Does doing yoga make you a Hindu?

[Fortis in Arduis]

yoga is just doing stretches, basically. The type of Yoga being being practiced in Western society is already far removed from its religious roots in any case, unattached from the actually spiritual aspect and is usually just emphasizing peace of mind and self-control.

Transnational Anglophone yoga (the best term I have heard to describe the hatha yoga movements in Western society) seems to be a form of gymnastics influenced by some ancient practises from the Vedic times. Certainly, it was developed and promoted by enthusiastic Hindus.

Go back seventy years, and both you and I might not have been permitted to learn these forms as they were being developed in India. At first, Westerner men were admitted as students in the 1950s, then Westerner women in the 1970s.

We have to pay homage to T. Krishnamacharya for his work which produced the two most popular systems of hatha yoga in the West, B.K.S. Iyengar's Iyengar Yoga and Pattabhi Jois' Asthanga Vinyasa Yoga.

This excerpt might be of interest:

The Yoga Korunta is a purported ancient text on yoga, transmitted by oral tradition to Tirumalai Krishnamacharya by his teacher Ramamohana Brahmachari in the early 20th century, and further to Sri K. Pattabhi Jois beginning in 1927, who then used it as the basis of his system of Ashtanga Yoga introduced in 1948.

The existence or historicity of this oral transmission cannot be verified, and the text itself has not been preserved. It is said to have been made up of stanzas using rhymed, metered sutras, in the manner common to texts transmitted orally in the guru-shishya tradition.

The text is said to have described several lists of many different asana groupings, as well as highly original teachings on vinyasa, drishti, bandhas, mudras and general teachings.

The name Yoga Korunta is the Tamilized pronunciation of the Sanskrit words Yoga grantha, meaning "book about yoga".

Ashtanga series is said to have its origin in an ancient text called the Yoga Korunta, compiled by Vamana Rishi, which Krishnamacharya received from his Guru Rama Mohan Brahmachari at Mount Kailash in the early 20th century. The story of the Yoga Korunta though finds no evidence in any historical research on the subject. It seems that no text with this name has ever been written. In addition, there is evidence that the Ashtanga Yoga series incorporates exercises used by Indian wrestlers and British gymnastics. Recent academic research details documentary evidence that physical journals in the early 20th century were full of the postural shapes that were very similar to Krishnamacharya's asana system. In particular, the flowing surya namaskar which later became the basis of Krishnamacharya's Mysore style, was not yet considered part of yogasana.

Krishnamacharya has had considerable influence on many of the modern forms of yoga taught today. Among his students were many notable teachers of the later 20th century, such as K. Pattabhi Jois, B.K.S. Iyengar, Indra Devi, and Krishnamacharya's son T.K.V. Desikachar. Krishnamacharya was well known for tailoring his teachings to address specific concerns of the person or group he was teaching, and a vinyasa series for adolescents is a result of this. When working under the convalescing Maharaja of Mysore, Krishnamacharya set up a shala, or yoga school in the palace grounds and adapted the practice outlined in the Yoga Korunta for the young boys who lived there. Ashtanga Yoga has since been thought of as a physically demanding practice, which can be successful at channeling the hyperactivity of young minds. This system can also be used as a vessel for helping calm ongoing chatter of the mind, reducing stress and teaching extroverted personalities to redirect their attention to their internal experience.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ashtang...ory_and_legend

I do not believe that the Yoga Korunta ever existed outside an elaborate public relations / cultural propaganda campaign. Hatha yoga students from Mysore went touring around India giving demonstrations to encourage the development of an Indian physical culture. There have even been suggestions that the developments in Mysore were influenced by observation of the training techniques of the British Army in Mysore. It is possible.

Reading that surya namaskara (meaning "salutations to the sun") has caused religious consternation on the basis that it might be a form of sun worship is quite ridiculous, considering that it was never even part of traditional yogasana, and probably came from the training techniques of Indian wrestlers. Surya namaskara is a warm-up exercise which has the benefits of press-ups and sit-ups, and is recommended for developing upper body strength.

Where and how does hatha yoga become religious or spiritual in Indian culture? The most I could gather was that there were bands of travelling hatha yogis in India, who were regarded as heretical, dangerous and not very respectable.

I have to take slight issue with your statement that hatha yoga in the West is just stretching. Stretching is involved, but take a look at this:



I find it most inspiring.

[Loki]

No, but it makes you a lesbian or a sissy

I disagree. Yoga is very good, and for all genders, ages and abilities. It is fantastic.

[Vasconcelos]

I think it does, I've heard people grow a red spot on their foreheads after doing a single yoga class, not to mention an awesome sun tan. I avoid it like the plague, don't want people to think I'm from Goa.

[Loki]

It is uninspiring to hear that yoga is a modern invention. I don't want to believe it. Yoga is a complete body, mind and spirit system that really made me feel awesome when doing it. It felt like I was part of something ancient. For this reason, I much prefer yoga over pilates.

[Mraz]

I disagree. Yoga is very good, and for all genders, ages and abilities. It is fantastic.

You can disagree, I keep to my prejudice

[Fortis in Arduis]

It is uninspiring to hear that yoga is a modern invention. I don't want to believe it. Yoga is a complete body, mind and spirit system that really made me feel awesome when doing it. It felt like I was part of something ancient. For this reason, I much prefer yoga over pilates.

It has ancient roots. The Hatha Yoga Pradipika was written in the 15th Century, but draws upon older texts, reputedly. The point is that the modern forms were developed under particular cultural pressures, similar in nature and effect to those that produced the physical culture movements that were happening at the same time in Europe. Teachers were sharing their ideas and expertise. The Indian YMCA disseminated Western gymnastic techniques.

In the UK, there was the Women's League of Health and Beauty, and their sequence of exercises, set to music; in fact, they are still going, under a different name. When hatha yoga reached the UK, it slotted perfectly into that niche, with the result that hatha yoga is very popular with women.

Orthopraxy (the idea that there is a correct form that one should follow) is very contentious in hatha yoga circles. On one hand, there is a desperation to prove unbroken lineage with ancient Vedic times, on the other, hatha yoga is still being researched and the various yoga schools change their sequences, even shortening them to fit into hour-long slots to make them more marketable. In fact, it is the recent developments that have brought hatha yoga out of obscurity, and incredible lifelong gymnastic health and fitness for men and women going into their eighties.

One good authority, and one that served me well, was the five-year course in the back of B.K.S. Iyengar's "Light on Yoga"; one that I followed at home for three years, attending class at least once a week, and reached a wonderfully advanced stage of practise. Each time I got on the mat, I would be seeing how far I could take it, and once having achieved a certain level, I was excitedly writing the next sequence out on a sheet of paper.

Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, being slightly different, is a set sequence to learn like an alphabet, which, when completed or mastered, is replaced by another more advanced series. Also, each movement is synchronised with the breath, which many people find incredibly energising. The practicioner follows the set sequence at his own pace. He might take two hours, or an hour and fifteen minutes.

Bikram (hot room) Yoga has to be the most commercialised yoga school I have ever encountered, but it still has tangible benefits, and why should Westerners not prefer a hatha yoga system that has been Westernised and fits with our lifestyles and body-problems, such as slow digestion? I found Bikram really obnoxious and McDonalds, reaching the advanced series within a month, but it was very challenging and most refreshing.

Hatha yoga enthused me to learn about ayurveda and to find a good meditation teacher. Hatha yogis should really watch their diet, keeping it sattvic and pure, and have knowledge of ayurveda, so to deal with any health problems that might emerge.

Moving on to Pilates, I think that it is incredibly hard. Even the basic classes are very hard. It seems to be very helpful to the elderly and unfit desirous of some restoration, but if young and able, why not start aiming for the gymnastic dizzy heights that can be achieved via advanced hatha yoga? One does not even have to be young to find abilities emerging that were hitherto unimaginable. The sequences are designed for personal development, rather than performance competition, and so they guide the practicioner in acheiving their potential in the most efficient way possible, whereas ballet, or training for sports loses its efficiency, because of the emphasis on competition and/or performance; perhaps too much a labour of love for those who enjoy such but find that they burn out at forty.

[Loki]

You can disagree, I keep to my prejudice

Don't knock what you haven't tried!

[Mraz]

Don't knock what you haven't tried!

If I start yoga that would mean I've turned homo

[Mraz]

It seems some people are butthurt because I tell my opinion about this unmanly activity
You guys shouldn't forget to bring your leather chaps and some mojitos to you next yoga session.

[Isleño]

IMHO, it depends on the purpose and if the religious and cultural elements are in place. In much of the west, yoga has been rebranded as something non-religious and even non cultural, as the article mentions. So to me, it depends. Also, region can influence whether or not it will have the religious or cultural elements in place, or if the populations traditionally perceive yoga as such a practice tied to religion or it's cultural elements.

Where I live, in the U.S., yoga is not tied to religion or culture and has been westernized. As the article mentions, in the west it has taken on a different reputation and even involves westernized renaming practices, thus giving yoga an American domestic feel, that can even become part of a familiar American subculture involving a healthy lifestyle. Actually to some it may sound a bit funny, but in the U.S., it is usually tied to a non-religious practice frequently viewed as part of this healthy lifestyle. And in some cases, to the westcoast of the U.S. and it's reputation of being home to many that practice a healthy organic lifestyle. It can even be tied to a certain class of people that take part in it, such as the more educated middle classes and upper classes. In the United States, you wouldn't really picture a construction worker engaging in yoga classes