Yogi Calisthenics: What the “non-Yoga” Yogic Practice of Paramahansa Yogananda Can Tell Us about Religion
Postural yoga, due to its rising cultural and economic capital, has been adopted as a fundamental aspect of Hindu religious identity and touted as India’s universal gift to the world. This article interrogates the implications of accepting a partially foreign—or at least syncretized—and even secular...
| Published in: | Journal of the American Academy of Religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Oxford University Press
[2017]
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| In: |
Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| RelBib Classification: | AG Religious life; material religion AZ New religious movements BK Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | Postural yoga, due to its rising cultural and economic capital, has been adopted as a fundamental aspect of Hindu religious identity and touted as India’s universal gift to the world. This article interrogates the implications of accepting a partially foreign—or at least syncretized—and even secular practice as effecting the ritual teleology of an existing religious system. More broadly, it asks under what circumstances might a physical fitness program become religious practice. To answer these questions, it examines the calisthenic system propagated in pre-World War II America by Paramahansa Yogananda, which despite not being called yoga or resembling the asanas of today was in its function identical both to the modern postural forms practiced in yoga studios across the world and to the energetic rituals of medieval Indian hatha yoga. |
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| ISSN: | 1477-4585 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: American Academy of Religion, Journal of the American Academy of Religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1093/jaarel/lfw077 |