Joseph S. Alter - The History of Modern Yoga Part 1

[@FabioPedrazzoliGrazioli]

Thank you Adam and Joseph this is super interesting! 🙂🕉❤🙏

[@keenonyoga]

Thanks Fabio, I really enjoyed this conversation too, stay tuned for part 2 and more good ones coming up.

[@johnk8174]

Very informative and engaging. I was struck by the brief statement about Vivekananda and postural yoga, along the lines of "he (Vivekananda) needed it, didn't he; he died very young" (around 24:18). I feel like that statement reveals something fundamental but unsurprising (in neither a good nor bad way) about the speaker, in the way it is just taken for granted that yoga is about the "body" (body in the sense of the thing that eats food and moves through space). Swami Anubhavananda, no friend of "acrobatics" (as he calls postural yoga), says almost the exact opposite, to the effect of, "why do you want to live so long, anyway?" I look forward to more conversations like this one; thank you very much for posting.

[@keenonyoga]

Thanks for this - I know Swami A. and have studied a lot with him actually. Great to hear you know him too. Most teachers of deeper yoga have advocated care of the body as a practical common sense. Not all, and indeed there is this devil-may-care tradition also. But, just imagine how much V. may have gone on to do if he'd lived longer? nevertheless, your point is a good one.

[@neeruprashar2771]

Interestingly, Swami kualayananda never got influenced by gymnastics and made sure yoga is practised as it is without dilution. Although the background was from gymnastics but traditional texts were studied thoroughly to bring the tradition and science together. Not many people know that Swami Kuvalayananda was a practitioner himself and he had profound experiences that was not popularized.

[@keenonyoga]

Thanks for your comment. Great to point out. Kuvuyalanada was indeed a practitioner, coming to yoga from a martial arts background after having profound experiencing in practice and wanting to understand them better . 🙏

[@neeruprashar2771]

@@keenonyoga yes, he did give much more emphasis on pranayama and kriyas. I think nobody has done research exclusively on uddiyana bandha or Nauli. Even asana practices were like asana not like gymnastics. That is something very important otherwise people tend to mix those two and call it yoga.

[@neeruprashar2771]

@@keenonyoga he was not into martial arts but indian practices like Malkham. There is a huge difference.

[@jamo5707]

Watching this is super helpful 🙏🏾 I got Yogendra’s name down but I don’t know how to find “Kuwaiyan”, (the yogi guru trying to institutionalize) the physical practice on the internet. How would I type his name?

[@keenonyoga]

Hi Jacob. I can’t remember Joseph mentioning that name. So, sorry; I’m no wiser than you there ! Definitely worth following up on Yogendra though. Very interesting character.

[@jamo5707]

@@keenonyoga no worries thank you 🙏🏾

[@jeremyfox2577]

@@jamo5707 Kuvalyananda