The four Vedas (Rig Veda, Sama Veda, Yajur Veda and Atharva Veda, c. 1200 BCE) are the oldest books of the Indian traditions. Though these compositions do not talk about yoga directly (that would come about 700 years later) they include many ideas and practices which...
By Eric Shaw In the July issue of Namaskar, I traced the lineages of Modern Postural Yoga (MPY) beginning with Swami Vivekananda’s work in the West beginning in 1893. Not only is he the first figure of MPY, he’s also the first figure to burn-out–to follow this...
Two things inspired me to write about the controversial yoga superstar, Bikram Choudhury today: Three days ago, I found this historic pic of Bikram Choudhury (b. 1944) that I’d previously lost. (I collect archival yoga images.) Two days ago Netflix just came out with...
. As early as 1934, we get reports of the “Father of Modern Yoga,” Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, demonstrating new dynamic vinyasas of his own design which incorporated the movement flow pattern of Surya Namaskar (the Sun Salutation). His vinyasas added...
