 This year, I'm taking a different approach to my list. It's all fiction. I also read a lot of non-fiction and yoga related scholarship. There is a lot I could recommend! However, for a change, and to highlight the importance of fiction, I'm selecting only from that genre. Therefore, I'm not sure this is a collection of books I recommend you read-- you may have a very different reaction to any of these! But rather this is a list of books I personally enjoyed. As a side note, in general I seek out works in translation. I've found I really enjoy the depth that translation brings. It reminds me that we are always trying to communicate, and essentially, translating what we are trying to say into a version that someone else can understand. I like that works in translation are a literal version of this phenomenon: humans trying to communicate and understand. The first on the list is not a book that has been translated, but deals directly with translation. Translation, in various ways, is a theme of this list.  Babel by R.F. Kuang This book is set in Oxford, England and is about translating languages from around the world, including Sanskrit. There is travel involved, as well as ethics and questions of power. A young team of students works to learn many languages but the purpose for this is not always clear. They are at the whim of those who hold positions of power until they take matters into their own hands. It's a magical and epic tale that illuminates many present day issues. Yogis may be quite interested in how Sanskrit features in this book. It certainly brought to light the act of interpreting history and culture and the power dynamics at play.
Whale Fall by Elizabeth O'Connor & Western Lane by Chetna Maroo I grouped these two together because of how they both speak through the voice of a younger girl. In Western Lane, the girl is a bit younger. In Whale Fall, she's a teenager. I thought both of these books captured the perspective of their protagonist so well. Whale Fall is about a research team that comes to a very remote Welsh island. For me, it captured the uncomfortable and, in this case, problematic nature of research. Research can easily become a process of taking something that is dear to someone else and packaging it up for one's own gain. I thought O'Connor tackled this very carefully and usefully. I loved the nature in this story and the sense of place it provided. I felt like I was on this remote island. Western Lane is about family dynamics and the talents of a young athlete. It too captures the voice and heart of this young girl in a way I thought was quite well done. I wasn't too interested in the subject matter-- I'm not a Squash player and know nothing about the sport. Yet, this story is about loss, developing a vision and personality, wanting comfort and a home. It was a lovely read.  Ædnan by Linnea Axelsson, trans. Saskia Vogel This is a very unique book: it's all in verse. I had a hard time putting this down. It poetically tells the tale of three generations of the Sami people. It is set in the arctic circle. It too captured place so well. The use of verse really made the bleak, northern cold come to the forefront. (For me, that's a good thing.) Perhaps it's because my family comes from Scandinavia, but I really enjoyed this epic.
Soldier Sailor by Claire Kilroy & Hangman by Maya Binyam Pairing these together is perhaps confusing. They are nothing alike! The reason I am putting them together is because I think they are both books where you love them or hate them. I have seen quite a few reviews of Soldier Sailor that were not comfortable with the book at all. Yet, I really enjoyed both. Here are the reasons why. Soldier Sailor is about a young mom who is not doing well with caring for a new baby. She's extremely depressed, tired, lonely and struggling with her life as it is. The book starts with a somewhat disturbing scene. However, the mom corrects her actions and the book continues from there. It's bleak and extremely raw. I really appreciated the honesty in the book. It presents a very distinct point of a view on something that is probably a lot more common than we realize. If you want a good audiobook, I suggest Hangman. I adored the recording of this. I thought it was so funny! The repetition in the writing and generally confusing scenes were great. (My opinion! I could see someone finding this very annoying too....) I honestly had no idea what was happening in this book until the end. I got many good laughs out of it and didn't want it to end. What is it about? It's about a man traveling back to his home country in Africa. It's his homeland, yet he doesn't recognize it and generally doesn't know what to do with the pigeons, buses and ugly clothing he encounters on his journey.  The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood This is a book I felt I needed to have read. In order for that to happen I just had to do it. This was the year. Wow-- the writing. I am particularly taken by books that are really dark in subject matter but don't necessarily read that way. I found this to be that way. The subject matter is very intense, but the humanity was never lost. The characters were people being people regardless of the structures around them. I read this with my mom and she commented on how when people build up rules and structures around them, they still find ways to act out. They find ways to express their freedom, desires and curiosities. No matter what we try to do, we are humans. Lastly, the end shocked me. (I actually missed it because I didn't realize what was happening.... I had to go back and read the end.) I had no idea about the structure of this book but it illuminated just how masterful Margaret Atwood is.
Kindred by Octavia Butler & God's Bits of Wood by Sembene Ousmane, trans. Francis Price Kindred was another one, like The Handmaid's Tale, that I wanted to have read. I wanted to make sure I knew for myself what the book contained as it has become a book that some think is dangerous or should be feared. I think we should fear the destruction we as humans are capable of, but we should certainly not fear this book. Butler's writing is somewhat simple. It doesn't flow in ornate constructions, but rather, clear and to the point sentences. I really enjoyed reading it, despite it being about slavery and the horrific violence people endure. The science fiction of it worked for me. I thought it was powerful and well worth reading. God's Bits of Wood is set in Mali & Senegal. It fictionalizes a railroad strike in colonial Senegal. It engages with French colonialism and the women who ended up marching in protest of the treatment of the workers. It too captures humanity and is a fictionalized take on a historical moment. Yet, the themes of this book such as the effects of colonialism and worker's rights are important subjects today. I heard again recently from someone who dislikes fiction. I do understand this to a certain degree. But over and over again, I find fiction can express depths of humanity in ways we don't always sit with when content is "fact". Fiction is strange, complex, illuminating. Sometimes it's sweet and easy, other times extremely unsettling. Often a mixture of all of the above.
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  A Tough Mind and a Tender Heart by Martin Luther King Jr I must begin with this short book because I read it early in January and it set the tone for the entire year. Martin Luther King Jr is quite famous, but I had never read any of his actual writing. Then last year I heard a King expert speak about how misunderstood King is, buried under cultural symbolism and over-simplified platitudes. King, said the expert, was actually quite complex and detailed in his thinking, and was more controversial than is known. So I resolved myself to read some of his work. This volume contains six short essays and speaks to his intelligence and thoughtfulness, his philosophical rigor as well as his religious foundation. The title indicates a difficult balance that King says we should strive toward: a tough mind and a tender heart. King argues forcefully for the path of nonviolent resistance, saying that it can be effective where outright violence is not. He explains that nonviolent resistance "combines tough-mindedness and tenderheartedness and avoids the complacency and do-nothingness of the soft minded and the violence and bitterness of the hardhearted." Within his argument is deep belief in the underlying good of humanity. In the essay "The Sword That Heals," he suggests that people know injustice when they see it. "Punish me," he says. "I do not deserve it. But because I do not deserve it, I will accept it so that the world will know that I am right and you are wrong." Overall, King's writing is thoughtful and deep. Far more complex than our general impressions of his fame.  How the World Thinks by Julian Baggini I love a broad-scope look at philosophy and how our minds process the world. This book takes "big perspective" to a new level, breaking out of any single philosophical system to examine and compare a few different views from around the planet. While this approach seems simple enough, it reveals a profound limitation of most philosophical inquiry — that it is based in one specific tradition. In the West, most philosophers and other types of thinkers in the past 2000 years have worked in the tradition of the Greeks, Plato and Aristotle. And while there is diversity in the way people think, Westerners generally share a common worldview that looks through the lenses of reason, Christianity, capitalism and individual autonomy. Baggini's book considers the Western worldview but also two other significant perspectives: those of India and China. Each of these areas of the world has an ancient and highly developed way of seeing the world and how humans function within it. There are central themes here, like how each culture thinks about time, ourselves, and even the nature of knowledge itself. While it is not an attempt at perfect understanding of all of these philosophical systems — indeed, such an endeavor would be impossible — the simplicity and directness of the comparisons are stark and illuminating.  Natural by Alan Levinovitz Like most people, I value "natural" things. (And yes, that "natural" needs quotation marks.) I prefer all-natural foods to something that isn't labeled as such, wondering if it is processed or chemical or, God forbid, unnatural. Levinovitz's book takes subconscious preferences like these and questions them. Why do we prefer natural things? Furthermore, what do we mean by "natural"? As he delves into the meanings we place on the word "natural," it becomes apparent that it is a fuzzy idea, and one that is rooted in faith. We believe that the world around us will not hurt us, but if we intervene and add our own unnatural elements, the results will be harmful. My favorite chapter is about natural medicine and healing. These concepts have changed profoundly from their earliest usage thousands of years ago. Medicine was originally part of a natural cure, set apart from more superstitious cures like rituals, exorcisms and prayer. Medicine was a move toward the physical body and away from the spiritual realm. In this way, medicines dealt directly with nature. This has changed in the past few centuries, as many in the West have become disillusioned by the systems of medical health. It can feel like diagnoses of illness and the prescription of medicines separates us into discrete parts. The symptoms and illness get treated but the whole person gets ignored. So now "natural" medicine tries to treat the whole person, and often places itself in opposition to the medical approach to treating disease. Somehow, medicine is now unnatural. This book is insightful and readable. Levinovitz takes a topic that easily flies under the radar of our awareness — often we prefer natural things without knowing why. As he discusses the different aspects of nature and natural ideals, the concepts slip through our fingers.  The Power by Naomi Alderman This is a story about a supernatural power that develops in women — the ability to generate electricity and project it through their bodies and hands. With this power they can protect themselves and also control, harm or kill others. Some embrace the power and utilize it to gain equality and status in society; some reject it and try to live in more traditional ways; some use it for terror. The responses of the women, and the responses of the society around them are central to this story. This book is wonderfully written and readable. The story centers on a few characters and follows them through their plights. Each uses their power differently, in ways that are entirely plausible and human. Some use it to protect those they love while others use it for revenge. Perhaps the most surprising element of this book was how real it felt despite the women with magical hands. Every decision that is made is credible, which at times is all the more terrifying.  On Gaslighting by Kate Abramson I stumbled across this book at a shop in London, and I had the thought that must have motivated the writing of the book in the first place: What exactly is gaslighting? We've all heard the term, and it has become more prominent in the last few years, it seems. Often it gets used as a harsher way of saying "you are wrong" or "that is misleading." But "you are gaslighting me" is a way of announcing a more sinister intention to the misleader. My curiosity about gaslighting must be combined with the fact that this type of book is one of my favorites. The philosophical essay which is often simply titled "On _____". (Last year On Bullshit was one of my favorites.) These essays are usually quite sophisticated in their reasoning while also being conversational and relatively easy to read. According to Abramson, gaslighting goes beyond mere lying or misleading or arguing. It is set apart because it is a long term project to destabilize a person's ability to think for themselves. Over time, the target begins to question their own sanity and eventually becomes unmoored from reality. It goes far beyond persistent disagreement, denial or lying. Those things certainly exist, and a long-term liar can make us question the nature of reality. But gaslighting is intentionally designed to make a person lose their own ability to think, and eventually they feel that their own reasoning is faulty. This book is as interesting for its clarity about topics that are not gaslighting. It brings specificity to the ideas of deceit and disagreement as it defines gaslighting. In this way, it is similar to On Bullshit, which brings clarity to ideas of truth and lie while it defines bullshit.  The Amaraugha and Amaraughaprabodha of Goraksanatha translated by Jason Birch This is one of two truly scholarly books on my list this year. (The other is by Norelius, below.) But the importance of this book to our understanding of yoga history, especially hathayoga, is immense. This book is an output of the Hatha Yoga Project that, over the past decade, has revolutionized the way we think about hathayoga. The Amaraugha is probably the first text that explains a system of hathayoga, as well as the first text to describe a system of four yogas, and the earliest to describe a relationship between hatha and raja yogas. All of these were adopted by later texts including the hugely influential Hathapradipika in the 15th century. So the Amaraugha is vital to our understanding of where hathayoga comes from, what its meaning was in the earliest days, and how it evolved over the centuries. This book includes a critical edition of the text, an English translation, and an introduction that discusses the most important elements. Any serious practitioner who is interested in the history of yoga and can tolerate the formalities of scholarly writing will benefit from reading this book. Birch is the sharp end of the spear in hathayoga study. All the rest of us are using his work as a primary reference point.  Kerouac by Ann Charters Over the summer, a friend and I were discussing the prevalence of Buddhism in Western thought, and the possibility that it began in the 1950s with the so-called Beats like Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs. Though I have read several of Kerouac's books and knew a little bit about his Buddhist influence, I was unclear about what Kerouac's other influences were. How influenced was he by Buddhism, actually? How much Buddhism was present in the thinking of the other Beats? So I decided to read a biography of Kerouac, in the hope that I could better understand the cultural movement of the time. The first thing that struck me while reading Ann Charters's biography was how brilliantly it is written. There is urgency and creativity to the language, not just a ho-hum play by play of his life. It is exhaustively researched, and told in a story as compelling as one of Kerouac's novels. In addition to every beat, trip, relationship and book of Kerouac's life, it includes his interactions with other key cultural figures like Allen Ginsberg and William S Burroughs. My initial inquiry was quickly overshadowed by the depth and intensity of Kerouac's quest for life and literature. Disenchanted by a materialistic society, seeking inward, authentic spiritual insight, he could never sit still for long. The influence of Buddhism on him was smaller than I initially thought. He seems to have studied it and discussed it and written about it intensely for a brief period. Overall, he strived after a new form of writing that was immediate and free.  Soul and Self in Vedic India by Per Johan Norelius This is a beast of a book in the best way possible. A 600 page scholarly investigation of various notions of the self in the Veda. These include full chapters on atman, manas, purusha, prana and asu. Norelius traces the meaning and usage of these concepts through the entire Vedic corpus, as well as investigating smaller bits of their usage in other traditions. The difficulty of a book like this is the same as the difficulty of any vast set of teachings like the Veda. There are no clear answers, no straightforward narratives. So many concepts change in meaning in a non-linear fashion, or have different significance to different groups. The best we can do is to try to understand the meanings and hold them side by side, without collapsing them into a perfectly sensible story. I always finish reading volumes like this with an awe-filled sense of the complexity of history and knowledge.  Orbital by Samantha Harvey
This is one of the more recent books I read this year. It just won the Booker Prize in November. The day after I heard about it, I saw it in a bookstore and picked it up. It is one of the most profound, poetic and beautiful pieces of writing I've ever read. The story is built around a small group of astronauts who are orbiting the earth aboard the International Space Station. Their removal from the rhythms and patterns of earth is destabilizing, and everything from their blood to their sleep, their sense of time and the meaning of humanity is untethered. Though the book is short and easy to read, it combines evocative, poetically written prose with genuine insights into the meaning of our lives and our relationship to this planet.
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.
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.  "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".
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   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)  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  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) |
AUTHORS
Scott & 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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