Yoga first reached a Western audience in the 19th century. Early on in the century, yoga went through a transformation as a trans-national tradition, as well as being modernized towards homogenuity. The main proponents of this new homogenous yoga practice were Indian yoga reformers, westerners engaged with fitness, and modern societal phenomena, such as the enlightnment and romantic movements (Jain, 21). Yoga was seen to create supernatural powers and mystical states of consciousness, which in a way characterized the practice as completely alien and therefore separates it from the west. Therefore, yoga in the west was at first seen as elite, countercultural, and scandalous (Jain, 39). Yoga was a mystified practice in the eyes of many westerners, …show more content…
Her teachings were seen as scandalous because she interpreted yoga with more sensual aspects, leading people to believe yoga to be a mystical erotic religion (Jain, 23). Craddock's beliefs on yoga completely went against the conservative and reserved values of the society of the day, especially since she was a woman. Another famous yoga modernist was Pierre Bernard. His version of yoga is closer to the one we see today which focused on the physical aspects of Hatha yoga, Craddock's erotic mysitcism, and the contemporary exersice culture of the day (Jain, 26). Yoga was not popular with the main stream American audience until later in the twentieth …show more content…
The first is the increase in mobility across countries and continents, which allowed many people to travel to Asian countries. The second is the disenchantment of current religious institutions, which allowed people a freer mind when looking towards other sources of spirituality. The last is the increase of postural yoga in consumer culture (Jain, 43). One of the key figures in the Western evolution of Yoga was Pattabhi Jois. Jois practiced yoga from a young age. His teacher, T. Krishnamacharya, taught him the tradition of Astanga Vinyasa yoga, which is pure Hatha yoga at the core, which focuses completely on the body. This tradition gave him the authority and fame needed to help commercialize and spread Hatha yoga in the United States, which he claimed to be true yoga, despite its absence in the yogasutra (Burger, 85). Through the spread of pure physical yoga as well as the removal of the yogasutra, Jois was able to open the door to the type of exercise based yoga seen today. In, Jeff Wilson's book Mindful America, Wilson talks about three processes which allow mindfulness to become marketable to the mainstream American audience. Jois was able to open the door towards these processes through his changes in the yoga practice. The first process was the removal of the religious authority from the practice, in this case the yogasutra and in later cases the ability of anyone to become a
Up until about 40 years ago, yoga was practically unknown to most Americans. When it was introduced to the United States in the '60s, people believed in the incorrect stereotype that it was done only by "hippies," "flower children," and "druggies." Today the term "yoga" is more widely known, now that it is becoming trendier.
Farge, Emile J. "Going East With Merton: Forty Years Later -- And Coming West With Paramahansa Yogananda Today." Cross Currents 59.1 (2009): 49-68. ATLA Religion Database with ATLASerials. Web. 2 Apr. 2014
Since the dawn of man, humans have dreaded the suffering caused by injuries and disease. For our benefit, we have enhanced the practices of Medicine and its techniques, but before such ideas existed; the risk of recovery was extremely traumatic and at times fatal. We have abandoned several of the medical procedures used in ancient times since intrepid scientists and physicians sought methods. Although medicine was not always a science, instead it was magic, thus god were trusted for a few techniques more than actual logic. Therefore, the history of medicine has been disturbing and dangerous, but a good number of its practices today used in a more modern way, is quite beneficial to humanity.
The chakras and Kundalini came to be an integral part of yoga philosophy in the non-dual Tantric tradition, which arose in the 7th century, in reaction to the dualist philosophy which preceded it. This tradition advised being in the world rather than separate from it. Tantra is commonly thought of in the West as primarily a sexual tradition, as Tantrism does put sexuality in a sacred context. Yet this is actually only a small part of a broad philosophy which includes many practices of yoga, worship of deities, especially the Hindu goddesses, and integration of the many polaric forces in the universe.
Yoga, as a way to achieve higher self-awareness, was around as early as 200 B.C. in India and has been gradually growing in popularity in the western world over the past four decades. Traditional styles of yoga, including Hatha yoga, which consists of thousands of poses, have long been studied as an effective form of complimentary or alternative medicine (CAM).
Yoga is a discipline both involving physical and mental control that originated in India. The word Yoga is derived from the Sanskrit word, "yug", meaning union and it means the joining of the individual spirit with the universal spirit. The type of yoga known as Hatha Yoga, ("Ha"- sun, "tha"-moon) is what is most commonly practiced and this yoga involves the path of the mind and body and is the most physical. There are eight limbs or steps of Hatha Yoga, the first step being the five Yamas. There are five yamas and these concern your behavior to the world.
This qualitative case study is an approach to research how yoga can affect the human mind in a positive way and lead to a healthy lifestyle using 2 sources one being a book called The Science Of Yoga: The Risks and the Rewards by William J. Broad 2012. And the other being a private interview with a 22 year old male Yogi. This ensures that the issue is not getting explored through one side, but rather a variety of sides which allows for different inputs to be reveled and understood. There are two key approaches that help determine if yoga helps affect the human mind in a positive way. One flourished by William J. Broad (2012) which explores different factors on how yoga contributes to a healthy lifestyle and interviews fellow yogis who give there insight on the matter. And the second being a personal webcam interview conducted by the researcher ...
19th-Century Women Works Cited Missing Women in the nineteenth century, for the most part, had to follow the common role presented to them by society. This role can be summed up by what historians call the “cult of domesticity”. The McGuffey Readers does a successful job at illustrating the women’s role in society. Women that took part in the overland trail, as described in “Women’s Diaries of the Westward Journey” had to try to follow these roles while facing many challenges that made it very difficult to do so. One of the most common expectations for women is that they are responsible for doing the chore of cleaning, whether it is cleaning the house, doing the laundry.
The practice of Yoga dates back to thousands of years ago and is believed to have been introduced to the world by a person who was known as Adiyogi. Adiyogi, more famously know as Lord Shiva himself, was first seen in upper parts of the Himalayas, where he was seen in a mystic
A thousand year old tradition which originated in India, yoga, is now regarded in the western world as a holistic approach to many health benefits. The word “yoga” derived from the Sanskrit word “Yuj” meaning to unite or join the body, mind and sp...
In a world full of skepticism towards the alternative, Yoga has created a place of growing belief for itself. As Timothy McCall, M.D. states in his book Yoga As Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health & Healing: A Yoga Journal Book:
Web. 13 April 2014. McCall, Timothy. A. Yoga as a medicine. New York: Bantam Dell, 2007. Print.
Yoga is a practice that anyone of any age can complete anywhere, anytime. It originated in ancient India and is estimated to be nearly five thousand years old. Through yoga, one is able to find his or her path to peaceful bliss within him or her self (Finney 25). The mind and the body become balanced with each other, giving one the sense of enlightenment (The Magic of.Meditation). Depending on the styles and poses a person chooses, yoga benefits a person not only physically, but mentally as well.
The goal of this study was to identify the ways in which engaging in yoga practices would alter psychological well being, and allow people to engage more fully in their lives and flourish in health and happiness. The pre and post test set up of this study allowed the researchers to see the ways in which students had been affected by their participation in the yoga teacher training. Yoga training students were engaged in a four week program. They were administered tests and the beginning of the study, prior to engaging in the program, at the end of the program, after completion, and then again at a 3 month follow up. Multiple factors were assessed, however the significant and important ones which relate directly to our understanding of healthy, happiness and wellness and the course content are extremely
This week’s analysis is associated with the yoga class provided online to help with stress reduction. The first term that I came across was psychophysiology and how this principle is based on the mind and body being one and how our thinking affects all physiology. This principle was the perfect definition of yoga because yoga focuses on how the mind and body connects with each other. It gives you a sense of relaxation throughout your mind and body together. Furthermore, the yoga that was in the video was a yoga style called hatha. Which practices asana (yoga postures) and pranayama (breathing exercises). According to the book, this practices helps bring peace to the mind and body and prepare our body to do deeper exercises. The art of breathing was mentioned during the exercise and in the book. Breathing is very important when trying to unite the mind, body, and spirit. So, having slow, deep breathes was a main focused during the exercise. Another term that was used in the video was the art of stretching, which allows us to become aware of our flexibility of our muscle while moving. Lastly, the art of balance is significant because it allows us to move into the next form of position on both sides of our body. Some of the workouts pose that was mention in the textbook that I did was two knees to the chest, cobra, and head of cow. Overall, hatha