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.
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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.
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. 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.)
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.
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. 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. 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". 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). 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. 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 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/. 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! 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:
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. 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 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. 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) 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. 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 |
AUTHORSScott & Ida are Yoga Acharyas (Masters of Yoga). They are scholars as well as practitioners of yogic postures, breath control and meditation. They are the head teachers of Ghosh Yoga.
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