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    • What is Ghosh Yoga?
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Modern Bow Posture

6/19/2020

3 Comments

 
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Bow Posture, Dhanurasana, in Yoga Mimamsa 1925
Read about the premodern version of Bow Posture, dhanurasana​, here.

For the past 100 years or so, Bow Posture is done lying on the belly, holding the feet or ankles, and bending the body backward, as pictured above in 1925. Prior to that, the posture seems to have been done sitting and pulling the feet toward the ears. The question remains: Where and when did the posture transition into its modern iteration?
Postures done lying on the belly and grabbing the ankles from behind have existed for at least a couple hundred years. The 18th century Gheranda Samhita has a position called Ushtrasana, Camel Posture, that we wrote about here. 

In South India, the Sritattvanidhi contains a posture called Nyubjasana. It is instructed: "Lie face down. Cross the heels and take hold of the toes with the hands and roll. This is nyubjasana, the face-down asana" (Sjoman 1999: 84). This text is likely from the 19th century and seems to have been influential at the Mysore palace where Krishnamacharya innovated many elements of modern postural yoga. Interestingly, the instruction is to "roll" the body back and forth rather than hold in stillness.
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Camel Posture as instructed in the Gheranda Samhita
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Nyubjasana as instructed in the Sritattvanidhi
These premodern prone backbends are not called Bow Posture. By 1925 when Yoga Mimamsa publishes instruction, the modern die for dhanurasana​ seems to be set.
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Yoga Mimamsa 1925
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Popular Yoga Asanas 1931
The earliest modern representation of Bow Posture known to us is from 1925 in Yoga Mimamsa. It is pictured at the top of this article and to the left.  "It will readily be seen that this posture is a combination of the two exercises Bhujangasana [Cobra Posture] and Salabhasana [Locust Posture]". This posture is said to accomplish the benefits of those others but to a lesser degree. 

In its early days, Yoga Mimamsa was a proponent of more traditional yogic practices and unsupportive of the increasingly exercise-focused iterations of yoga that were developing. This leads us to believe that Bow Posture was accepted as part of the yogic canon, even though we discussed its older history last time. Contrarily, the insistence that Bow Posture is not a useful as bhujangasana or shalabhasana may suggest that it was not as established as these other, older postures.
Kuvalayananda's book Popular Yoga Asanas from 1931 also includes Bow Posture, which is no surprise since it is drawn largely from issues of Yoga Mimamsa. 

​Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda in 1934 is curiously devoid of the posture. It makes one wonder about the influence of the 
Sritattvanidhi above.
From 1930 onward Bow Posture seems quite set in the canon of yogis everywhere. Shivananda's 1931 Yoga Asanas​ contains it. In many ways this work draws from Kuvalayananda and Yoga Mimamsa, though some new research shows that Shivananda was also influenced by Jain asana practices.

Buddha Bose's Yoga Asanas in 1938 contains the posture. This is not surprising because of Bose's clear influence by Shivananda and Kuvalayananda. Bose's Bow Posture is pictured to the right. Interestingly, Bose also includes Ushtrasana, the Camel Posture, as a prone backbend similar to the Gheranda Samhita​. 
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Buddha Bose 1938
Nearly every modern text that we examined contains the posture, from North India's Shivananda lineage, East India's Ghosh lineage, South India's Krishnamacharya lineages, to Europe.
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Selvarajan Yesudian ~1950
One of the most interesting variants actually comes from a European publication in the 1940-50s by Selvarajan Yesudian and Elisabeth Haich. Yesudian was raised in India and moved to Hungary in the 1930s, taking yoga instruction with him. 

Their text encourages rocking in the posture, recalling the Sritattvanidhi's instruction to "roll" the body back and forth: "The effect of the exercise can be heightened if we rock gently to and fro during the posture." (Yesudian 1953: 133)
All the students of Bishnu Charan Ghosh include Bow Posture in their instructions. This includes Buddha Bose (above), Labanya Palit in 1955, Ghosh himself in 1961 (demonstrated by his daughter Karuna), Dr Gouri Mukerji in 1963, Monotosh Roy in the 60-70s, and Bikram Choudhury in the late 60s.
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Labanya Palit, 1955
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Karuna Ghosh, 1961
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Dr. Gouri Shankar Mukerji, 1963
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Monotosh Roy
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Bikram Choudhury, ~1968
A couple further interesting instructions: A student of Shivananda wrote an encyclopedic book in the late 60s called Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha. Its instruction of Bow Posture is quite specific about which muscles to use: "In the final position the head is tilted back and the abdomen supports the entire body of the floor. The only muscular contraction is in the legs; the back and arms remain relaxed." (APMB: 209)
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Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha
Iyengar, in his hugely influential ​Light On Yoga, is specific about where to carry the body's weight and also to keep the knees slightly apart: ​"Do not rest either the ribs or the pelvic bones on the floor. Only the abdomen bears the weight of the body on the floor. While raising the legs do not join them at the knees, for then the legs will not be lifted high enough." (Iyengar 1966: 101-2)
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Iyengar 1966
Iyengar's instruction to keep the knees apart is in direct opposition to that in Yoga Mimamsa in 1925, which says, "As the muscles become more and more elastic, the knees should be drawn closer, till at last they are made to stand together, carrying the intra-abdominal pressure to its highest limit." You can see the knees together in the picture above from Yoga Mimamsa.
The instruction and performance of Bow Posture has been mostly consistent from about the 1920s. It is still unclear when it transitioned from the premodern, seated version into the prone backbend. Its hyper-modern shift to greater depth that resembles contortion more than dhanurasana is also interesting, but a topic for another time.
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Premodern Bow Posture

6/15/2020

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Bow Posture, dhanurasana, is one of the few postures of premodern Hathayoga that is not a seated, cross-legged, meditative position. Its first known instruction is from the 15th century in the Hathapradipika, and it is also included in the 17th century Hatharatnavali and the 18th century Gheranda Samhita. Interestingly, these premodern versions of Bow Posture may be different from the modern understanding.

The modern version of Bow Posture, which has been prominent for the past 100 years or so, is done lying on the belly, holding the feet or ankles, and bending the body backward.  Prior to that, the posture seems to have been done sitting and pulling the feet toward the ears. ​

Bow Posture's earliest known instruction is in the 15th century Hathapradipika: "Bring the toes as far as the ears with both hands as if drawing a bow. This is Dhanurasana" (HP 1.25). (1)

The Hatharatnavali from the 17th century repeats the Sanskrit instructions word for word. Here is a different English translation: "The big toes are held with the hands and are pulled up to the ears (alternately). Thus, one assumes the shape of a stretched bow. This is dhanurasana" (HR 3.51). (2)
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Bow Posture crossing the body.
This posture is done sitting and pulling one foot to the ear as the other leg stays straight, making the body look like a drawn bow. There are two ways that the instruction has been interpreted, depending on whether the hand grabs the foot on the same side of the body or opposite. So this posture has been interpreted as pictured at the top, with the hand pulling the same side foot toward the ear; or with the leg crossing the body as pictured directly above. The instruction is not specific, making it likely that crossing the body is not intended.

Nowadays, these positions are still taught sometimes. They are often called akarna dhanurasana, which means Bow to the Ear Posture; or akarshana dhanurasana, which means Bow Pulling Posture.
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​Some modern translations of the Hathapradipika interpret these instructions --- to pull the toes to the ears --- in light of the more modern Bow Posture done on the belly. They offer a posture that involves a deep backward bend, touching the toes to the ears from behind, what might be called Full Bow Posture today, pictured to the left.
Bow Posture is also in another well-known premodern text, the Gheranda Samhita, from the 18th century. The instruction has changed a little from the Hathapradipika and Hatharatnavali: "Stretch the legs out on the ground like a stick, extend the arms, hold both feet from behind with the hands, and make the body curved like a bow. That is called Dhanurasana" (GS 2.18). (3) 

The interesting new instruction here is that the feet are held "from behind". Some interpret this as bending the legs backward and holding the feet, as one does in the modern backbend. But it is entirely possible that this is the same posture as instructed earlier, and the cue to hold the feet from behind is not particularly ground-breaking.

The first words in this instruction, to "stretch the legs out on the ground like a stick", are identical to the instructions for Stretching Posture, paschimottanasana. This is perhaps a clue that the Bow Posture in the Gheranda Samhita is intended to be done sitting down with the legs stretched forward.
Furthermore, there are three postures in the Gheranda Samhita which are done on the belly with clear instruction: Locust Posture (2.39), Crocodile Posture (2.40), and Camel Posture (2.41) pictured to the right. They include directions to "lie prone" or "lie down with the chest placed on the ground", clearly meaning to lie on the belly.  This type of instruction is entirely absent from Bow Posture, again suggesting that it was intended to be a seated position.
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Camel Posture as instructed in the Gheranda Samhita
It seems most likely that the premodern Bow Posture was intended to be seated, pulling the toes toward the ears. The questions arise: When and why did it shift to the modern understanding of a prone backbend? As we will explore next, it seems to be established as the 'modern' Bow Posture by the 1920s. 


(1) Akers, Brian Dana, trans., 2002 Hatha Yoga Pradipika NY: YogaVidya.com
(2) Gharote, M.L., Devnath and Jha, editors, 2014 Hatharatnavali Lonavla Yoga Institute: Pune [2002]
(3) Mallinson, James, trans., 2004 Gheranda Samhita NY: YogaVidya.com
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In Memory of Dr Dibya Sundar Das

5/14/2020

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While those based in the West may not immediately know his name, Dr Dibyasundar Das is a significant figure in the yoga lineage of Bishnu Charan Ghosh. He died Wednesday morning at the age of 68.

His family looms large in the yoga of Kolkata, including his sister, Kushala, and his brother, Premsundar. (Dr Premsundar Das is best known in the West.)

Dr Das devoted his life and work to serving and bringing relief to many through therapeutic yoga and homeopathic medicine. He was trained by none other than Bishnu Charan Ghosh, as well as Dr. Gouri Shankar Mukerji and Sananda Lal Ghosh. 

In 1986 he founded the World Yoga Society to greater serve individuals as well as train others through courses in Yoga Therapy. Its youtube channel is extensive.

Today his photos line the walls at Ghosh’s College displaying how important he is to this tradition of yoga. Further testament to his skill and achievements live on in the many lives of those who he helped. 

Our best wishes go out to his family and loved ones. 
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Searching For Triangle Posture

4/24/2020

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Triangle Posture - Trikonasana - is a relatively new addition to the physical practices of yoga. Along with most other standing postures, Triangle is absent from the texts of Hathayoga. It makes an appearance in the 1920-30s as yoga in India is becoming more exercise oriented. This makes it strange to speak of something like a 'traditional' Triangle Posture, since its use in yoga has yet to hit the hundred-year mark.

Below we have traced the transmission and progression of Triangle Posture through the last century, especially in Kolkata and the Ghosh Lineage. Among the students of Ghosh, it was consistently practiced for decades since its earliest iteration in 1938 with Buddha Bose. In the 1960s the posture disappears before being reborn as a deep sideways lunge. This is seen in Bikram Choudhury and Jibananda Ghosh but nowhere in Kolkata itself. It seems that this is an influence from bodybuilding, though it is unclear exactly when, where and why the change occurred. 
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The Triangle Posture is absent from Swami Kuvalayananda's Yoga Mimamsa ​in the 1920s, perhaps the most significant publication of early modern yoga. This makes some sense, since Kuvalayananda's magazine was largely interested in the scientific study of yogic breathing practices and less so in the newly emerging yogic 'exercise'. Triangle Posture is also absent from Yogendra's 1928 Yoga Asanas Simplified and Kuvalayananda's 1931 Popular Yoga Asanas​.

The earliest version of the posture that we have found is in Swami Sivananda's 1931 Yoga Asanas. It is instructed with the legs straight and the arms going straight up and down, even though the accompanying picture (shown to the right) has an arm reaching near the ear. The pictures in this edition were clearly added later, and some variation was introduced. This is further evident in Vishnudevananda (below), who shows the posture with the arm by the ear.

The posture is also in Krishnamacharya's Yoga Makaranda from 1934, pictured right. It is instructed almost identically to Sivananda: Feet apart, arms straight, one hand on the foot.
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From Sivananda, Triangle, 1931
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Krishnamacharya, Triangle Posture, 1934
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Buddha Bose, Triangle, 1938
The earliest instance of Triangle Posture in Kolkata sees a slight variation introduced---that of a bent knee. In 1938, Buddha Bose instructs Triangle Posture in his Yoga Asanas, pictured to the left.

Notably different from Krishnamacharya, Bose's knee is a little bent, though the intention for the posture seems similar. The torso comes down parallel to the ground. This method became the way of practice in the Ghosh lineage for several decades, as Palit and Mukerji demonstrate the posture similarly.
A contemporary of Ghosh in Kolkata was Nilmoni Das, the 'Ironman'. He was well-known as a bodybuilder, strongman and teacher of yoga-exercise. 

In the 1950-60s, he published a handful of charts and books describing yoga postures as they were practiced in Kolkata. The similarities to Ghosh's method are quite striking, especially when compared to South Indian styles like Krishnamacharya's and his students'. 

Das's version of Triangle Posture, pictured to the right from 1952's Illustrated Yoga-Exercise, differs slightly from Ghosh's in that the legs are both straight. In this way it more closely resembles Krishnamacharya's, above.
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Nilmoni Das, Triangle, 1950s
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Labanya Palit, Triangle, 1955
In 1955, Labanya Palit instructs the posture identically to Bose in her book The Path of the Body. Palit was a prominent student of Ghosh in Kolkata, who was unknown in the West until recently. 

Like Bose, one knee is slightly bent and the body is parallel to the ground, with the one hand on the foot.
1960 brings the voluminous Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Vishnudevananda. As a student of Sivananda, his instruction is similar to his teacher's. Though the placing of the top arm near the ear is notable. This has become the method of Triangle Posture in Sivananda's lineage, apparently adapted sometime after his 1931 publication.
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Gouri Shankar Mukerji, Triangle, 1963
In 1961, Bishnu Ghosh himself publishes ​Yoga Cure, a small manual of 32 yoga postures. Triangle is not among them. Perhaps it was not accepted as a core practice, perhaps it was thought of as too difficult, or perhaps there is another reason. It does seem that Triangle Posture stops being taught by Ghosh around this time.

In 1963, Ghosh's student Gouri Shankar Mukerji demonstrates the posture as we've come to expect in the lineage. He is pictured to the left. One knee slightly bent, torso coming parallel to the floor, one hand touching the foot.



At this point, the posture seems to disappear from instruction at Ghosh's College. It is not in photos from the 70s, it is not included in Dr PS Das's 2004 book, and it is not taught there today.

1969's Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha is another encyclopedic text from one of Sivananda's students. It goes some way toward reconciling the different methods by including two variations. One is with the arms straight up and down, and the second has an arm reaching by the ear. In these we see both Sivananda's earliest instruction, which coincides with Krishnamacharya, and Vishnudevananda's version of the posture.
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Triangle 1, 1969
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Triangle 2, 1969
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Bikram Choudhury, Triangle, 1978
As mentioned above, it seems as if the original version of Triangle Posture as taught by Bose, Palit and Mukerji stopped being taught in Kolkata at some point in the 60s or early 70s. This made room for the innovation of an entirely new type of Triangle Posture, modeled after bodybuilding.

In 1978, Bikram Choudhury, a student of Ghosh who came to the West, instructs a wholly new Triangle. The bent knee is much deeper and the torso is no longer parallel to the ground. The position is more like a lunge than any iterations we have seen thus far, different in its purpose and execution.
It seems that this variation of the posture may be influenced by a pose from bodybuilding. Before becoming a proponent of yoga, Choudhury was a weight lifter and bodybuilder.

The sideways lunge is a popular pose for bodybuilders, as it shows off the muscles of the legs and upper body. See the picture to the right and also notice the background. The logo for the competition is actually this lunging posture.
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Bodybuilding, deep sideways lunge
It would appear that the evolution of Triangle Posture into a deep sideways lunge shows influence from bodybuilding. It is unclear if this is an innovation of Choudhury himself, or if it occurred more generally around the time when he was learning. Evidence of bodybuilding's influence on Choudhury's instruction is visible in other places as well, including the instruction to 'lock the knee'.
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Jibananda Ghosh, Triangle
Since the 1970s, other teachers in the Ghosh lineage have demonstrated the Triangle Posture as a sideways lunge.  To the left is Jibananda Ghosh, husband of Karuna Ghosh. Jibananda and Karuna established a yoga school in Tokyo in 1970 and have been teaching there since. You can see that Jibananda's version of Triangle Posture is the deep lunge. It seems that this shows Choudhury's influence, though it is unclear.

Notably, Triangle Posture is entirely absent from Dr PS Das's 2004 Yoga Panacea​. To the best of our knowledge, the deep sideways lunge as taught by Choudhury and J Ghosh has never been practiced or instructed in Kolkata at Ghosh's College. The older method, as displayed by Bose, Palit and Mukerji seems to have been left behind altogether.
Triangle Posture itself is a relatively new addition to 'yoga' practice, probably being adopted in the 1920-30s along with other standing, exercise-based positions and movements. After its adoption as a yogic asana, it was relatively stable in its practice for decades. In the Ghosh lineage, it was done with one knee slightly bent, the torso parallel to the ground, and one hand touching the foot. In the 1970s, the posture underwent a significant change, perhaps being reinvented entirely, turning into a deep sideways lunge that resembles a bodybuilder's pose. This version is taught by Choudhury and his students.

For another posture that underwent significant development and change in the 1960-70s, see the Standing Bow Posture.

(Thanks to Jerome Armstrong for the insight about bodybuilders.)
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Mula Bandha: The History of the Root Lock

4/3/2020

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Mula bandha is a somewhat common technique in modern yoga. It is generally accepted that this technique, which means 'root lock', is a contraction of the muscles of the pelvic floor. Some interpret this to be the perineum, the anus, or a combination of the muscles in the pelvis. The anatomical specifics of how and when to do mula bandha are not the goal of this article. Today we are looking at where the practice comes from, and perhaps why it was developed.

The instruction of mula bandha dates back to the early days of Hathayoga, around the 12-13th centuries CE. At this time, Hathayoga was gradually forming out of the tantric beliefs  of Buddhism and Shaivism. Alchemy, the attempt to forge new substances, was widely accepted, and the spiritual seekers began practicing an 'inner alchemy' where the magic happens inside the body of the yogi.

According to this alchemical belief, the inner elements of a person could be forged to  create immortality, divinity or great power. As Shaivism (the worship of Shiva) became more prominent in Hathayogic teaching, the concept was related specifically to the awakening of kundalini​, a latent power of pure consciousness. The way that kundalini is awakened is by manipulating the 'winds' of the body, some of which naturally go up while others go down. 

In Hathayoga, mula bandha is
specifically intended to take the downward-moving 'wind', called apana, and push it upward. Once the apana wind is turned upward, it is fanned with the abdomen to heat it. Then it combines with the upward wind, called prana. The combination creates an inferno that awakens and raises kundalini. Below is an excerpt from the Hathapradipika, perhaps the best known text on Hathayoga:
One makes the apana, which goes downward, go upward by contracting forcefully. Yogis call that Mulabandha. (HP 3.62)
Then the gastric fire and the apana join the prana, which is naturally hot, and the body’s fire is stoked. (HP 3.67)
Due to this heat the sleeping kundalini is awakened, hissing and straightening like a snake struck by a stick. (HP 3.68)
As you can see, mula bandha is specifically intended to turn apana upward, where a whole series of events follows. This description of mula bandha is present in almost all the texts of Hathayoga. Here is one other, from the Goraksasataka, translated by James Mallinson. I include it because it is pretty elaborate and well-explained:
[The yogi] forces the downward-moving apāna breath to move upwards by means of contraction. Yogis call this mūla bandha, ‘the root lock.’ When apāna has turned upwards and reached the orb of fire, then the flame, fanned by the wind, rises high. As a result, fire and apāna reach prāṇa, which is hot by nature. The overheated prāṇa creates a blaze in the body, which heats the sleeping Kuṇḍalini and wakes her up. Like a snake struck by a stick, she hisses and straightens herself. As if entering a snake-hole, she enters the Brahmā nāḍī. (Gorakṣaśataka in Yoga In Practice 2012: 269)
This explanation continues to the modern day, though it is rarely incorporated in common yoga posture classes that remove esoteric or spiritual overtones. For obvious reasons, a simple muscular contraction is far easier to teach and understand than a detailed metaphysical system of bodily winds and latent spiritual energy. Nonetheless, Swami Sivananda and his students like Vishnudevananda explain mula bandha similar to the older Hathayogic way.

Iyengar, in Light On Yoga, foregoes the apana-kundalini approach and explains mula bandha a little differently. He initially explains the bandhas as closing off "safety valves", which is reminiscent of the old way. But he goes on to interpret the term mula bandha as follows: mula means 'source', and bandha is 'restraint'. So mula bandha is the restraint of the mind, intellect and ego. This recalls Patanjali's famous definition of yoga at the beginning of the Yoga Sutras. Here is what Iyengar writes in Light On Yoga:
The bandhas are like safety valves which should be kept shut during the practice of breath retention. (p.435)

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While practising Mula Bandha, the yogi attempts to reach the true source or mula of all creation. His goal is the complete restraint or bandha of the chitta which includes the mind (manas), the intellect (buddhi) and the ego (ahamkara). (p. 438)
We don't think it's a stretch to say that this is a reinterpretation of the meaning of mula bandha​. Separately, in modern practice and teaching mula bandha is sometimes taught as a physically stabilizing technique, again quite different from its original iteration.

What does it all mean? 

Like so many things in yoga, the purpose of the practices can change so that they become unrecognizable. Does that make them less effective, useful or valuable? Perhaps. We think it is worth asking ourselves why we do what we do. What are the underlying reasons?

Personally speaking, we do not hold the belief that our bodies are populated by 'winds', as was apparently the belief for some time during the development of Hathayoga. We attribute our 'digestive fire' not to actual fire but to hydrochloric acid in the stomach. And we attribute urination and excretion not to downward-moving apana wind but to peristaltic movement of the intestines and contraction of the sphincters. Do these beliefs make something like mula bandha anachronistic? We think that they do.
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The Many Names of Tree Posture

3/23/2020

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Ardha Chandrasana, Half Moon Posture, 1896
Standing postures are rare in Hatha yoga. Most asanas are seated, lying down or upside down. (Of course, by Hatha yoga I am referring to pre-modern practices and texts. This was before practices of health and exercise made their way into yoga in the 19-20th centuries.) One of the few exceptions is Vrikshasana, the Tree Posture, which appeared relatively late, probably the 18th century in the Gheranda Samhita. Earlier texts including the Hathapradipika don't contain any standing postures.
​Let's start with the earliest known version of this posture in a yoga text, in the 18th century Gheranda Samhita. Here the posture is named Vrikshasana, the Tree Posture, for obvious reasons. One stands tall like a tree. It is very different from all the other postures of Hatha yoga at the time. It is possible that the posture is related to practices of asceticism and penance, where the practitioner stands on one leg for a period of years, forsaking the body and building good merit.

Very little detail is given about how or why to do it. Its instruction is in chapter 2, verse 36: "Place the right foot at the top of the left thigh and stand on the ground like a tree. This is called Vrikshasana."
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Ardha Chandrasana, Half Moon Posture, 1896
In 1896, the same posture is in the Sritattvanidhi, a text from South India that probably had a significant influence on Krishnamacharya. Here, pictured to the left, it is called Ardha Chandrasana, or Half Moon Posture. This name is sometimes used to refer to the god Shiva, though it is unclear if that meaning is intended here.

Three of the most formative early modern yoga asana texts do not include this standing posture: Yogendra's 1928 Yoga Asanas Simplified; Swami Kuvalayananda's 1931 Popular Yoga Asanas; Swami Sivananda's 1931 Yoga Asanas. It is also absent from Swami Vishnudevananda's substantial 1960 The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga, leading one to wonder if this posture was entirely absent from Sivananda's teaching (as Vishnu. was a student of Siv.).
Krishnamacharya's 1934 Yoga Makaranda does not include this simple standing posture. It does have a position called Ardhabaddha Padmottanasana, Bound Half Lotus Stretching, which begins similarly but is merely a preparation for a forward bending position, pictured to the right. We will see this transfer into Krish.'s students Iyengar and Jois, who both have the forward bending posture but not the simple standing one.
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Krishnamacharya, 1934
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Buddha Bose, Ardha Padasana, Half Leg Posture, 1938
In 1938, Buddha Bose instructs this posture, pictured to the left. He calls the posture Ardha Padasana, Half Leg Posture. The name of the position clearly comes from the bent position of the leg, which makes it look half as long.

​It is possible that the use of Ardha in the name is influenced by the Sritattvanidhi above, though it is questionable whether the text was known in Kolkata at the time.
​Also, Bose uses the name Ardha Chandrasana for a different position: a backward bend done standing.

In many other aspects Bose shows influence from the Gheranda Samhita and Swami Sivananda. Given the absence of the posture from both Sivananda's and Krishnamacharya's lineages, it seems most likely that Bose learned the posture from the Gheranda Samhita or a lineage extending from it. It is unclear then why the name is not Vrikshasana​.
In 1963, Dr Gouri Shankar Mukerji instructs the posture and calls it Tadasana, Mountain Posture, pictured to the right. Because he comes from the same lineage as Bose, it is unclear why he has a different name for this position. His teacher's instruction book from around this time (​Yoga Cure by Bishnu Ghosh) does not include the posture at all.

It is difficult to ignore Iyengar's 1966 Light On Yoga, which was profoundly influential on all that followed it. Notably, Iyengar does not instruct this posture. There is a Vrikshasana that is similar, done balancing with the foot on the inner thigh. The closest he comes to our 'traditional' posture is a preparation for a forward bend, pictured below. In this way, he follows his teacher Krishnamacharya, as discussed above. The full posture (not pictured) is called Ardha Baddha Padmottanasana, Bound Half Lotus Stretching Posture. This same stretching posture is found in K. Pattabhi Jois's 1962 Yoga Mala.
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Dr. Gouri Shankar Mukerji, Tadasana, Mountain Posture, 1963
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BKS Iyengar, 1966
This posture, then, has an odd and varied history. It is one of the earliest standing postures to make its way into Hatha yoga, but it is clearly not universally practiced or accepted. 
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It seems that the Krishnamacharya and Sivananda lineages are not strong proponents of the posture. Only the Ghosh lineage includes it in nearly every iteration, including the most recent: Bikram Choudhury.

Why the posture keeps changing names is unclear.
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Make the Men Strong & the Women Beautiful

3/9/2020

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Over the last few months I’ve been compiling materials to research the forgotten women of yoga. Through work in Kolkata, I came to know of a few names of women, some quite famous, who today are completely forgotten. The questions started piling up— why do so many women do yoga when it was thrust into the modern age largely (at least publicly) by men. 

Through gathering texts and doing interviews, the layers of complexity grew. 

One unanticipated layer is the talk of beauty when it comes to women and yoga. This isn't found in posture manuals for men, and isn’t about “radiance” or something that could be referenced in Haṭha texts. This is talk of things like “perfect breasts” and “thin waists”. 

This made me think of my own journey in the yoga studio so far. The "no food is good food" was certainly a part of the community. I remember being complimented the most in class when I was incredibly sick with pneumonia and hadn't been able to keep any food but applesauce down.

Around that same time I was also injured. My hamstring was tearing but I was locking out my standing bow. (Worth it? No.) 

Since then I stopped wanting to be injured and took up weight training. When my new trainer gave me 15 pushups as a warm up I balked! I couldn’t do one, yet I was one of the strongest at my yoga studio. 

I have since gained 15lbs. And with it, the strength to run many miles, move hundreds of pounds, do pull-ups, (more than 15) pushups and most importantly, have the strength to stay injury free. 

Since talking about injuries in yoga studios around the world, we've gotten a variety of responses. Some burst into tears and ask, “So it shouldn’t hurt? I’ve spent a decade thinking it was supposed to.” Some just shake their heads, acknowledge how obvious it is that a "healing" practice shouldn’t injure the body. Others though, respond with the predictable, yet disappointing response of, “Well I’m not injured. You weren’t doing it right.” Denial is powerful. 

All of this combined has me thinking. Are we trying to be healthy or beautiful? Who is deciding this? Do we actually know what we’re doing? 
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Tradition, Science & Experience

12/2/2019

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It can be difficult to know what is real in this world. The methods of yoga, spirituality and science have developed to explore this question. Sometimes they come to the same answers, but sometimes they contradict.

As yoga teachers, we are often confronted with the problems of: 'Why do we do these things?' and 'What is right?' We usually look in three places to find answers: tradition, science and personal experience.

TRADITION
We at Ghosh Yoga are fascinated with tradition, and we have researched it, studied it, lectured on it and challenged it. We have written about the relationship of oldness and tradition, the Spirit of Tradition, and the sometimes misleading value of tradition.

With regards to these questions---what is real? and what is worth learning?---tradition plays an important role in yoga. Many of us are drawn to yoga because of its ancientness, sacredness and gravity. And the idea of lineage, teaching in the same way as you were taught, is a time-worn Indian method that has come to the West with yoga. At its best, a lineage links modern students with ancient teachers and sages.

We must take these things seriously. What did our teachers think and what did they teach?If we look in older texts, what was being taught hundreds or thousands of years ago? Most importantly, how do these apply to modernity? Can we extrapolate our own situations, thoughts and perspectives from ancient teachings?

SCIENCE
In the past few centuries, scientific methods have developed that are centered around the reliability and repeatability outcomes. The sciences have improved our understanding of anatomy, physiology, biomechanics and neurology among other things. We can apply this knowledge to the body and mind in yoga practice. But it can sometimes come into conflict with traditional understanding. 

For example, humans did not know the intricacies of bodily anatomy until the 15th century CE. This is clearly depicted in art from earlier, where the body is only really understood by looking from the outside. Take this one step further inward, to the functioning of breathing, energy or the nervous system. These things have come into focus even more recently in human history. 

Therefore, when we look to 'tradition' for physical, anatomical or physiological methods, we must take great care. How does the ancient understanding line up with modern understanding? If there is a discrepancy, is it clear where, why or when that may have occurred? And which do we trust? 

(For the past few decades, increasing numbers of scientific studies are being done on the practices of yoga. Check out Pure Action.)

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
​It may seem obvious to say, but all of these practices and traditions of yoga are intended to be put to use by actual living humans, like us. They only come to life when they are studied and executed. Those experiences we have and the inner knowledge we gain are hugely valuable, and one might argue that they are the central purpose of it all.

On the other hand, the root of all the spiritual traditions is that our ordinary knowledge and perception are lacking and misleading. We must look deeper and strive to understand what is difficult and hidden. So, partly, our experience is the most important element, but it can also be the most misleading if we are not careful.

TAKING THE THREE TOGETHER
When assessing the methods and goals of yoga, we constantly weigh the contributions of these three elements: tradition, science and personal experience. There are some instances when all three align. This is the case with Alternate Nostril breathing, a practice described in the ancient texts, explained clearly with the modern scientific understanding of the nervous system, and reinforced by our own experience. We are quite confident in the function of this practice.

Other practices are more difficult to justify. Inversions like Headstand and Shoulderstand were originally designed to prevent the falling of bindu from the head into the abdomen. Since that belief has fallen by the wayside, more modern practitioners try to ground the practices in physiological things like blood pressure or thyroid stimulation, which are questionable and unproven to the best of our knowledge. 

Yogic practices may be anywhere on this scale, swinging from 'traditional' to 'modern', and scientifically proven to completely debunked. Not to mention the experiences we have when we try these things for ourselves. We only suggest that you are considered and thoughtful when practicing yoga.
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Searching For the Origins of Standing Bow Posture

9/30/2019

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A couple years ago we did a comparison of all the postures in significant publications from the Ghosh yoga lineage. There were a couple of surprises in that search. One of the most significant was the complete absence of Standing Bow Pulling posture in any of the texts. Why was this posture missing? Where and when did it come from? And how did it become so central to Bikram Choudhury's system of 26 postures that he developed in the 1970s?

Upon further research, it seems that Standing Bow Pulling posture is a descendant of a more difficult position, Lord of the Dance. But even Lord of the Dance is a recent addition to the yoga canon, appearing only in the 1950s or '60s. It seems that Lord of the Dance popped up in south India, perhaps coming from Indian dance, contortion and gymnastics, and quickly spread. Its transition toward Standing Bow Pulling didn't come until late in the 1960s.


Let's start at the beginning...

​Obvious as it may be to state, Standing Bow Pulling and its predecessor Lord of the Dance posture
(Natarajasana​) are nowhere to be found in the pre-modern texts of yoga. As physical postures were becoming more prominent throughout the development of hathayoga, they were largely seated or lying positions. Almost no postures in hathayoga are done standing.

Even as we entered the 20th century and the fathers (sadly we don't know of many mothers) of modern yoga revolutionized the discipline, the acrobatics and deep stretching that we recognize today were still scarce. Early pioneers like Yogendra, Kuvalayananda, Krishnamacharya, Shivananda of Rishikesh, Bishnu Ghosh and Buddha Bose greatly expanded the number of positions in "yoga" through the 1920s, '30s and '40s, but still there was nothing resembling Standing Bow Pulling. At that point, yoga was largely adopting the practices of calisthenics and marrying the breath with relatively simple movements of the body.
THE 1950s AND '60s
In the '50s and '60s was an explosion of examples of a posture called 
Lord of the Dance. The earliest published version we have seen was in a contortion manual from 1957, pictured to the right. One leg was pulled overhead while standing on the other. A beautiful and impressive posture.

Also in the 1950s were stories and photos of BKS Iyengar executing a position like this, attributed to Indian dance and its imitation of ancient temple sculpture. This, it seems, is where Lord of the Dance made its way into the yoga culture. 
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from Stage Tricks and Hollywood Exercises, 1957
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Vishnudevananda, Lord of the Dance, 1960
VISHNUDEVANANDA (1960)
The first published documentation of this posture by a yoga practitioner (that we know of) was in Vishnudevananda's 1960 book The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga, pictured to the left.

​There is evidence of Iyengar doing this posture previously, as explained in Elliott Goldberg's wonderful book, and even a story that Iyengar was responsible for showing Shivananda (and thereby Vishnudevananda) this position in the '50s (1).

Nonetheless, this publication by Vishnudevananda preceded Iyengar's seminal Light On Yoga ​by 6 years.
IYENGAR (1966)
In 1966 came Iyengar's game-changing ​Light On Yoga​. It was full of modernizations in philosophy, language and practice, all couched in the appearance of ancient tradition. This book revolutionized yoga and set the tone for the next several decades.

In it, Iyengar included Lord of the Dance posture, pictured to the right. It was named Natarajasana, after a name for the God Shiva, who is the cosmic dancer. Without precedent in yoga practice, it seems that this position came from dance, contortion and perhaps gymnastics.
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Iyengar, Lord of the Dance, 1966
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From Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, Lord of the Dance, 1969
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Easy Lord of the Dance, 1969
ASANA PRANAYAMA MUDRA BANDHA (1969)
​Just a few years later, in 1969, another of Shivananda's students published a large volume called Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha with a vast catalogue of postures and exercises (2). It included the increasingly ubiquitous Lord of the Dance, pictured to the left, done the same way as Iyengar and Vishnudevananda before.

But this is where the conversation changed and we started to veer toward Standing Bow Pulling.

In Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha, Lord of the Dance posture is preceded by a simplified version called Saral Natarajasana​, or "Easy Lord of the Dance." The word saral means "easy" or "simple" and this position is clearly intended for those who can't approach the more complex posture. This position, which seems to be the template for Choudhury's Standing Bow Pulling, was a preparation for the more difficult Lord of the Dance posture.
BIKRAM CHOUDHURY (1978)
​That brings us to Bikram Choudhury and his Standing Bow Pulling​ posture. 
Up until that point, there had been no demonstration of anything like it in the works of his teachers or lineage. In the publications of Buddha Bose (1938), Dr Gouri Shankar Mukerji (1963) and even Bishnu Ghosh himself (1961), a position like ​Standing Bow Pulling​ was notably absent.

​In 1978, when he published his first volume, Choudhury included the position as one of his 26 chosen exercises. Pictured to the right, it is clearly a descendent of the Saral Natarajasana, as demonstrated in the 1969 volume above. 
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From Bikram Choudhury, Standing Bow Pulling Pose, 1978
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Choudhury's significant innovation was retaining this variation even as progress was made. Instead of moving to the full Lord of the Dance, Choudhury's instruction is to continue deepening the preliminary position to the point where the legs are fully split, as pictured to the left.
IN CONCLUSION
​This all makes Choudhury's Standing Bow Pulling posture fascinating and very new. It seems to be based on a modification or preparation for Lord of the Dance, which itself is a recent addition to the yoga asana canon. And further, this variation continues to be deepened and elaborated until it has become essentially a new posture in its own right.
1. Goldberg, Elliott. The Path of Modern Yoga. p395
2. Swami Satyananda Saraswati. Asana Pranayama Mudra Bandha. 2012 (1969).
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Is "Bikram Yoga" the Same As Ghosh Yoga?

8/22/2019

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Hardly a day goes by when someone doesn't ask us, "Is Bikram Yoga the same as Ghosh Yoga?" It is a valid and interesting question, as plentiful yoga systems seek to separate themselves from the competition with novel methods and attributes. The two methods are closely related, since Bikram Choudhury learned at Ghosh's College. But there are some fundamental differences that keep the two systems from being synonymous.

First, let's look at what they have in common.

THE POSTURES
​Most of the exercises in Bikram Yoga are recognizably from the Bengal region of India, where Ghosh's College is located. The previous students of Ghosh taught these same postures and exercises like Half Tortoise, Rabbit and Standing Head to Knee. And several of the postures, like Stretching, Cobra, Locust, Bow and Corpse, are traditional yoga asanas found in older texts. Notably missing from both Bikram and Ghosh yogas are exercises like Up-dog, Down-dog and Warriors One and Two which come from South India and have made their way into most vinyasa yoga styles.

STILLNESS
Another element shared between Bikram and Ghosh yogas is the alternation of effort and rest. Each posture is held in stillness for a brief period and followed by an equal portion of relaxation. While standing, the practitioner simply stands still, though some of the older Ghosh students insisted on lying down between exercises. During postures on the floor, relaxation happens by assuming the Corpse posture. This is a distinctive element of these styles, setting them apart from the popular flowing methods that link stationary positions with fluid movements and Sun Salutations.

THERAPEUTIC INTENT
It can seem obvious, but both Bikram and Ghosh yogas are fundamentally designed to help the student be healthy. This is similar to all the yoga in Bengal, where the postures are done to help the organs, circulation, digestion or some other element. They generally have a therapeutic purpose. This intention can be contrasted with many vinyasa styles of yoga that originated in the performative gymnastics of Mysore. Those styles, like Ashtanga Vinyasa and its descendant "flow" methods, have become more therapeutically focused over the ensuing decades. But the origin of flowing yoga was performative.

Now, let's look at what is different between Bikram Yoga and Ghosh Yoga.

SET INSTRUCTIONS
The method of Bikram's yoga is largely defined by its style of instruction, the rote utterance of prewritten commands. Teachers of the style can be judged by the quality of their "dialogue." Many paraphrases and copycats have popped up, but Bikram's original is still considered by most to be the gold standard. This rote instructional style is nowhere present in the teachings of Ghosh Yoga, where the majority of verbal instruction is simply counting the duration of each exercise.

HEAT
Also central to Bikram's style is a heated room, a characteristic that finds no expression in other manifestations of Ghosh's style. In India, they turn on fans or air conditioning when the day gets hot, or they forego the scorching parts of the day altogether.

A SET SEQUENCE
The two differences above are somewhat peripheral to the essence of the methods. The irreconcilable difference between these two systems is Bikram Yoga's unchanging set of exercises. The same 26 postures are "prescribed" for every student no matter their age, ability, experience, goals or ailments. Central, indeed fundamental, to the Ghosh system is a unique prescription for each student. It would be unheard of to assign the same practices to different people, especially without learning their strengths and weaknesses. 

Because Bikram Yoga is defined by its specific and repeated set of postures, and Ghosh Yoga is defined by its attention to the individual, it is impossible to conclude that Bikram Yoga and Ghosh Yoga are the same thing. They certainly share several key elements, namely their postures, the alternation of effort and relaxation, and therapeutic intent. But the defining characteristics of Bikram Yoga like rote instruction, added heat and especially a single unchanging set of exercises separate it substantially from Ghosh Yoga.
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    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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