A History of Modern Yoga by Elizabeth De Michelis

A History of Modern Yoga by Elizabeth De Michelis

A History of Modern Yoga traces the roots of Modern Yoga back to the spread of western esoteric ideas in 18th century Bengal's intellectual circles. In due course Raja Yoga, published by Vivekananda in 1896, became the seminal text of Modern Yoga largely because, the author shows, it reconfigured the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali along the lines of a then emerging New Age Occultistic style of secularised and individualistically oriented religiosity. With regard to 20th century developments, this book proposes a four-fold typology of Modern Yoga comprising Modern Psychosomatic, Modern Meditational, Modern Postural and Modern Denominational forms. Iyengar Yoga, one of the most influential schools of Modern Postural Yoga, is then analyzed in the light of this framework, while the conclusion shows how a typical Modern Postural Yoga session may be interpreted to reveal the forms and contents of a healing ritual of secular religion.

"'Carefully researched and closely-argued.. Far more than a reconstruction of the history of Modern Yoga, the book is an important contribution to the history of Orientalism, the Brahmo Samaj, and Neo-Vedanta.' Professor David Gordon White, Department of Religious Studies University of California, Santa Barbara; 'A History of Modern Yoga is a timely work of astute, rigorous, critical scholarship. De Michelis has done an outstanding job.' Professor Joseph Alter, University of Pittsburgh"

Elizabeth De Michelis is Director of the Dharam Hinduja Institute of Indic Research at the Faculty of Divinity, University of Cambridge.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780826487728
ISBN 10	0826487726
Title	A History of Modern Yoga
Author	Elizabeth De Michelis
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Year published	2005-11-12
Number of pages	302
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable