I'm curious about the extra person in a lot of these images. In some, they're clearly disciples of the Yoga guru and paying obeisance, but in some others it looks like they're holding a spade[1] or (what looks like) washing clothes[2][3] or stoking a fire[4]. It could be just to add some variety and background to the image, but I wonder if there's more to it, perhaps something related to the Yoga asanas that are being depicted in each one.
I Think [2]may be someone grinding a food substance on a flat mortar and pestle style implement. Such things are still used in India and other parts of the world, and even Yogis still need to eat sometimes.
Instead of `hathyog pradeepika', I find `patanjali yog darshan' more enlightening. According to Patanlaji, there is more to Yoga than just physical health. He divides the book into various parts. But the main, which the general public relate to, is `saadhana pad'. It starts with
/Atha yoganushasanam/ == अथ योगानुशासनम == let us start yoga with discipline.
This is the first /sootra/ (verse). And every verse builds on the previous. And in the 2nd verse he defines what is yoga.
Literal meaning of Yoga is add, sum, to be one with. For believers, it could be - "to be one with God", for spiritual, meditating people - "to be one with supreme consciousness". And as Vivekananda explains to non-believers, you can think of atman as a form of energy... it can never be created nor destroyed... so just oscillate between energy and partical form... and yoga means to be one with the source (energy).
As par India system of yogic tradition, that is the goal of every human being and Patanjali tells us how to achieve that. /Yogashchittavruttinirodhah/ "Yoga means suppressing (/nirodhah/) the fluctuations (/vrutti/) of mind (/chitta/)." Well, I am using close meanings. Patanjali divides our mind into various logical parts.
I find this really fascinating. Must read. But the best book that I have found is in Sanskrit and Hindi.
A bit unrelated but important thing to note is that yoga isn't just exercise poses, it is a framework for a specific way of life. Asana is the part of that framework that deals with different postures that can build a healthy physical body while other parts of the teachings get into self-care, breathing, social interactions and self-reflection.
It's more spiritually oriented than 'posture' and other pedantic things although arguably that helps.
From the article: "a way the sacred can come into life”.
Basically a way to strengthen the resonance of the chakras and effectively 'raise the Kundalini fire' i.e. to help you achieve a specific kind of enlightenment.
Or at least in their view. [1]
This is effectively the point of 'Yoga' in it's greater sense, it's just rarely communicated in those terms. The degree to which people practice Yoga and don't realize that it's an intensely religious exercise, mostly designed to bring them to (supposed) 'enlightenment' is a little baffling.
A tangent but I thought others would find this interesting...
The image at the top is related to Kundalini per the caption. This form of yoga seems to be synonymous in my area of the US (DC) and probably others with a group termed "white sikhs". They originate from a 60/70s group started by an Indian guru. Sikhism traditionally does not involve yoga but the guru that started the US Sikh group had a background in it so yoga was an integral part of his teachings. The group became ~~somewhat of~~ a cult and guru investigated for abusive practices, but they now seem to just be devout Sikhs with slightly different traditions and organization than Indian counterparts. They seem to be shunned by some Punjabis as not "real" Sikhs while other Punjabis have joined them.
I am caucasian with a non-practicing Indian Sikh wife and did a project on Sikhism when I went back to school years ago, which is where I learned about them. Not long after, a temple we visited with my wife's family turned out to be one started by white sikhs, with Kundalini yoga studio underneath. It was very interesting seeing caucasians in full Sikh garb and small sword, including women which is not common with Punjabi Sikhs. I saw an older caucasion lady with sikh turban some years later leaving my office building and I said "sat siri akal" which surprised her, then she returned the greeting with a huge smile.
I find their story fascinating and I hope I haven't offended anyone here that is part of this group. For some reason I can't find the pages and videos I used for research a decade ago. Here are some that I found though...
My understanding (speaking as someone with Muslim Punjabi background from Kapurthala and Qadian) is those guys got involved with security contracts with INS/ICE in recent years. I met an adult child of people in that group in New Orleans a few years back.
"Yoga" is also the Bengali word for addition in Math.
Somebody explained "Yoga" to me once as the addition of self (jibatma) to the universe (paramatma). So this process requires many components. And according to some these components are independent of one another.
One famous yogi talked about 4 yogas-
1. Knowledge yoga
2. Work yoga
3. Devotion yoga
4. Raja yoga (the king yoga- famed and stories such as stopping breathing, leaving body without dying are rampant)
These yogas requires energy and healthy body and mind. So enters Hatha Yoga. I regularly practice Pranayama taught to me by my father.
Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism assumes that you can be one with the universe without believing in any god. That is much discussed in Bhagabad Gita.
Buddha was an athiest. There has always been a strong sect of athiests in India- for thousands years.
For me the interesting thing is how the word 'yoga' was translated into Tibetan when the first yogis arrived to Tibet in the 8th century. Their term of choice wasn't the traditional 'union' (which is zung 'jug in Tibetan) but rnal 'byor. This word is composed of two terms: rnal means 'natural state', whereas 'byor' means to 'reach' or simply 'remain' in it.
They did the same with many other terms like "Buddha", translating it according it according to the meaning, not literally. (That was during the first wave of translations. In the second wave the translators were much more literary, although they praised the pioneers as superior.)
Modern day "Hatha Yoga" traces its origin to the "Natha Yogis"(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nath). It is also quite interesting to note that "Patanjali Ashtanga Yoga" had nothing to do with the above. Due to historical reasons, a subset of the Asanas (with his own modifications) were popularized by T. Krishnamacharya who also used the text "Patanjali Yoga Sutras" as a larger framework within which to seat his practice. This was then exported to the West by his students which has now come to be known as the de-facto Yoga.
The usual story I have encountered is that Yoga as taught today was invented from whole cloth in the 1920s.
Seeing similar claims about the 1800s does not just raise a question whether the 1920s or 1800s story is better. It puts the whole notion of Western invention in doubt -- right along with pre-Buddhist, Buddhist, and post-Buddhist stories.
At this point, I don't know the history of Yoga, and don't believe people who say they know.
Any suggestions/thoughts on learning yoga practices beyond physical exercises/fitness?
I've been going in and out of the subject for the last 10 years or so. Modern yoga practices in my country essentially boil down to either stripped down physical training, or something intentionally very esoteric and built around 'energies' etc.
What I ideally would want to is to discern the actual practices from cultural background. I don't mind learning cultural background as well, but I have a hard time taking certain things for granted.
Maybe there is some modern movements/sources that explain scriptures to a modern man, with focus on practice? What I usually find is way too scientific in the sense of Orientology/Philosophy but not the actual practice
I've found a yoga teacher who is good at this - reasonably authentic yoga but without a requirement for superstition etc. I'd be surprised if he were the only teacher like that around - but it might take a bit more hunting out that the other types you mention (both of which I have encountered too!).
When I try to explain to my friends in the West of the different types of Yoga they are like huh? They have only heard of the physical Yoga that has been commercialised. But I say to them if you believe in that, then its worth understanding the other types of Yoga described in the Bhagavad Gita
This is either willfully ignorant statement or simply malicious thought to discredit Yoga from it's ancient roots.
A blog post of cherry-picked, unsourced comments doesn't prove that modern Yoga poses are Swedish.
Yoga is a ancient system and like many systems in the orient, it is quite malleable and has been modernized with time. There are many aspects of Yoga and merely reducing it to "certain body poses" and claiming it's Swedish, is cultural appropriation at it's finest.
"creating a system to train the body in preparation for anti-colonial resistance."
It was actually completely the opposite, the modern yoga practices were actually inspired by colonial rulers as it was time when in Europe it has become very popular and fashionable to exercise. Maharaja Krisharaja Wadiyar IV has hired Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (who btw died in 1989, just 32 years ago) to come up with somethign similar to Swedish gymnastics and Sokol movements in Slavic countries, just based on Indian traditions. It had nothing to do with colonial resistance, it was just a fashionable thing coming from the West, like later jeans or McDonalds or Starbucks (or cross-fit training for that matter)...
There are 18 century texts in tibet showing yogis doing yoga poses. They also learnt from Sokol who came a hundred years later?
This tendency to claim any thing good eastern as western is a very old trope which dates to 18-19th century ideas of superiority of Europeans. I think in the 21st century we should let it go?
Krishnamacharya did not invent modern yoga out of whole cloth. Krishnamacharya and his disciples (ie, Jois) created the modern branch of Ashtanga Yoga, incorporating calisthenics and other physical movements within the preexisting framework of Asanas & Pranayama. Hatha Yoga, as represented here in the Yoga Pradeepika, is independent of Krishnamacharya & overwhelmingly more popular in India than Ashtanga.
Hey thanks for your comment. Just wanted to add -- if someone wants to learn more, "Yoga Body" and "Roots of Yoga" by Mark Singleton contain this information. I wish this was more well-known in indian yoga circles.
It's interesting to me that all of these appear to be seated postures with the exception of one where they appear to be hanging upside down from a tree.
what I find most interesting is that you can look at the images and for one can see the master floating, hanging upside down, flying.
or you can adjust your perspective and see the master in perfectly "normal" positions.
So for example he can be in the same image hanging upside down from a tree and lying in the grass under that tree looking up.
[+] [-] sundarurfriend|4 years ago|reply
[1] https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/collections/hatha... [2] https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/collections/hatha... [3] https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/collections/hatha... [4] https://the-public-domain-review.imgix.net/collections/hatha...
[+] [-] inatreecrown2|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] Vrondi|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jangid|4 years ago|reply
/Atha yoganushasanam/ == अथ योगानुशासनम == let us start yoga with discipline.
This is the first /sootra/ (verse). And every verse builds on the previous. And in the 2nd verse he defines what is yoga.
/Yogashchittavruttinirodhah/ == योगःचित्तवृत्तिनिरोधः == ...
Literal meaning of Yoga is add, sum, to be one with. For believers, it could be - "to be one with God", for spiritual, meditating people - "to be one with supreme consciousness". And as Vivekananda explains to non-believers, you can think of atman as a form of energy... it can never be created nor destroyed... so just oscillate between energy and partical form... and yoga means to be one with the source (energy).
As par India system of yogic tradition, that is the goal of every human being and Patanjali tells us how to achieve that. /Yogashchittavruttinirodhah/ "Yoga means suppressing (/nirodhah/) the fluctuations (/vrutti/) of mind (/chitta/)." Well, I am using close meanings. Patanjali divides our mind into various logical parts.
I find this really fascinating. Must read. But the best book that I have found is in Sanskrit and Hindi.
[+] [-] jaiprabhu|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] fromaj|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jariel|4 years ago|reply
From the article: "a way the sacred can come into life”.
Basically a way to strengthen the resonance of the chakras and effectively 'raise the Kundalini fire' i.e. to help you achieve a specific kind of enlightenment.
Or at least in their view. [1]
This is effectively the point of 'Yoga' in it's greater sense, it's just rarely communicated in those terms. The degree to which people practice Yoga and don't realize that it's an intensely religious exercise, mostly designed to bring them to (supposed) 'enlightenment' is a little baffling.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kundalini
[+] [-] 83457|4 years ago|reply
The image at the top is related to Kundalini per the caption. This form of yoga seems to be synonymous in my area of the US (DC) and probably others with a group termed "white sikhs". They originate from a 60/70s group started by an Indian guru. Sikhism traditionally does not involve yoga but the guru that started the US Sikh group had a background in it so yoga was an integral part of his teachings. The group became ~~somewhat of~~ a cult and guru investigated for abusive practices, but they now seem to just be devout Sikhs with slightly different traditions and organization than Indian counterparts. They seem to be shunned by some Punjabis as not "real" Sikhs while other Punjabis have joined them.
I am caucasian with a non-practicing Indian Sikh wife and did a project on Sikhism when I went back to school years ago, which is where I learned about them. Not long after, a temple we visited with my wife's family turned out to be one started by white sikhs, with Kundalini yoga studio underneath. It was very interesting seeing caucasians in full Sikh garb and small sword, including women which is not common with Punjabi Sikhs. I saw an older caucasion lady with sikh turban some years later leaving my office building and I said "sat siri akal" which surprised her, then she returned the greeting with a huge smile.
I find their story fascinating and I hope I haven't offended anyone here that is part of this group. For some reason I can't find the pages and videos I used for research a decade ago. Here are some that I found though...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=epQhHjf8pTs
https://www.lamag.com/citythinkblog/yogi-bhajan/
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/the-disturbing-mainstream_b_6...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3HO
[+] [-] selimthegrim|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] truth_|4 years ago|reply
Somebody explained "Yoga" to me once as the addition of self (jibatma) to the universe (paramatma). So this process requires many components. And according to some these components are independent of one another.
One famous yogi talked about 4 yogas- 1. Knowledge yoga 2. Work yoga 3. Devotion yoga 4. Raja yoga (the king yoga- famed and stories such as stopping breathing, leaving body without dying are rampant)
These yogas requires energy and healthy body and mind. So enters Hatha Yoga. I regularly practice Pranayama taught to me by my father.
Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism assumes that you can be one with the universe without believing in any god. That is much discussed in Bhagabad Gita.
Buddha was an athiest. There has always been a strong sect of athiests in India- for thousands years.
[+] [-] dvfjsdhgfv|4 years ago|reply
They did the same with many other terms like "Buddha", translating it according it according to the meaning, not literally. (That was during the first wave of translations. In the second wave the translators were much more literary, although they praised the pioneers as superior.)
[+] [-] sg47|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rramadass|4 years ago|reply
Modern day "Hatha Yoga" traces its origin to the "Natha Yogis"(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nath). It is also quite interesting to note that "Patanjali Ashtanga Yoga" had nothing to do with the above. Due to historical reasons, a subset of the Asanas (with his own modifications) were popularized by T. Krishnamacharya who also used the text "Patanjali Yoga Sutras" as a larger framework within which to seat his practice. This was then exported to the West by his students which has now come to be known as the de-facto Yoga.
[+] [-] ncmncm|4 years ago|reply
Seeing similar claims about the 1800s does not just raise a question whether the 1920s or 1800s story is better. It puts the whole notion of Western invention in doubt -- right along with pre-Buddhist, Buddhist, and post-Buddhist stories.
At this point, I don't know the history of Yoga, and don't believe people who say they know.
[+] [-] ffrank_t|4 years ago|reply
I've been going in and out of the subject for the last 10 years or so. Modern yoga practices in my country essentially boil down to either stripped down physical training, or something intentionally very esoteric and built around 'energies' etc.
What I ideally would want to is to discern the actual practices from cultural background. I don't mind learning cultural background as well, but I have a hard time taking certain things for granted.
Maybe there is some modern movements/sources that explain scriptures to a modern man, with focus on practice? What I usually find is way too scientific in the sense of Orientology/Philosophy but not the actual practice
[+] [-] csbartus|4 years ago|reply
That's what is left from 3 years intensive training. In other words I do what I like, when I like, how I like.
If you want something methodical try Pilates. It's yoga without the cult.
[+] [-] jvvw|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] amriksohata|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] cies|4 years ago|reply
https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2012/oct/03/straight-yog...
https://jfdeters.wordpress.com/2014/06/18/the-myth-of-yoga/
https://theconversation.com/from-india-with-love-how-yoga-go...
[+] [-] FlyingSnake|4 years ago|reply
Yoga is a ancient system and like many systems in the orient, it is quite malleable and has been modernized with time. There are many aspects of Yoga and merely reducing it to "certain body poses" and claiming it's Swedish, is cultural appropriation at it's finest.
[+] [-] ivanhoe|4 years ago|reply
It was actually completely the opposite, the modern yoga practices were actually inspired by colonial rulers as it was time when in Europe it has become very popular and fashionable to exercise. Maharaja Krisharaja Wadiyar IV has hired Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (who btw died in 1989, just 32 years ago) to come up with somethign similar to Swedish gymnastics and Sokol movements in Slavic countries, just based on Indian traditions. It had nothing to do with colonial resistance, it was just a fashionable thing coming from the West, like later jeans or McDonalds or Starbucks (or cross-fit training for that matter)...
[+] [-] 1024core|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] truth_|4 years ago|reply
Bengali and Punjabi groups of armed revolutionaries (wiki: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anushilan_Samiti) did heavily rely on yoga for exercise. The author is right. You are way off.
[+] [-] haltingproblem|4 years ago|reply
This tendency to claim any thing good eastern as western is a very old trope which dates to 18-19th century ideas of superiority of Europeans. I think in the 21st century we should let it go?
[+] [-] konaraddi|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] valarauko|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] hzay|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] harimau777|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] IgorPartola|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] inatreecrown2|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] inatreecrown2|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] JoeAltmaier|4 years ago|reply
[+] [-] divs1210|4 years ago|reply
I feel it's pretty racist, like blackface.
[+] [-] unmole|4 years ago|reply
Translation: One is kin, the other a stranger say the small minded. The wise know that the world is but a family.
[+] [-] unknown|4 years ago|reply
[deleted]