Thursday, May 5, 2011

Just how important is lineage?

"We are not makers of history. We are made by history."

Martin Luther King Jr.

In a very well-written and well-researched recent post, Claudia posed the question: What is Lineage?

I'm going to approach this issue from a different angle, and pose a different question: Just how important is lineage? Or, to put the question another way: If you were to find out tomorrow (or even today) that the yoga you practice did not actually have the lineage that the official "party line" says it does, would you still continue to practice? Would your "faith" in the practice change or be shaken in any way?

As many of you out there probably already know, this is not a purely hypothetical question. In a recent book, Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice, yoga scholar Mark Singleton has argued, based on meticulous research and careful analysis, that the physical posture practice that is found in many contemporary yoga styles (including Ashtanga) did not originate from a millenia-old tradition, as the official histories of many yoga lineages (including Ashtanga) would have us believe. Rather, Singleton argues, the postures that are found in present day hatha yoga styles (including, again, Ashtanga) owe their origin to a mixture of Indian nationalism and western gymnastics. To cut a very long story short, in the early part of the twentieth century, yoga masters like Krishnamacharya, influenced by the wave of Indian nationalism and the popularity of western gymnastics, syncretized the movements and exercises of western gymnastics into the existing yoga traditions, giving rise to the postural practice that we are all so familiar with today (including, again, the six series of Ashtanga). In his book, Singleton showed that the movements and exercises (and in some cases, the sequence) of certain schools of Scandinavian gymnastics bear an uncanny resemblance to the postures of the primary series. For more details about all this, take a look at Christina's very well-written synopsis and review of Singleton's book. (Darn! I could have just referred you to her review from the outset, and saved myself all this writing. But oh well...)

I'm no yoga scholar, but I have read a significant portion of Singleton's book (unfortunately, I seem to suffer from a certain form of academic ADD, in which I often start a book in earnest, but rarely finish it. But this is a story for another post...), and I must say that his arguments are very compelling. So it is quite probable that his overall hypothesis--that the postural practice we Ashtangis love so dear is not actually the result of centuries of tradition, but a product of early twentieth century geo-political contingencies--is correct. So our practice may not actually have the lineage that the official founding story of Ashtanga holds that it does (you know, the story involving the Yoga Korunta and all that; most of you already know this story, so I won't repeat it here). Well, here's the million-dollar question: If this is correct (i.e. if our practice does not actually have the lineage it is purported to have), would you continue to practice it?

In case you are shy about giving your answer to this question, I'll help you along by giving my answer first: I don't care! Really. This practice has worked well for me so far, and I really don't care who (or what) came up with it, so long as it works for me. If I were to find out tomorrow (or today) that Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga was in fact put together by a bunch of hippies on some California commune in the 60s, I would continue to do it anyway, just because it works for me. I suppose if that were the case, we might have to change the opening and closing invocations, but whatever; I can live with that. Heck, even if the actual origins of Ashtanga practice were extra-terrestrial in nature (maybe some aliens came along sometime in the nineteenth century and taught those Danes these gymnastic movements, which were then incorporated by Krishnamacharya into what we know today as Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga), I would still continue to do it. Far-fetched, I know, but hey, anything's possible... actually, this might not be all that far-fetched, if you take a moment to think about it: I mean, have you ever seen a serpent with a thousand radiant white heads anywhere on this planet?

Gosh, now I'm getting nervous: Am I being blasphemous? Well, all of you Ashtanga purists out there, feel free to hurl your curses at me. Bring it on. Actually, maybe I should just say a little prayer of apology here, just to be on the safe side: May Krishna/Shiva/whatever-extra-terrestrial-being-that-is-actually-running-this-whole-Ashtanga-show forgive my transgression, and not punish my blasphemy by breaking my back in practice tomorrow. Om Shanti Shanti Shanti.  


  1. How do you like the intermediate series so far? Do you need to start splitting before you would truly know? Since I don't practice it yet I don't know. I had a conversation with a senior student/junior teacher and my teacher and we all agreed the primary series is extremely well sequenced *for our bodies*. I also know some students who tried hard to come to the Ashtanga class but just cannot make themselves fall in love with the series.

  2. Lineage is really very important for human body.Thanks for all of sharing...
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  3. Nobel, that closing prayer riff was fantastic. I think it was Eddie Stern (or maybe some link to him at Owl's place) who said that one should at least keep contact with "the legend" (the Korunta banana leaves eaten by ants) even with all of its improbability. I think that Maehle advises the same thing in different language and I wish I could get my own language to say this in a way that doesn't sound like willful self-deception.

    I have, in class, told my students both versions, and I believe (and I told them this too) that there's something powerful to telling the legend even if we think it's not historically accurate, the same way that reading the Ramayana et al. still has power which is not (and not supposed to be) factual.

  4. HA HA HA, I especially like the dedication to the extraterrestrial force, there is definitely one!

    Your post and even Patrick's thoughts made me think of the Buddha story, you know? the one where he leaves his family on the day his son is born and his wife is depressed... bad father! or not? some say that is not the real story, however that IS the story that made it through the centuries, the one that we as a collective chose, because the Buddha, well, HAD to become the Buddha.

    Maybe lineage is a powerful story after all, that we hold on to as a means to learn respect, submission, or rather, the word would be surrendering...

    Just re-read Christina's post, with the photos and all...

    All very interesting, as usual I appreciate your angle, and the laugh!

  5. If it is beneficial...Buddhists like to say. This also reinforces how rehashing the past and imagining the future is unproductive if takes us away from presence in our practice.

  6. Yyogini, I think the second series is great! And I don't have to split to know this. In many ways, it is a good compliment to primary, especially the backbends. And there is nothing like kapotasana to really challenge one's comfort zone (at least for me).

    When you say the primary series is well sequenced "for our bodies", what do you have in mind by "our bodies"? Asian bodies? Western bodies? Bodies that spend too much time hunched over in front of a computer? Just curious.

  7. Thanks, Catherine.

    Yes, Patrick, I agree with what you say, although, like you, I am unable to express the same thing without sounding like I am deceiving myself. But let me try to put it this way: Perhaps there are two conceptions of truth. There is truth in the sense of "This is what actually happened/did not happen at this or that particular point in historical time." And then there is truth in the sense of "This is the story that best helps us to make sense of our lives and what we are doing now, and which best helps us to move into the future." Very often, these two senses of truth coincide, but sometimes they don't, and we get two different stories. Neither is "better" or "more true" than the other. They just serve us in different ways. So long as we are clear about this, we will probably do alright.

    How's this for some shooting-from-the-hip pop anthropology? :-)

  8. Thanks, Claudia and s.f.

    I like and agree with what you say, Claudia, that "maybe lineage is a powerful story after all, that we hold on to as a means to learn respect, submission, or rather, the word would be surrendering..." I think this agrees with what I think, as per my comments to Patrick above.

  9. I'm with you on this one. The practice works, and I don't need it to be two or three thousand years old to know it feels right for my body. I read Mark's book and I think it makes it the lineage of ashtanga more interesting and compelling, more accessible, not less.
    It does call into question the need to go to India to be an officially sanctioned teacher. This might invite fireballs, I know, but there are great ashtanga teacher trainers in this country too. The practice has taken root in our American soil and the blossoms are impressive indeed.

  10. Hello Artists Valentine,
    I agree with you that if the practice works, it really doesn't matter whether it is three thousand or thirty years old. If it does good things for the body, mind and spirit, that's probably all that really matters in the end. But I still have mixed feelings about going to India to get sanctioned (see my posts on this subject), even though I totally agree with you that the practice has taken root and is starting to blossom on American soil.

  11. Sorry for the confusion. "Our bodies" = bodies that have tried the Primary series and loved it. As opposed to bodies that have given the series a fair shot (ie. tried multiple classes, not just a one time deal) but still gravitated towards other yoga styles. I don't know, maybe some people really hate forward folds :P

  12. I see, Yyogini. Yes, I know quite a few people who say that the primary series is not for them, who claim that they just can't get into the forward folds. After suggesting possible ways to lengthen the hamstrings, engage the bandhas, etc, I really don't know what to say at some point, really; after all, I do not have their bodies, so I really do not know what it feels like to be in their bodies. But maybe we all just need to accept that we can't change our bodies (and minds) overnight; if I don't have very open hamstrings and lower back today, expecting everything to suddenly open up tomorrow will only cause great suffering for me.