A history of modern yoga : Patañjali and Western esotericism / Elizabeth De Michelis.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

De Michelis, Elizabeth.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Patañjali.

Yoga--History.

Yoga.

History.

Physical Description:

xvii, 282 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

London ; New York : Continuum, 2004.

Contents:

What is Modern Yoga? 1

Modern Yoga scholarship 6

Some notes on terminology 7

Esoteric myopia 9

Description of contents 12

Part I The Prehistory of Modern Yoga

1. Roots of Modern Yoga 19

"Esotericism" as academic field of research 19

The worldview of Western esotericism 21

(1 to 6) Basic characteristics of esotericism 21

(1) Correspondences 21

(2) Living nature 22

(3) Imagination and mediations 22

(4) Experience of transmutation 23

(5) The praxis of concordance 23

(6) Transmission 23

(7) Reformation "Spiritualism" 24

(8) Enlightenment and post-Enlightenment thought 25

Esotericism in classical and modern Hinduism 27

Mysticism, cult and sect 31

From mysticism to cultic milieu 34

New Age religion vs. New Age movement 35

Classical Hinduism vs. modern Hindu elaborations 36

The beginnings of Neo-Hinduism 38

Esoteric East-West cross-influences in historical perspective 40

The Brahmo Samaj and the occultization of Neo-Vedanta 45

2. The religious foundations of Modern Yoga 51

The turning point between classical Hinduism and Neo-Vedanta: Rammohan Roy's Neo-Vedantic Enlightenment 52

Neo-Vedantic Enlightenment to Neo-Vedantic Romanticism 56

Tagore's intellectual background 57

Tagore's doctrinal and ritual innovations 58

Intuitional epistemology 59

Evolutionary spirituality 59

"Scientific religion" 62

Initiation 64

From Neo-Vedantic Romanticism to Neo-Vedantic "spiritualism" 67

The Eastern outreaches of Western esotericism 68

India responds as 'esoteric Other' 71

Sen as charismatic Neo-Vedantic leader 74

Sen's religious career 77

The influence of American Transcendentalism 80

Sen's proto Modern Yoga 83

3. Vivekananda and the emergence of Neo-Vedantic occultism 91

Vivekananda: spiritual hero or esoteric seeker? 92

Vivekananda's esoteric biography I: India 93

Childhood 93

Schooling 94

Brahmo 97

Freemason 100

Ramakrishna and Vivekananda 100

Ramakrishna's spiritual transmission 104

After Ramakrishna 108

Vivekananda's esoteric biography II: the West 110

Vivekananda at the Parliament of Religions 110

Vivekananda's assimilation of Western occultism 112

Harmonial Religion: Metaphysical beliefs and mesmerism 114

The demand for "occult" practices at the end of the nineteenth century 116

Vivekananda's 'turn West' 119

Vivekananda's '4 yogas' model 123

4. "God-realization" and "Self-realization" in Neo-Vedanta 127

Pervasiveness of Vivekananda's Neo-Vedantic influences 127

Centrality of the "realization" theme 128

Ultimate aims: Vedantic and Neo-Vedantic 129

Classical interpretations of atma- and brahmajnana 130

Early attempts at translation and contextualization: Rammohan Roy 133

Subsequent attempts at translation and contextualization by Brahmo leaders and others 135

Ramakrishna and his interpreters: the elaboration of a sampradaya 140

Part II Modern Yoga Theory and Practice

5. Vivekananda's Raja Yoga (1896): Modern Yoga formulated 149

Raja Yoga: style, structure and overall contents 149

An emanationist cosmology 153

Three gunas vs. two evolutes 155

Vivekananda's Naturphilosophie 156

The Prana Model 159

Prana as vitalistic element 160

Prana as healing agent 163

Pranayama as healing technique 165

Samadhi as psychological "superconsciousness" 168

The Samadhi Model 168

The influence of Metaphysical beliefs 169

The influence of Functionalist psychology 171

Psychological proprioception as practice 173

The Neo-Advaitic component 175

Yogic experience in classical Vedanta 176

The Yoga Sutras: a rajayoga textbook? 178

6. Twentieth-century developments of Modern Yoga 181

Alternative medicine and New Age religiosity 183

New Age healing ... 184

... and personal growth 185

Towards a typology of Modern Yoga 187

The development of Modern Postural Yoga: 1950s to date 190

Popularization: 1950s to mid-1970s 191

Consolidation: mid-1970s to late 1980s 192

Acculturation: late 1980s to date 193

The Iyengar School of Modern Postural Yoga 194

B. K. S. Iyengar: his life and work 195

Popularization 198

Consolidation 200

Acculturation 205

7. Theory and practice of Iyengar Yoga 208

Iyengar's Modern Yoga trilogy 208

Light on Yoga (1966): the Popularization period 210

MPY practice as psychosomatic self-help 211

MPY theory in Light on Yoga 218

Two specific aspects of Modern Yoga theory 219

Neo-Vedantic ethics 220

The concept of 'self-improvement' 221

"Self-realization": a chameleonic concept 223

Light on Pranayama (1981): the Consolidation period 224

Fully-fledged Neo-Hathayoga 225

MPY theory and practice in Light on Pranayama: the consolidation of the Prana Model 230

Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (1993): the Acculturation period 236

The Samadhi Model in Iyengar's Neo-Hathayoga 236

The Neo-Visistadvaita synthesis 243

8. Conclusion: Modern Postural Yoga as healing ritual of secular religion 248

MPY in everyday life 248

The MPY practice session 251

MPY as healing ritual of secular religion 252

(i) The separation phase (introductory quietening time in MPY) 252

(ii) The transition phase (MPY practice proper) 254

(iii) The incorporation phase (final relaxation in MPY) 257.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 261-274) and index.

ISBN:

0826465129

OCLC:

51942410