The 2017 CESNUR Conference
HOLY LANDS AND SACRED HISTORIES IN NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS
The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute – 43 Jabotinsky Street, Jerusalem, Israel
2 – 6 July 2017
Co-organized by:
Center for Studies on New Religions (CESNUR)
The Israeli Information Center for New Religious Movements (MEIDA)
The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
The Goldstein-Goren International Center for Jewish Thought (Ben Gurion University)
International Society for the Study of New Religions (ISSNR)
4th of July 11.30 a.m. – 1.30 p.m. / Session 13 – Case Studies I
Abstract
The aim of this paper is to answer the question the imagined and real histories of the practice of Yoga for Women, in the Iyengar Yoga Tradition from both a historical and interpretational aspects. Even though the majority of yoga practitioners today are women, it is assumed that it was not so in the past. Supposedly, yoga was a male-transmitted and male-centered tradition until the 20th century, when processes of democratization and medicalization in modern Yoga in general, and in the Iyengar Yoga in particular, allowed women to participate, form and readjust yoga to their needs. Yoga being a physical practice aiming to create a sacred space or ‘land’ within one’s body and reconnect with ones’ sole became the domain of female bodies. Changing the ‘location’ of sacred bodily-space required both an adjustment of physical practice and both a recreation of sacred history. Interestingly, practitioners of the Iyengar Yoga tradition diverge in opinion about the origin of women centered yoga practices. Some attribute these practices to ancient history, found in Indian mythology and philosophical texts, while others rely on academic research and historical evidence when claiming that these practices are the result of new development of ancient ideas. This paper will draw on both textual and oral sources. My research uses in-depth textual study of material written by Iyengar Yoga teachers. Additionally, since yoga is a practiced tradition, and thus mainly transmitted orally, the paper will draw from half-structured interviews with forty influential teachers and Iyengar family members.