Branding yoga: The cases of Iyengar Yoga, Siddha Yoga and Anusara Yoga
Jain, Andrea R (2012)
Jain, Andrea R
The Donner Institute, Åbo Akademi
2012
Kuvaus
Andrea R. Jain is Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis. Her research interests include the history and development of yoga, theories of religion, and religion in relation to the body, especially with regard to sexual and ascetic religious phenomena. More specifically, her research focuses on the transnational construction and global popularization of modern yoga. Her current research projects include a book on the intersections of modern yoga and consumer culture, studies on Christian and Hindu protests against the popularization of yoga, and studies on modern yoga gurus.
Tiivistelmä
In October 1989, long-time yoga student, John Friend (b. 1959) travelled to India to study with yoga masters. First, he went to Pune for a one-month intensive postural yoga programme at the Ramamani Iyengar Memorial Yoga Institute, founded by a world-famous yoga proponent, B. K. S. Iyengar (b. 1918). Postural yoga(De Michelis 2005, Singleton 2010) refers to modern biomechanical systems of yoga which are based on sequences of asana or postures that are, through pranayama or ‘breathing exercises’, synchronized with the breath. Following Friend’s training in Iyengar Yoga, he travelled to Ganeshpuri, India where he met Chidvilasananda (b. 1954), the current guru of Siddha Yoga, at the Gurudev Siddha Peeth ashram. Siddha Yoga is a modern soteriological yoga system based on ideas and practices primarily derived from tantra. The encounter profoundly transformed Friend, and Chidvilasananda initiated him into Siddha Yoga (Williamson forthcoming).