Wade from the very classy Middle Way blog graciously wrote to send on a bit of online marketing that features “a guy in a yoga pose” silhouetted in its imagery. “Thought of you,” he said, and he added a smiley emoticon.

Well, big thanks, Wade… but we’re not gonna run it. It’s definitely nothing personal, mind you. (Your site really does rock.) It’s just that the Horse has made an executive decision: we’re not going to be adding Yoga-Burgers to the menu.

Why not? It’s simple, really: yoga has already been almost completely co-opted by the folks in the advertising, merchandising, and pop-culture worlds. Of course, there is often some overlap with Buddhism, and we’ve struggled with that. Sometimes the overlap is obvious enough (as in this post) that covering it makes some sense. More often, though, there’s no overlap. It’s just “a guy in a yoga pose” (or even more often, a lean, light-skinned, slightly ethnic-looking woman) selling a granola bar. Or a box of teabags. Or a the services of a financial portfolio management company. Or an SUV.

At this point, the near-embedded presence of predominately yoga-based imagery and ideas in mass-culture is pretty much a forgone conclusion. I mean, just look at any of the yoga mags. To try and document all the occurences of Yoga-Burgers seems almost redundant. (Why not just subscribe to Yoga Journal instead?) Besides, in order to do so I’d have to sit at this computer 72 hours a day. I’m getting fat enough just chomping on and trying to digest all the Dharma-Burgers that get dropped in my lap!

Now if only I could think of some mindful discipline that might help me tone and tighten up…

Oh well. I’m sure it will come to me. Til then, thanks Wade — and thanks also to the rest of you — for making The Worst Horse so much fun.