进性快感的。结果发现，有些人能想象自己进入性癫狂的状态，这种现象在临床上称为自发性高潮，通俗说法就是“意淫”。
The Rutgers scientists use brain scanners to measure the levels of excitement in women and compare their responses with readings from manual stimulation of the genitals. The results demonstrate that both practices light up the brain in characteristic ways and produce significant rises in blood pressure, heart rate and tolerance for pain — what turns out to be a signature of orgasm.
罗格斯大学的科学家们使用脑扫描仪来测量女性的兴奋度，并将她们的反应与手动刺激生殖器的读数进行比对。结果表明，这两个做法都以特有的方式给大脑带来了愉悦，并造成血压、心率、疼痛容忍度的显著上升，这些都是性高潮的特征。
Since the baby boomers discovered yoga, the arousal, sweating, heavy breathing and states of undress that characterize yoga classes have led to predictable results. In 1995, sex between students and teachers became so prevalent that the California Yoga Teachers Association deplored it as immoral and called for high standards.
自从婴儿潮时期出生的人们发现了瑜伽，这种课程特有的兴奋感、出汗、大喘气以及宽衣状态就导致了可想而知的结果。在1995年，教师和学生之间的性行为变得非常普遍，以致于加利福尼亚州瑜伽教练协会谴责这种做法是不道德的，并呼吁保持较高道德标准。
“We wrote the code,” Judith Lasater, the group’s president, told a reporter, “because there were so many violations going on.”
该协会主席朱迪思·拉萨特（Judith Lasater）告诉记者：“我们制定了守则，因为那时候有太多的违规事件。”
If yoga can arouse everyday practitioners, it apparently has similar, if not greater, effects on gurus — often charming extroverts in excellent physical condition, some enthusiastic for veneration.
如果瑜伽能让普通练习者兴奋，那么它对大师们的效用即便不是更大，也会是旗鼓相当。而后者多是有出色身体条件、外向且有魅力的人士，有的还醉心于性崇拜。
The misanthropes among them offer a bittersweet tribute to yoga’s revitalizing powers. A surprising number, it turns out, were in their 60s and 70s.
他们当中的愤世嫉俗者为瑜伽的卷土重来作出了苦乐参半的贡献。事实证明，他们当中六七十岁的人士占到了令人惊讶的数量。
Swami Muktananda (1908-82) was an Indian man of great charisma who favored dark glasses and gaudy robes.
斯瓦米·穆克塔南达（Swami Muktananda，1908-1982）是一个深具个人魅力的印度男子，青睐深色眼镜和艳丽的长袍。
At the height of his fame, around 1980, he attracted many thousands of devotees — including movie stars and political celebrities — and succeeded in setting up a network of hundreds of ashrams and meditation centers around the globe. He kept his main shrines in California and New York.
1980年前后，在他名望的鼎盛时期，穆克塔南达吸引了几千名信徒，其中包括电影明星和政治名人。他还在全球范围内成功建立了由数百家印度教修行会所和冥想中心组成的网络。他的主要场地开设在加利福尼亚和纽约两州。
In late 1981, when a senior aide charged that the venerated yogi was in fact a serial philanderer and sexual hypocrite who used threats of violence to hide his duplicity, Mr. Muktananda defended himself as a persecuted saint, and soon died of heart failure.
1981年底，当一名高级助手指控这位受人敬仰的修道者实际上是一个风流成性的花花公子和性道德伪君子、还威胁使用暴力来掩饰自己的口是心非时，穆克塔南达将自己辩护为一个受到迫害的圣徒，很快他就死于心脏衰竭。
Joan Bridges was one of his lovers. At the time, she was 26 and he was 73. Like many other devotees, Ms. Bridges had a difficult time finding fault with a man she regarded as a virtual god beyond law and morality.
琼·布里奇斯（Joan Bridges）是他的情人之一。当时她26岁，他73岁。和其他许多信徒一样，布里奇斯要对被自己奉为超越法律和道德的虚拟之神挑刺并非易事。
“I was both thrilled and confused,” she said of their first intimacy in a Web posting. “He told us to be celibate, so how could this be sexual? I had no answers.”
她在一个网络帖子中谈起他们的初次亲密：“我既兴奋又困惑。他告诉我们要禁欲。那么，这怎么会发生性关系呢？我没有答案。”
To denounce the philanderers would be to admit years of empty study and devotion. So many women ended up blaming themselves. Sorting out the realities took years and sometimes decades of pain and reflection, counseling and psychotherapy. In time, the victims began to fight back.
谴责这些人玩弄女性就会承认多年的学习和奉献都是徒劳。因此，许多妇女最终选择了自责。认清现实需要很多年、有时甚至是几十年的痛苦和反思、咨询辅导和心理治疗。后来，受害者开始反击。
Swami Satchidananda (1914-2002) was a superstar of yoga who gave the invocation at Woodstock. In 1991, protesters waving placards (“Stop the Abuse,” “End the Cover Up”) marched outside a Virginia hotel where he was addressing a symposium.
斯瓦米·萨其达南达（Swami Satchidananda，1914-2002）是一位瑜伽界的超级巨星，曾在伍德斯托克（注：Woodstock，美国著名流行音乐节，属美国文化地标）主持过祈祷仪式。1991年，抗议者在弗吉尼亚州的一家酒店外挥舞着标语（“停止虐待”、“结束掩盖”），当时他正在酒店里的一次研讨会上发表演讲。
“How can you call yourself a spiritual instructor,” a former devotee shouted from the audience, “when you have molested me and other women?”
一名昔日的信徒在人群中大喊：“当你调戏我和其他女人时，你怎么能说自己是精神导师呢？”
Another case involved Swami Rama (1925-96), a tall man with a strikingly handsome face. In 1994, one of his victims filed a lawsuit charging that he had initiated abuse at his Pennsylvania ashram when she was 19. In 1997, shortly after his death, a jury awarded the woman nearly $2 million in compensatory and punitive damages.
另一宗个案涉及斯瓦米·拉玛（Swami Rama，1925-1996），一名有着英俊脸庞的高大男子。1994年，他的一个受害者提起诉讼，指控拉玛在她19岁时就已开始在宾夕法尼亚的修行所占有了她。1997年，在拉玛去世后不久，陪审团判给该女子近200万美元补偿和惩罚性赔偿。
So, too, former devotees at Kripalu, a Berkshires ashram, won more than $2.5 million after its longtime guru — a man who gave impassioned talks on the spiritual value of chastity — confessed to multiple affairs.
无独有偶，在伯克谢尔（Berkshires）的克里帕鲁修行所，一位大师长期就贞洁的精神价值发表慷慨激昂的演讲。但在他对多桩男女关系供认不讳后，前信徒们赢得超过250万美元的赔偿。
The drama with Mr. Friend is still unfolding. So far, at least 50 Anusara teachers have resigned, and the fate of his enterprise remains unclear. In his letter to followers, he promised to make “a full public statement that will transparently address the entirety of this situation.”
弗兰德的戏剧仍在上演。到目前为止，至少有50名阿努萨拉教练已辞职，弗兰德的事业仍前途未卜。在他给追随者的信中，弗兰德承诺将做出“一个完整的公开声明，来透明地处理整个事件”。
The angst of former Anusara teachers is palpable. “I can no longer support a teacher whose actions have caused irreparable damage to our beloved community,” Sarah Faircloth, a North Carolina instructor, wrote on her Web site.
前阿努萨拉教练们的担心是显而易见的。北卡罗莱纳州的教练莎拉·费尔克洛思（Sarah Faircloth）在她的网站上写道：“我再也不能支持这样一位导师，他的行为已对我们所热爱的团体造成了不可挽回的损失。”
But perhaps — if students and teachers knew more about what Hatha can do, and what it was designed to do — they would find themselves less prone to surprise and unyogalike distress.
但是，如果学生和教练们对哈达可以做些什么以及它的设定目的是什么有更多了解的话，他们可能就不会那么一惊一乍，并产生不像是瑜伽练习者会具有的那种难过了。