Yoga Lineages & Modernity

Catalog description

Taught by GTU. The course will map the lineages (parampara-s) of the Gurus of Yoga in modern times. The objective is to follow the phases of Yoga in the West that begins with the arrival-while enroute to the Parliament of World Religions held in Chicago in 1893-of Swami Vivekananda, a leading exponent of Vedanta and disciple of the 19th century Hindu mystic, Sri Ramakrishna. The course aims to provide an overview of the socio-cultural and globalizing contexts and impacts of the early presence and global spread of the yoga movement in the modern era.. Following Vivekananda gurus continued to flock to the United States and other Northern and Southern regions, establishing ashrams or spiritual practice centers. Initially, the emphasis was on jñana-sadhana or the yoga of knowledge- that inculcated exercises in meditation, controlled breathing, and philosophical contemplation. Certain other forms of yoga gained prominence, however, with the advent of a re-configured form of physical or ha?ha yoga (yoga-on-the-mat) in a variety of schools linked to distinctive lineages founded by one or the other yoga savants in India. We will trace the most important of such schools and study their different contributions to the development and growth of the modern and postmodern face of yoga closer to our times. Some of the Gurus and their lineages that we shall be examining include: Paramahansa Yogananda (founder of Self-realization Fellowship, based in Los Angeles); Swami Sivananda (founder of the Divine Life Society) and his disciple-emissaries including, Swami Sacchidanada (of the Woodstock fame), and Swami Satyananda (founder of the Bihar School of Yoga, who taught in both the US and Australia); T. Krishnamacharya (of Mysore who through his two most prominent yoga maestros largely brought yoga to the West), namely, B K S Iyengar (known for his vigorous aerobic-physical yoga) and K Pattabhi Jois (who developed the equally vigorous Ashtanga yoga); Maharishi Mahesh Yogi (Guru of the Beatles for a short while); Srila Prabhupada Bhaktivedanta (founder of the Hare Krishna o ISKCON movement with its focus on bhakti or devotional yoga), Sri Aurobindo (whose integral yoga method has been highly influential in contemplative practices); Sri Sri Ravi Shankar (yoga guru of the hi-tech era); Bikram Choudhary (founder of "hot yoga").