Amrita 6: Asana through the ages - Magazine - Page 14
dering of a Sanskrit yoga text indicate that its contents, including complex sanas, came to the attention of the Mughal court.
When Mughal rule was later failing and British influence was on
the rise in India, the Hathbhysapaddhati presented hatha
yoga practices, including sana, some previously known, but
many new and innovative.
Sjoman 1hypothesises that some of these sanas derive
from Indian wrestling and gymnastics.
Whatever the source, Hathbhysapaddhati is significant
because it sets out moving sanas and sequences, some using
ropes and walls, and introduces sana categories, apparent
forerunners of the modern standing, seated and lying poses. It
demonstrates eighteenth century innovation and integration
of external influences within a hatha yoga context. Throughout
its history, yoga has continually integrated the novel, and reinvented itself to find greater contemporary relevance.
These innovations were also included in a later digest,
rtattvanidhi, attributed to the Maharaja of Mysore who ruled
from 1799 to 1868.
At the end of the nineteenth century, Vivekananda brought
his book ‘Raja Yoga’ and teaching to the West, beginning the
transition to Modern Yoga, with its emphasis on postural practice. Born some twenty-five years after Vivekananda, Krishnamacharya’s teaching of hatha yoga formed the foundation for
modern postural yoga. Krishnamacharya drew on not only the
rtattvanidhi (which he cited in his Yogamakaranda), and the
Hathbhysapaddhati, but also European gymnastic and Indian martial art traditions. I see little reason to condemn the
drawing of inspiration from external influences: Krishnamacharya was, after all, operating within an India under British
influence at the time, and yoga has continued to evolve over
the centuries in response to the zeitgeist.
Krishnamacharya’s student BKS Iyengar published ‘Light on
Yoga’ in 1966, containing over two hundred sana, and presented yoga as beautiful, healthful and scientific. His teaching
and the book inspired both Indians and non-Indian teachers
and students to flock to his classrooms in India and the West.
Asana became king, and continues to be the emphasis for
much modern yoga.
In conclusion, significant research progress has been made
to prove a continuity of hatha yoga practices, including sana,
back to the early Common Era, but there are still discontinuities
in our understanding. A connection to the seated poses of the
Harappan seals is still wishful. The cause of the explosion of
differing, complex sana in the early hatha yoga period, and the
exact soteriological purpose of sana at that time, remain unknown; due to the nature of contemplative practices, this may
never be fully understood. The
shift in spiritual practices from
the Vedas to the Upanisads is described as one from extroversion
to introversion. Some may say
that modern yoga, with its emphasis on sana, has taken the
reverse journey back to extroversion. I am reminded that the Sanskrit word sutra has a root meaning of ‘thread’. I like to think of the
thread of history tying modern
sana practice back to Krishnamacharya, to the dynamic yogis of
the Mysore Palace before him,
weaving around medieval sana
innovators, and binding classical
yogis practicing sana with sthirasukham. The thread stretches
further back, winding around hatha yoga practicing ascetics, and
erect spined, upsana practicing
Upanisadic yogis. Perhaps at
some future stage it may even
spin as far back as the floor seated Harappans and beyond. A
Sjoman, N. E. (1999) The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace,
New Delhi: Shakti Malik Abhinav Publications.
1
DONNA GERRARD IS Yoga Alliance Professionals Senior Yoga Teacher and Yoga Therapist. She is currently writing her
dissertation for a Masters degree at SOAS University of London in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation. Her dissertation
topic is ‘Body Image in Modern Yoga’, her mission being to break down body stereotypes of yoga practitioners, allowing
the practices’ benefits to reach the populations that have need of them. Donna is also a poet and an initiated priestess
of the goddess Brigid, so often her teaching interweaves poetry and the ancient spirituality of the British Isles with the
traditions of yoga. DonnaGerrard.com // donna@donnagerrard.com
12 AMRITA Issue 6 / Spring 2021
