Modern Yoga

* This is the Lotus pose that is mentioned*

In David Frawley's book, Yoga The Greater Tradition, Frawley talks about how every country has modernized yoga. "Over time yoga has become a movement of its own,related to, but often different from, classical yoga"(Frawley 25). The first major yoga guru to live in the United States was Paramahansa Yoganada, and he settled in 1920, but yoga was first introduced in 1893. When yoga was first introduced it was mainly a spiritual practice allied with devotion and meditation. Asana, the physical aspect of yoga, appealed to the outer-minded western audience. Asana became the face of yoga, and its most popular pose is the Lotus pose( as pictured). Yoga is more about how it benefits you physically now and many yoga teachers have forgotten its deeper, more spiritual meanings(Frawley 26).

I think that what Frawleysaid is very sad. Yoga is supposed to help you connect to other parts of you and, I believe, to God, but we have made it all about physical benefits. I did not know, though, that it was a spiritual practice. I'm glad that Frawley said something about it being spiritual because I learned something new. If more people new its real meanings and reasons they could probably get more out of participating in this practice.

Frawley, David. "Modern Yoga." Yoga, The Greater Tradition.2008.Print.