The Modern Yoga Period (1800 C.E. until today, including Vivekananda’s arrival in the US, Krishnamacharya’s invention of modern postural yoga, and the popular yoga revolution)

We will address the following topics from this period: The influential Indian sage Ramakrishna and his famous disciple Vivekananda who became the first Westernized Indian yogi.  Following in these footsteps, Yogananda arrived in the West and taught an integral yet modernized form of yoga incorporating both meditation and posture yoga. Next is Krishnamacharya who invented modern posture practice, and his disciples including Pattabhi Jois and B. K. S. Iyengar, who popularized these practices in yet newer forms in the West. We will discuss whether Krishnamacarya drew on older asana teachings or invented new postures.  We will then explore the difference between the traditional, largely soteriological paths of yoga and how that overlaps and contrasts with modern yoga as a fitness, spiritual, holistic lifestyle practice. The many cultural, psychological and even political issues surrounding modern yoga will be explored, such as appropriation vs. appreciation, commercialism, fame and abuse, the pros and cons of gurus, and the growing post-lineage yoga movement. Finally we will discuss what the future of yoga may hold—will it become largely Westernized and self empowerment oriented, or will it herald a new bridge, a global, universal, cross cultural search for health, happiness, meaning and enlightenment. Or will it blossom into something entirely different.

The transition into the Modern Era occurred during Islamic and then British colonial rule in India.  We will discuss these outside influences on the development of yoga and look at particular figures such as Ramakrishna and his disciple, Vivekananda, who was the first Westernized Indian yogi.  Following in his footsteps, Yogananda arrived in the West and taught an integral yet modernized form of yoga. Krishnamacharya invented modern posture practice, and his students B. K. S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, Desikachar, and Indra Devi popularized these practices in yet newer forms in the West. We will discuss whether Krishnamacarya drew from older asana teachings or invented new postures.  

We will explore the global reach of yoga by looking at its influence in the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman, and also its effect on Mahatma Gandhi’s and Martin Luther King Jr’s political movements.  It’s a testament to yoga’s global reach that there are more teachers to discuss than what time allows for, though we will mention Maharishi Mahesh Yoga, Yogi Bhajan, Krishnamurti, Swami Muktananda, and others.  

We will continue to explore the many influential teachers who popularized yoga worldwide.  A focus will be the difference between traditional, largely soteriological paths of yoga, and how that overlaps and contrasts with modern yoga that can be a fitness, spiritual, holistic lifestyle practice.  The many social, psychological, and political issues surrounding modern yoga will be addressed, such as cultural appropriation vs. appreciation, commercialization, fame and abuse, pros and cons of gurus, and the growing post-lineage yoga movement.

In this final class we will ask and answer big questions:  What is yoga’s history?  Is yoga Hindu, Buddhist, both, or neither?  Is yoga religion?  What legal issues and lawsuits have arisen?  What teacher/student boundary issues have developed?  What does the future of yoga hold?  Will it herald a new bridge as a global, universal, cross-cultural search for health, happiness, meaning, and enlightenment? Or will it blossom into something entirely different?  And what role will you play in this unfolding history and the stories told about it?

The Ancient Yoga Period (5000 B.C.E. to 200 C.E., including the Vedas, Upanishads, Bhagavad-Gita, and Yoga Sutras)

We will address the following topics from this period: When and where did yoga originate–in the ancient Vedas, the parallel tradition of Shaivism, or through a complex confluence of both these sacred traditions? What is the Aryan migration debate all about?  Examining textual and genetic evidence, we will analyze how the Aryan controversy has affected the evolution of yoga, including India’s recent rise in nationalism. By looking at the Pashupatinat seal and a corresponding figure from Europe, we will explore various arguments about whether these are archeological evidence of ancient yoga postures. We will also delve into yoga’s formative texts and systems such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Ayurveda, Samkhya, Bhagavad Gita, and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. Finally, we will discuss the oldest textual evidence of yoga postures, the latest work of James Mallinson and Mark Singleton who state that yoga originated in the Sramana movement, yogi mendicants such as the Kapalikas who may have influenced Buddhism, Jainism and later Hinduism, and lastly the development of classical yoga influenced by the compilation of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras.

The Premodern Yoga Period (200 C.E -1800 C.E., including Tantric traditions, Hatha Yoga, and Bhakti Yoga)

We will address the following topics from this period: The so-called Tantric Renaissance in the Middle Ages to discern whether Tantra was a new development or a continuation from the oral tradition and the Puranas. The meditation practices described in the Yoga Sutras and analyze its Kriya Yoga system to determine its possible Tantric roots. By looking at various Hatha Yoga texts, the influential Nath tradition, and its famous teachers Goraksanath and Matsyendranath, we will discuss their possible influences on later and contemporary yoga traditions.  The Kashmir Tantra traditions, its teachers, and some of its most important texts, such as the Vijana Bhairava. Then we will revisit some important questions: did yoga originate in the Vedas and advance through the Upanishads and the Yoga Sutras, and blossom into the later Tantra traditions?  Or did yoga advance as a composite tradition from the beginning, with core teachings from both Vedic and Tantric traditions? We will finally explore the different expressions of yoga, such as Vedanta and Bhakti Yoga, the many Tantric paths, as well as the development of Hinduism after various Muslim invasions, and also the British imperialist influence on yoga, both in India and globally.

The Modern Yoga Period (1800 C.E. until today, including Vivekananda’s arrival in the US, Krishnamacharya’s invention of modern postural yoga, and the popular yoga revolution)

We will address the following topics from this period: The influential Indian sage Ramakrishna and his famous disciple Vivekananda who became the first Westernized Indian yogi.  Following in these footsteps, Yogananda arrived in the West and taught an integral yet modernized form of yoga incorporating both meditation and posture yoga. Next is Krishnamacharya who invented modern posture practice, and his disciples including Pattabhi Jois and B. K. S. Iyengar, who popularized these practices in yet newer forms in the West. We will discuss whether Krishnamacarya drew on older asana teachings or invented new postures.  We will then explore the difference between the traditional, largely soteriological paths of yoga and how that overlaps and contrasts with modern yoga as a fitness, spiritual, holistic lifestyle practice. The many cultural, psychological and even political issues surrounding modern yoga will be explored, such as appropriation vs. appreciation, commercialism, fame and abuse, the pros and cons of gurus, and the growing post-lineage yoga movement. Finally we will discuss what the future of yoga may hold—will it become largely Westernized and self empowerment oriented, or will it herald a new bridge, a global, universal, cross cultural search for health, happiness, meaning and enlightenment. Or will it blossom into something entirely different.