This presentation explores Gandhi’s unique interpretation of yogic disciplines as expounded in the Yoga Sutra, including truth, nonviolence, celibacy, and non-possession, to transform his personal life and instigate social change.
Traditionally, these yogic disciplines are observed to purify the mind and prepare the practitioner for attaining higher states of spiritual awareness and freedom. The Yoga Sutra also ascribes powers (siddhis) to each of these yogic disciplines. Gandhi experimented with them to attain personal inner strength and to create a program to secure political justice and social harmony for people of India. I will analyze how Gandhi interpreted these yogic disciplines as methods of nonviolence (ahimsa) and truth (satyagraha) to be wielded as weapons against the forces of colonialism, racism, and all forms of social and economic violence. Gandhi’s embodied practices of self-restraint enabled him to bring about ground-shaking social, economic, and political change.
The practice of yoga is today widely associated with the improvement of mental and physical health and a general increase in well-being. In India, yoga is considered an indigenous form of health practice: The Ministry of AYUSH supports education and research in yoga medicine, and has established ...
In this discussion, Suzanne Newcombe considers some of the key points of transformation in modern yoga traditions based on her academic study. Her historical and sociological research has focused on the entanglement of yoga, medical and physical rejuvenation practices in the modern period. This c...
How old is your downward-facing dog? What about the tree pose? Salutations to the sun? This talk will offer an accessible overview of the latest scholarly research on the history of yogic postures (āsana) in premodern India—as understood through Sanskrit and vernacular texts, sculptures, painting...
