What is asana?

How old is asana?

What is it for?

Most yoga students will be familiar with the Patanjali Yoga Sutras 200BCE and Hatha Pradipika 1500CE, and perhaps Sivasamhita 1300-1500CE, Gherandasamhita 1700CE, which are the earliest texts to discuss the practice of asana. Research is ongoing and more texts have been discovered and interpreted in the last few years. See table below for a summary by Jason Birch

 

The list below includes some of the main researchers’ websites, books, articles, podcasts.

The Hatha Yoga Project http://hyp.soas.ac.uk/team/

The Haṭha Yoga Project (HYP) is a five-year (2015-2020) research project funded by the European Research Council and based at SOAS, University of London which aims to chart the history of physical yoga practice by means of philology, i.e. the study of texts on yoga, and ethnography, i.e. fieldwork among practitioners of yoga.

Online panel session via Zoom summarising and celebrating the end of the The Haṭha Yoga Project: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CBJqS3PeQuI

The Luminescent https://www.theluminescent.org/p/about.html

Amazing website with open access to many articles and podcasts

The Luminescent aims to be the world's leading source of Yoga research, providing original research from primary sources. Their primary focus is the rich history and diverse practice of Yoga. This includes the study of Yoga's history in original languages, such as Sanskrit and Persian, as well as its place in contemporary society, which may take the form of transnational and global health initiatives, such as the United Nations' "International Yoga Day."

The Luminescent was founded by Jacqueline Hargreaves, BE (Hons) and Jason Birch, DPhil (Oxon) in 2011. Yogic wisdom with academic rigour.

https://www.theluminescent.org/2016/07/vinyasa-medieval-and-modern-meanings.html

https://www.theluminescent.org/2018/10/what-is-hatha-yoga-evolving-definition.html

 

BOOKS

The Amrtasiddhi and Amrtasiddhimula- The Earliest Texts of the Hathayoga Tradition by James Mallinson and Peter Daniel Szanto January 1, 2021

Yoga in the Modern World: Contemporary Perspectives (Routledge Hindu Studies Series) Mark Singleton

Roots of Yoga (Penguin Classics) Sir James Mallinson

The Gheranda Samhita : James Mallinson

The Stories Behind the Poses : The Indian mythology that inspired 50 yoga postures : Dr. Raj Balkaran

Hatha Yoga Pradipika : Swami Muktibodhananda

Yoga Makaranda : Tirumalai Krishnamacharya

The Truth of Yoga A Comprehensive Guide to Yoga's History, Texts, Philosophy, and Practices : Daniel Simpson

ONLINE COURSES

https://www.embodiedphilosophy.com/courses/

VIDEOS, PODCASTS

Daniela Bevilacqua | Hindu Asceticism and Haṭha Yoga : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xmU4JW597ms

https://podcast.yogicstudies.com/1046752

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkeD0J8VFUo

ARTICLES, TEXTS

Haţhābhyāsapaddhati:

-probably composed 1700CE. The opening line of this text claims that its teachings are for anyone who is afflicted by the pain of transmigration (saµsāra), much like the Yogatārāvalī's first verse. Also mentions specifically that its teachings are for women, as well as those people who are completely attached to sense objects, those fallen from caste and those who do extremely reckless actions. The explicit inclusion of women here has much to do with the fact that they were excluded from certain religious activities in orthodox Hinduism. For example, women were generally prohibited from learning the Vedas, using vedic mantras, renouncing society to become ascetics and so on.http://hathabhyasapaddhati.org/about/

https://journalofyogastudies.org/index.php/JoYS

https://www.academia.edu/12099338/The_Yogat%C4%81r%C4%81val%C4%AB_and_the_Hidden_History_of_Yoga

Ashtanga Yoga Mantra

https://baeacu.wordpress.com/category/uncategorized/page/4/

http://www.modernyogaresearch.org/ website aims to help you find out more about established and current research into modern yoga and, more generally, about some of the most informative research on earlier forms of yoga

 

Jacqueline Hargreaves

Interview on origins of hatha and raja yoga with Jacqueline Hargreaves founding member of the Journal of Yoga Studies, a peer-reviewed academic journal, and the co-founder of The Luminescent https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K2hlf34bneE

A Maturing Wisdom: The Women of Modern Global Yoga : This talk touches on some of the cultural and social levers effecting yoga teachers and practitioners, and highlights some of the historical and contextual issues that are shaping the structures of Modern Globalised Yoga. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73JuFjHUyE8