GHOSH YOGA - GHOSH YOGA

Where Does It Come From? — Half Moon Backbend

11/22/2024

This is the third in a series of articles about where some modern postures come from. The first two are about Standing Deep Breathing (where-does-it-come-from-standing-deep-breathing.html) and Half Moon Sidebend (where-does-it-come-from-half-moon-sidebend.html).

This is the Half Moon Backbend, ardha chandrasana, often just called Half Moon Posture. Since the name "Half Moon" is used to refer to so many different postures and positions, we prefer to specify that this is a "backbend." It is a newer posture in yoga, which can be guessed from its standing position as well as its apparent emphasis on encouraging health and mobility in the body. Practices that move the body around to increase its health are relatively new, historically speaking, dating from the last one or two hundred years. The textual evidence supports this, as there are no examples of a standing backward bend in any premodern yogic instructions, including hathayoga.

As with so many other standing postures in yoga, the Half Moon Backbend seems to have its rough origin in European calisthenics. Early versions date from around the turn of the 20th century in the manuals of JP Muller, a name we see often when looking at the roots of modern yoga.

Muller had a couple different versions of a standing backbend that were fitted into little sequences of movement. Pictured at the top is Muller with his arms slightly out to the side. This backbend is part of a series that includes bending forward and touching the toes — a backward bend and a forward bend done together.

Second is pictured to the right. Muller stretches the arms overhead and interlaces the fingers, bending the whole torso in a circular fashion: back, left, forward, right. It seems that Muller conceived of a standing backward bend as one part of a larger set of movements. This approach continues in the early modern yoga texts of Yogendra and remains to this day, as Bikram Choudhury's class groups the standing backbend immediately with a forward bend.

JP Muller, rotating the torso

Yogendra, dynamic chakrasana

Yogendra, static chakrasana

Muller had a couple different versions of a standing backbend that were fitted into little sequences of movement.

In the 1920s, Yogendra follows Muller's lead, grouping a standing backbend with a forward bend. Although it is nearly identical to the European example — Yogendra is known to have drawn influence from Western exercise leaders — he gives it a Sanskrit name: chakrasana. This means "wheel posture," a posture with some pre-modern yogic history. The relationship between the Half Moon Backbend and "Wheel Posture" is hard to ignore and carries through the decades of the standing posture. Perhaps Yogendra saw the standing posture as a way to link a Sanskrit yoga pose with modern exercise. The standing version is a bit easier, as it demands less flexibility. And if done in movement, it is more comfortable.

Yogendra calls the standing version, which is done in movement, dynamic chakrasana. The other version is a deep backward bend with both the hands and feet touching the ground. He calls this static chakrasana.

Despite the similarities between the two versions, there are also significant differences. Dynamic chakrasana has a small backward bend and a large forward bend, when the head comes down toward the knees. On the other hand, static chakrasana has no forward bend and is only a deep backward bend.

After Yogendra, there aren't standing backbends in South India. Like the Half Moon Sidebend, this posture catches on in the North, especially in the Kolkata yoga style of Bishnu Charan Ghosh.

In Buddha Bose's (a student of Ghosh) 1938 instruction, the relationship between the Half Moon Backbend and Wheel Posture is continued. He says that Wheel Posture is "the third phase of ardha chandrasana," following the standing sidebend and backbend. Indeed, he seems to view this posture as a simpler, preparatory version for the deeper Wheel Posture. Looking at the photo of Bose in the posture, one can almost see his hands reaching for the ground behind him.

We will see this relationship continue below in BKS Iyengar's work.

Meanwhile, the Half Moon Backbend develops as its own posture with the students of Ghosh. In Ghosh's manual Yoga Cure, he teaches it as one of about twenty fundamental beginning postures that are good for health.

Buddha Bose, ardha chandrasana

Karuna Ghosh, Half Moon Backbend in Yoga Cure

The relationship between the Half Moon Backbend and "Wheel Posture" is hard to ignore.

As we would expect, the posture is also taught by GS Mukerji in the early 1960s.

In the South Indian yoga styles, the posture does not appear. The closest approximation is in BKS Iyengar's encyclopedic teaching, where the posture is briefly passed through on the way to Wheel Posture. Here again we see the relationship between the two — Half Moon Backbend and Wheel.

Iyengar clearly does not consider this a stand-alone posture to be cultivated. Rather it is an intermediate position as one drops backward from standing, puts their hands on the floor and assumes chakrasana, Wheel Posture.

CONCLUSION
Like so many standing positions, the Half Moon Backbend seems to have come from European calisthenics, where it was part of a little series that moved the body forward and backward, or around in a circle. After passing through Yogendra, the students of Ghosh adopted it as its own posture. Still, it is usually linked in some way with chakrasana, Wheel Posture. Yogendra, Bose and later Iyengar make this connection.

GS Mukerji, ardha chandrasana

BKS Iyengar, dropping back into Wheel Posture

The Half Moon Backbend develops as its own posture with the students of Ghosh.

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Where Does It Come From? — Half Moon Sidebend

11/2/2024

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This is the second in a series of articles about where postures come from. The first was about Standing Deep Breathing: where-does-it-come-from-standing-deep-breathing.html.

Half Moon Sidebend is done standing, which is a giveaway that this is a newer posture. It is often given a Sanskrit name, ardha chandrasana, which means "half moon posture." Already this can be confusing, since there are several modern postures with that name. This one bends the body to the side, so it is sometimes called parshva ardha chandrasana, or "side half moon posture." Another bends the body backward. We will cover that one next. Yet another is taught by BKS Iyengar, an entirely different position done on one leg and one hand. If that seems overwhelming, and you find yourself wondering, "which is the true Half Moon Posture?" the answer is that they are all equally new, appearing in yoga in the last 100 years or so.

Like the vast majority of standing postures in modern yoga, Half Moon Sidebend has no clear ancestor in classical or hathayoga. It seems to have come into the yoga world around the turn of the twentieth century, like many other practices, from European calisthenics.

The earliest example of this position that we know of comes from none other than JP Muller, an influential leader of physical culture in the early 1900s. We saw his influence last time, too, in Standing Deep Breathing.

This posture comes into yoga slowly and unevenly in the 1920s and 30s. The first Indian yogi to teach it is Yogendra, who includes it in his 1928 book Yoga Asanas Simplified. Yogendra's system has many innovations, including postures that move with the breath, which he calls dynamic asanas. He also adds several standing positions which had not previously been part of yoga. One of these is a standing side bend that he calls konasana, "Angle Posture."

JP Muller, sidebend

Yogendra, konasana (Angle Posture) 1928

Half Moon Sidebend has no clear ancestor in classical or hathayoga.

Other early modern yogis didn't adopt the sidebend right away. Important teachers in the 1920s like Kuvalayananda and Sivananda, who embraced new postures and techniques to varying degrees, neglected this one. Interestingly, several decades later, Kuvalayananda's students included this posture and claimed that he invented it. We will discuss that below.

Krishnamacharya, another influential teacher of early modern yoga in the 1930s, did not instruct this posture as far as we know. Nothing like it is included in his publications, nor is it in the traditions of some of his prominent students, like Iyengar and Jois.

The next appearance of Half Moon Sidebend comes in 1938 from Buddha Bose. Bose was the first prominent yoga student of Bishnu Charan Ghosh, from Kolkata. It seems that this posture caught on in Kolkata before drifting back to the West and South in later decades. It is practiced by all of Ghosh's students, including Mukerji and Choudhury.

Bose adds a distinct element to the posture. In addition to its recognizable standing position and side-bending torso, he raises his arms overhead. This is different from the way that Muller and Yogendra teach it. Perhaps it is intended to make the position more beautiful or difficult, to make it more photogenic, or to change its intended effect.

It is unclear how difficult or important Ghosh and Bose considered this posture. In 1961, Ghosh published his own little pamphlet of beginning yoga postures, called Yoga Cure. Half Moon Sidebend is conspicuously absent from it, although it includes the standing backward bend called ardha chandrasana.

Buddha Bose, ardha chandrasana (Half Moon Posture) 1938

GS Mukerji, ardha chandrasana (Half Moon Posture) 1963

This posture caught on in Kolkata before drifting back to the West and South in later decades.

Although Ghosh does not include the posture in his little manual, his next prominent student from the era does. This is Gouri Shankar Mukerji, who went to Germany and became a medical doctor before moving back to Kolkata in his later years. At the end of his life, he tended to his aging teacher, wrote yoga prescriptions and lived a quiet life.

His book, Yoga und unsere Medizin, was written in German. The title means "Yoga and Our Medicine." The Half Moon Sidebend that he includes there is nearly identical to Bose's. Standing with the legs together, torso bent sideways, both arms stretched overhead.

In 1970, we see the first sidebend from someone outside of Kolkata in several decades. It is worth noting again that BKS Iyengar, who wrote the incredibly influential Light On Yoga in 1966, included hundreds of postures. But none is a standing sidebend. He does have a posture called ardha chandrasana which is entirely different, done on one leg and one hand.

BKS Iyengar, ardha chandrasana 1966

The non-Kolkata posture comes from the school of Kuvalayananda, who had died in 1966. After his death, Kuvalayananda's students seem to have added the posture. They photographed it and included it in a publication of Yoga Mimamsa in 1970.

chakrasana (Wheel Posture) from Yoga Mimamsa 1970

Bikram Choudhury, ardha chandrasana (Half Moon Posture) c. 1970

Choudhury instructs the posture exactly as one would expect from a student of Ghosh in Kolkata.

They called the posture chakrasana, Wheel Posture. The posture is instantly recognizable as a descendent of Muller, Yogendra and Bose. Standing and bending the body to the side. A small difference can be seen in the arms, with one overhead while the other is held down by the side.

Also around 1970, Bikram Choudhury goes to the US and refines his system of 26 postures that he calls "Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class." Right at the beginning of this class, which gains popularity through the 80s, 90s and 00s, is the Half Moon Sidebend.

Choudhury instructs the posture exactly as one would expect from a student of Ghosh in Kolkata. Standing, torso bending to the side, with both arms overhead.

Finally, in a more recent publication from Kaivalyadhama, Kuvalayananda's shool, a familiar posture appears. It is called "Side Bending Chakrasana," and is recognizable as the school's previous chakrasana. The single arm overhead is identical to the 1970 instruction from Yoga Mimamsa, shown above. Interestingly, in this 2009 publication, it is claimed that Kuvalayananda actually invented this posture. This seems unlikely, as there are many examples of other teachers instructing this posture even while Kuvalayananda himself avoided it.

Side Bending Chakrasana, from Kaivalyadhama publication 2009

CONCLUSION
Ardha chandrasana, the Half Moon Posture, here explained in its side bending form, appears for the first time around 1900 in the Danish physical culture of JP Muller. From there it goes to Yogendra and to the school of BC Ghosh in Kolkata. All of Ghosh's students teach this posture. Over the past century, there are variations with the arms, but the posture remains at its core a standing sidebend of the torso. In addition to Ghosh's students, Kuvalayananda's school began teaching the posture after his death.

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Where Does It Come From? — Standing Deep Breathing

10/21/2024

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Over the years, we have written about the history of various postures and practices in modern yoga. We have talked about how the postures change over the decades or centuries, and to the best of our knowledge where they come from.

Now we would like to continue that work but in a more systematic fashion. Because Bikram's class of 26 postures is so well-known, and so deeply systematized, it is an obvious place to begin. So we will be going through the postures in Bikram's class and discussing where they come from and how they've developed. Of course, there are many other practices in yoga. Please let us know which postures and practices you might like us to investigate and explore.

Let's start with Standing Deep Breathing. This is a deep breathing exercise that sometimes gets called pranayama. The name pranayama makes this seem like an old yogic practice, which it is not. Pre-modern yogic breathing is intended to slow and stop the breath. This Standing Deep Breathing is better understood as a breathing exercise, meant to improve our ability to breathe, to breathe deeply, to improve the health of the lungs and importantly to get more oxygen into the body. (We wrote about the Oxygenation Myth here: the-oxygenation-myth.html.)

Yogic breathing practices were never concerned with oxygenation per se, since oxygen was not discovered as such until 1774. They were also not interested in increasing the vital capacity of the lungs or tissues by breathing in the air. To the contrary, yogic pranayama is primarily interested in stopping the breath so that we can illuminate and witness the eternal spirit within. In other words, this Standing Deep Breathing practice reflects modern concerns with physical health. This is similar to many modern postures. In this case, it reflects the tuberculosis epidemic that plagued Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries. Tuberculosis and other air-borne diseases were known to affect the lungs, so certain techniques developed to strengthen the lungs and improve their health.

At the turn of the 20th century, an important proponent of deep breathing was Eustace Miles. He "presents a full and deep breath as one of the pillars of ‘better breathing’: the ability to ‘take in more oxygen and vitality at each inward breath, and to get rid of more carbonic acid, more fatigue stuff, at each outward breath’" (Addinall 2024).

Eustace Miles

Miles and other health leaders emphasized the importance of taking big breaths, full breaths, and breathing fresh clean air. They also differentiated between the lower, middle and upper areas of the lungs in order to keep every area circulating to prevent bacteria from settling in a stagnant, unused part.

So the central elements of Standing Deep Breathing (according to Bikram Choudhury) — taking big breaths, moving lots of air, strengthening the lungs, oxygenating the body — come from turn of the century health practices that were developed in response to tuberculosis.

From JP Muller

What about the neck bending parts of Standing Deep Breathing? The neck bends forward and backward with each breath, the knuckles pressing against the chin.

It is difficult to find a precedent for this practice in premodern sources. Even in modern yoga, with its thousands of postures, this neck-pressing exercise is unique. The only example we have seen comes from early 20th century physical culturist JP Muller.

Muller is well known to yoga historians. His practices, developed from his military training and evolved to aid the health of the masses, were influential on modern yoga teachers, from Yogendra to Ghosh to Krishnamacharya. In one of his manuals, pictured here, he instructs exercises that move the neck in many directions. This includes neck extension (backwards) with the knuckles against the bottom of the chin.

Admittedly, this is not part of a deep breathing exercise. And Muller actually instructs it opposite to Choudhury. Muller says to drop the chin down while resisting with the knuckles, while Choudhury drops the head back, assisting by pushing with the hands. But the resemblance is undeniable, especially considering the rarity of this kind of body position.

CONCLUSION
What can we understand about Standing Deep Breathing, then? The combination of deep breathing with knuckle-aided neck extension seems to be an innovation of Choudhury. (We have seen no evidence of Ghosh or his other students instructing or practicing like this.) Both elements of the practice seem to come directly from turn of the century physical culture.

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The Man In Pelvis Cloth Performing Contortion

9/15/2024

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Eadweard Muybridge was an English photographer and early pioneer in studies of motion. He lived from 1830-1904.

In 1884, he published a series of pictures "The Man In Pelvis Cloth Performing Contortion". Why is this relevant on a yoga blog? These photos are particular fascinating considering the fact that all of them are physical positions that today are considered asana.

To illustrate this, we've picked a few photos as examples. We have selected the same position performed by three teachers of early-mid twentieth century yoga—Buddha Bose, Swami Vishnudevananda and BKS Iyengar—to compare the poses as well as to elaborate on what the yoga teachers have to say about them.

In Muybridge's photos, the positions are clearly labeled as contortion and there are no accompanying instructions that we're aware of, only the photos themselves.

"Man in Pelvis Cloth Performing Contortion", 1884

UTTITHA KURMASANA
The first position is what we know today by various names such as Leg Behind the Head, Tortoise, Upward or Lifting Tortoise.

Essentially this is two legs behind the head with the body upright, lifting up away from the ground on the arms. This now goes by the Sanskrit name Utthita Kurmasan(a).

Swami Vishnudevananda writes that the posture, "is one of the most difficult poses and therefore should be done only by advanced students. This puts great pressure on the shoulder muscles and abdominal muscles".

"Uttitha Kurmasana" by Buddha Bose, 1938

"Utitha Kurmasan [tortoise pose, in balancing]", plate 74, Swami Vishnudevananda in Complete Illustrated Guide to Yoga, 1960

If we compare the positions of Bose and Vishnudevananda to the Man in Pelvis Cloth, they are identical. The same is true for what is today called "Mountain".

MOUNTAIN
Here we can see the Man in Pelvis Cloth attempting to reach the same position that Buddha Bose calls Parbatasana and BKS Iygenar calls Gorakasana.

Iyegnar writes that this position is "Gorakasana". He explains that Goraksa means cowherd. When one performs this position, Iyengar believes "one feels elevated even if one can only balance for a few seconds" (p. 142). He also writes that "the coccyx gets elasticity by the practice of this pose" (p. 142).

"Man in Pelvis Cloth Performing Contortion", 1884

Parbatasana, Buddha Bose 1938

"Goraksasana", Plate 117, BKS Iyengar, Light on Yoga, 1966

CONCLUSION
For several years around the time of these photographs, Muybridge traveled between England the US. Given the British occupation of India at that time and the heightened interest in South Asia, it's possible that Muybridge developed an interest in photographing ascetic practices.

However, this is also the era of circus and magic performance. It is unknown, to us at least, where the photos were taken or who was the Man in Pelvis Cloth. Regardless, these particular positions are documented as "contortion" in Muybridge's work. They certainly become more widely known and practiced as asanas—and therefore as part of contemporary yoga—throughout the decades of the twentieth century and still today.

"Man in Pelvis Cloth Performing Contortion", 1884

BKS Iyengar, Light on Yoga, 1966, pg. 294

Sources:
Buddha Bose - 84 Yoga Asanas
BKS Iygenar - Light on Yoga
Swami Vishnudevananda - The Complete Illustrated Guide to Yoga
Wikicommons
Science Museum Group: https://collection.sciencemuseumgroup.org.uk/people/ap28178/muybridge-eadweard

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YDYS Conference 2024

5/27/2024

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Dr James Mallinson - keynote presentation at YDYS 2024 (Photo by Corinna Lhoir)

This past week, we had the opportunity to be a part of the Yoga Darshana, Yoga Sadhana Research Conference in Hamburg, Germany. It was a fantastic few days of yoga scholarship and discussion in a variety of topics related to the histories and practices of yoga.

Scott presented on the history, complexity and understandings of early prana and pranayama. He focused on the centuries before and after the turn of the common era.

Ida presented on the history of women in yoga within early 20th century India.

We had a lot of time to catch up with fellow researchers of yoga, including former classmates from SOAS University of London.

We also heard presentations by so many incredible scholars! One highlight was to hear from much of the team that was the Hatha Yoga Project: http://hyp.soas.ac.uk/.

with Jason Birch of https://www.theluminescent.org

The keynote presentation by James Mallinson will be available on Youtube. We will share it here when it's available.

Massive thanks to Jason Birch for a copy of his new book!

We heard from the organizers that the next conference will be in Paris or Zurich in 2026. The conference is open to the public so if you are interested in yoga scholarship, keep your eyes open for info on the next event.

We'd like to thank the organizers and all our fellow presenters and attendees for making the conference a great event.

We already look forward to 2026!

YDYS 2024 - Hamburg, Germany (Photo by Corinna Lhoir)

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The Information Problem

5/13/2024

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We often hear people say, "There's just so much information out there and I don't know where to turn." We get it. There is a lot of material available. But not all of it is of the same quality.

So, what do we do? How do we all navigate continuing to learn while making sure that what we are learning is quality information?

The first question is, how do we define quality?

There are a few questions we can each ask ourselves when we're presented with new information. These will help us figure out how seriously to take the information. Here they are:

Is there evidence to back up the information that is being presented?
What are the qualifications of the person or people presenting the evidence? Are we sure their qualifications are truthful and dependable?
Does the person who is presenting the information have expertise in the field they are presenting on?

Let's break these down a little further...

Everyone has an opinion on everything. Even the phrase "I don't have an opinion on that" means that we have a non-distinct opinion. That too is a point of view!

The opinion of a person is always valid as the opinion of that person. We should always listen and seriously consider the beliefs of others. But we should not always take the opinion of one person as objectively true, or think we also need to believe it. It is true that it is an opinion. Though that doesn't necessarily mean that the content of the opinion is true.

We need to be careful when we hear an opinion, and make sure that we take into account how other sources of information agree with or critique that opinion. If there are other sources that confirm it, this is considered evidence to support the opinion. If we find that there is a variety of evidence from multiple different places in support, the opinion is more likely to be valid as information.

Furthermore, we should be careful when people talk about subjects that they are not expert in, even if that person is an expert in a different field. It is easy to revere others and think highly of their skillset. But that doesn't mean that they are experts or skilled in fields other than the one they are expert in. Do you want your dentist to operate on your heart? Or fix your car? Or write you a poem?

While there is a lot of information out in the world, not all of it is worth learning. In fact, much of it is not. The information that is backed by evidence and comes from an expert in their field is far more likely to be worth learning than the opinion of someone who is speaking about something they don't know much about.

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Read Ida's Article in JoYs vol. 5 - Available Now

5/3/2024

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There is a new Journal of Yoga Studies available for download. Volume 5 includes three new articles on yoga research, including one written by Ida on Bengali yoga manuals.

Enjoy!

Read the JoYS here: https://journalofyogastudies.org

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How Do You Traction the Spine? It's Not By Doing Balancing Stick

4/29/2024

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Greek traction device, 2nd Century AD

From "Saunders Medical Hand-Atlases - Fractures and Disclocations", 1902

Traction the spine! Natural human traction!

We hear these phrases in yoga classes. But what is traction? Do postures really provide traction?! The quick answer: No, yoga postures do not traction the spine. Here is why.

CONTEXT
Traction Therapy is defined as a technique that separates the spinal vertebrae by mechanical force.

Interestingly, there is evidence of the use of traction dating back 4,000 years. Historical records show that even Hippocrates invented an apparatus to traction the spine around the 4th century BCE.

TWENTIETH CENTURY
The early twentieth century was the era when asana flourished and health of the body was of primary importance to the evolving practice of yoga. Not coincidentally, this was also an era when low back pain was commonly being treated using traction devices.

Given this overlap, the language of traction in yoga makes sense as yoga swallowed up a lot of health-based language of the era. (Other examples include the focus on the spine in general, deep breathing, circulation, focusing on the organs and glands, to name a few.)

Furthermore, it makes sense that since traction was popular in the early twentieth century particularly within British medicine, that it would influence modern yoga as it developed in Colonial India.

Today traction is most often used as a method to reset a dislocated joint. Significant external force is applied to put the body back together from an injury. It is less common that traction is used today as a therapy.

It is commonly said that traction occurs in Balancing Stick, but this is not physically possible due to the lack of apparatus.

TRACTION IN YOGA
As we saw from the definition above, traction requires external force. Mechanical force is applied to the body. This force can come from weights or pulleys.

So, can we use traction in a bodyweight movement? The answer is no. We cannot traction in yoga, because there is no external force.

Often it is said that reaching the arms tractions the spine. But this is not the case. The shoulders actually get there stability from the spine and do not move the spine. Any reaching with the arms is called shoulder elevation, essentially engagement of the upper trapezius, rhomboids and levator scapulae.

Even if two people pull on the arms and lifted leg in Balancing Stick, this will still not traction the spine. This is because the joints that would be receiving the force of the pull are the wrists, elbows, shoulders and the ankles, knees and hips. These are not the spine.

SUMMARY
While the language of traction makes sense for the evolution of yoga, actual traction is not possible in a bodyweight movement. (The small caveat to this the use of gravity in very specific circumstances.) Traction requires external force.

However in postures where traction is taught, like Balancing Stick for example, the spine cannot traction because there is nothing pulling on it. Any movement of the body which makes the spine look like it is getting longer, is not actually the vertebrae separating.

There is not a scenario in which "natural human traction" without external force is possible. Even Hippocrates needed a contraption to traction the spine.

Source:
Ralph E. Gay, Jeffrey S. Brault, CHAPTER 15 - Traction Therapy, Editor(s): Simon Dagenais, Scott Haldeman, Evidence-Based Management of Low Back Pain, Mosby, 2012, Pages 205-215, (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/B9780323072939000155)

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The Definition of Yoga

4/25/2024

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Yoga is constantly being defined. Nearly everyone in the yoga world seems willing and eager to tell you what yoga means. This is often paired with judgement about all the things yoga is not. The person defining it usually assumes that they are correct and that anyone who doesn't agree with them is incorrect. So really, what is the definition of yoga?

There is no singular definition of yoga.

Anyone who tells you otherwise is actually suggesting what yoga means to them, not what yoga means.

Yoga is a vast concept, which has moved across time, place, culture and context. As a practice, yoga can be material or transcendent, literal or figurative. It can be religious or secular. It can be a practice to cultivate the body or a practice to destroy it. For the Classical Yogis, yoga is the goal. For the Jains, yoga is a problem. Yoga is exercise for some practitioners today. For others, it is offensive that anyone considers it to be exercise.

Historians on yoga explore how the meaning of yoga has always been in flux. It has always evolved and been defined then redefined. Foxen and Kuberry write
"the fact of the matter is that ‘yoga’ is a very basic and generic type of word” and
“yoga practices (the entire spectrum of them) have continuously changed and evolved in
tandem with the culture around them” (Foxen & Kuberry 2021, p. 5).

Do you think about the definition of yoga? Do you feel strongly that it means a specific thing? We will all certainly have personal opinions on yoga. But we should not mistake our views on what yoga is as the one definition of yoga.

Anyone who defines yoga is not defining yoga. They are defining what yoga means to them.

Source:
Foxen & Kuberry, 2021. Is This Yoga?: Concepts, Histories and Complexities of Modern Practice. Routledge.

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Greed, Desire, Craving

4/23/2024

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In this blog series, we will explore the difficult tendencies of the mind as taught and described by various traditions of meditation.

Buddhism suggests that there is suffering, and suffering arises from desire. This desire is referred to as thirst or craving. If we all have desire, and therefore suffering, where does it come from?

In Buddhism, desire comes from greed.

We can want any number of things. Cravings are endless. There might be sensory desires like foods or drinks, experiential cravings like entertainment or travel, or egoic desires like fame or power. These can be linked to each other-- a meal that makes us feel like a king or queen, for example. In this case, there is sensory craving alongside a sense of power or stature.

The teaching on greed and desire suggests that it does not matter what the object of craving is, it is craving itself which is the root of suffering. We have to eliminate desire to eliminate suffering. We cannot simply eliminate the objects of our desire.

Let's look at some textual passages. In the Buddha's Final Nibbana, it states:

When one gives, merit increases; when one is in control of oneself, hostility is not stored up; The skillful man gives up what is bad; with the destruction of greed, hatred and delusion he is at peace.*

If greed is the problem, instead one should give. This gets at the idea of cultivating the opposite, which is also found in the Yoga Sutras:

When one is plagued by ideas that prevent the moral principles and observances, one can counter them by cultivating the opposite.

Cultivating the opposite is realizing that perverse ideas, such as the idea of violence, result in endless suffering and ignorance--whether the ideas are acted out, instigated, or sanctioned, whether motivated by greed, anger, or delusion, whether mild, moderate, or extreme.**

The idea is to cultivate the opposite of greed or desire. If we do so, we will realize that greed only results in suffering.

What are some ways we can cultivate the opposite of greed and desire?

Sources:
* Mahaparinibbana Sutta, D II 72-168 in Gethin, R. 2008. Sayings of the Buddha. Oxford World's Classics: Oxford, pp. 78
** Yoga Sutras 2.33-34 in Stoler Miller, B. 1995. Yoga Discipline of Freedom. Bantham Books: New York
Gethin, R. 1998. The Foundations of Buddhism. Oxford University Press: Oxford

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Where Does It Come From? — Half Moon Backbend

Where Does It Come From? — Half Moon Sidebend

Where Does It Come From? — Standing Deep Breathing

The Man In Pelvis Cloth Performing Contortion

YDYS Conference 2024

The Information Problem

Read Ida's Article in JoYs vol. 5 - Available Now

How Do You Traction the Spine? It's Not By Doing Balancing Stick

The Definition of Yoga

Greed, Desire, Craving

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