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Later galleries examine how the idea of yoga was circulated worldwide, Diamond said. Early American posters depict yogis as magicians or "fakirs" performing acts, along with a 1902 film by Thomas Edison. Perceptions of yoga helped determine how the tradition developed, and knowing that background is important for how Americans think about yoga today, Diamond said. "There are so many debates and contestations about what yoga is in America," she said. "Is it a profound individual embodied system of transformation? Or is it the thing that spawned a $5 billion industry in which yoga is used to sell cars?" The exhibit is funded in part by the Smithsonian's first major crowd-funding campaign, which raised $174,000 in six weeks. The Alec Baldwin Foundation also is a notable sponsor. Last year, Baldwin married a yoga instructor. John Schumacher, a 40-year yoga practitioner and teacher in Washington who advised on the exhibit, said visitors will see there is much more to yoga than postures and breathing. "It teaches where yoga comes from," he said. "You see there is a deep, philosophical underpinning to all of these practices and a variety of different philosophies." ___ Smithsonian Sackler Gallery:
http://www.asia.si.edu/
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