“Because It’s Tradition” or “Because It Looks Unified”: Why Are Yoga Teacher Training Grads Wearing White at Graduations Anyway?

by Jennifer Vafakos, Inlet Yoga

I’ve seen it over and over: photos of 200-hour yoga teacher training graduates, all dressed in white, lined up in proud formation like a ceremony of light at their Yoga Teacher Training graduations. The energy is often joyful, the moment charged with celebration. And yet, every time I see it, I quietly wonder:

Why white?

When asked, most people say something like, “Because it’s tradition,” or “Because it looks unified.” But here’s the thing—whose tradition is it, really? And what does that kind of unity even mean in the context of modern Vinyasa-based yoga?

This isn’t a callout—it’s a call-in.

The Origin Story (That Isn’t Ours)

Wearing white isn’t part of classical Hatha Yoga, or the Vinyasa lineage most of us teach from. It didn’t come from Patanjali or Krishnamacharya or even the early Western adopters of asana-based yoga. Instead, the white clothing ritual comes from Kundalini Yoga, particularly the version popularized by Yogi Bhajan in the West.

Yogi Bhajan taught that wearing white expanded the aura, promoted purity, and heightened awareness. It became a staple in the 3HO (Healthy, Happy, Holy Organization) community and was deeply tied to Sikh spiritual discipline, which Yogi Bhajan interwove with yogic practices. For his followers, the white garments were more than symbolic—they were a technology for transformation.

But as Vinyasa trainings adopted this ritual, many forgot—or never knew—its origins.

And this is where things get murky.

Tradition or Trend?

Let’s be honest: in most 200-hour programs that adopt the “wear white at graduation” custom, there is no teaching around its origin or significance. There’s often no discussion of Kundalini Yoga, Sikhism, or the spiritual framework behind the practice. Instead, it’s offered with a shrug:

“Because it looks clean.”
“Because everyone else does it.”
“Because it’s tradition.”

But when we trace that “tradition,” we find it’s not a Vinyasa one. It’s a borrowed ritual from a very different system, one currently reckoning with credible allegations of abuse and spiritual manipulation by its founder. In 2020, a third-party investigation confirmed multiple reports of sexual misconduct and coercion by Yogi Bhajan, further complicating the ethics of mimicking practices without context.

So, if we’re asking our students to wear white because of a borrowed tradition, do we even know what we’re aligning ourselves with?

Unity or Uniformity?

This brings us to the second rationale: “because it looks unified.”

But unity and uniformity are not the same thing.

As teachers and guides, we understand that yoga is about seeing people in their full humanity, not reducing them to a matching outfit or a visual aesthetic. A room of newly certified teachers standing in their individuality, expressing their authentic voice—that’s unity. That’s what we aim to nurture in our students over 200 hours of inquiry, breath, and brave self-study.

So maybe the question isn’t whether everyone should wear white at graduation. Maybe the question is:

What do we want our rituals to reflect?

Reclaiming Ritual, Authentically

At Inlet Yoga, we honor ritual. We honor thresholds and transformation. And yes, we celebrate the celebration.

But we don’t require you to wear white.

You can show up in your softest sweater or brightest color, or in the outfit that makes you feel most like yourself. Because what you’ve done over these many months of study isn’t about conformity—it’s about becoming more yourself, more awake to your voice, your gifts, your ability to share yoga in a meaningful, ethical, embodied way.

If we’re going to mark a milestone as sacred as teacher graduation, let’s do it with conscious intention. Let’s do it in a way that aligns with our values, our lineage, and our own lived truth.

Because just doing something because others do it, or because it “looks good”—isn’t yoga.

Know Before You Follow

At the heart of this reflection is a simple invitation: know more before you follow. Rituals can be powerful when they’re rooted in meaning. But when adopted without understanding, they risk becoming hollow—or worse, unintentionally harmful. As yoga teachers and practitioners, we’re called to live in inquiry, not imitation. So whether it’s a posture, a mantra, or the color of your clothes on graduation day, ask why—and who it belongs to. That’s yoga, too.