Yoga as a philosophical, religious, and ascetic discipline has shaped the lives of major world-historical figures, including the Buddha, the Mughal emperor Akbar, Mahatma Gandhi, and Steve Jobs. Though yoga is usually understood today as a timeless set of disciplines that inculcate spiritual and physical well-being, it has experienced dramatic change over the millennia--not least with the rise of "postural" yoga in India from about 1000 CE, its systematization as "hatha yoga" by about the sixteenth century, and its growing popularity in the West since the early twentieth century. The aim of this course is to introduce students to the rich global history of yoga, to foster an understanding of and appreciation for the philosophical and psycho-somatic dimensions of yoga, as well as the political and cultural transformations that shaped and were shaped by yoga (and prominent yogis and yoginis) as it spread from India to both the East and West. |