The COVID-19 pandemic served as a "sociological litmus test" that forced individuals and communities to articulate their positions toward scientific authorities and health institutions. This study examines the yoga community as a microcosm that illustrates broader societal tensions surrounding trust in expertise.

Pre-pandemic, yoga maintained an ambiguous coexistence with mainstream science—characterized by vague reciprocal acknowledgment, a blurred separation of powers, and mutual yet largely unspoken suspicion. This ambiguity allowed practitioners to engage with alternative frameworks without directly challenging medical institutions. The pandemic, however, made this ambivalence untenable, triggering what we term the "Great Yoga Split."

On social media platforms, yoga communities polarized as many influencers embraced conspiratorial narratives while others aligned with scientific authorities. What had previously been a comfortable continuum divided into opposing camps we characterize as "conspiritualist yoga" and "scientistic yoga." This binary choice between defending dominant institutions or accepting radical skepticism mirrored tensions experienced across society—from civil society organizations to professional associations, from trade unions to leisure communities, and even within families and friend circles.

Through digital ethnography focused on Instagram, we examine how this split evolved post-pandemic, identifying four distinct trajectories that reflect broader patterns of trust reconfiguration in digital environments. While focusing on a specific community, our findings reveal common challenges in negotiating expertise in times of crisis and the digital mediation of trust in contemporary society.