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A review by weeta
The Goddess Pose by Michelle Goldberg
4.0
A fascinating discussion of the ongoing evolution of the speed and style of what we call yoga today, traced from its roots in Indian spirituality to influences by Dutch gymnastics instruction, to what Indra Devi brought to the Arden spa in the 1950s, to the contemporary fast-paced power yoga we see so much of today. What Devi brought to the spa (and what caused yoga to really catch on in the U.S.) was apparently yoga without the religious underpinnings; an empowering alternative to the housewives-on-tranquilizers age. Devi "turned a very male discipline into an uplifting ritual for the cosmopolitan, spiritual-not-religious woman."
More fascinating was Devi's life itself and the numerous lives and subcultures she influenced across continents and countries, from Russia to Weimar Berlin to Shanghai to Mexico. Devi lived a life she based on love and nonattachment - fiercely independent and at times possibly a little bit too non-attached. She refused to be tethered by past memories or experiences and would not let nostalgia interrupt her focus on living in her present. Far from a quiet zen master, as she grew older refused to 'get old' and couldn't retire because "there are always more things to do."
"If yoga isn't just exercise, if it isn't religion, and if it isn't, in its current form, even all that old, then what the hell is it?" In short, a fusion and ongoing evolution of an already-evolving yoga of 100 years, influenced by the previous traditional understanding of yoga. Its contemporary links to "the same cultural matrix of organic food, holistic spas, and biodynamic beauty products - things that seem to go together so naturally" are linked so strongly in large part due to Devi pushing her brand of yoga in the 1950s at spas, and gained traction only when the spirituality element was thickly veiled or taken out entirely.
But as Goldberg points out, there is no such thing as unchanging authenticity - yoga is a creative dialogue and so far from its beginnings that it shouldn't need to be thought of in terms of purity or corruption.
More fascinating was Devi's life itself and the numerous lives and subcultures she influenced across continents and countries, from Russia to Weimar Berlin to Shanghai to Mexico. Devi lived a life she based on love and nonattachment - fiercely independent and at times possibly a little bit too non-attached. She refused to be tethered by past memories or experiences and would not let nostalgia interrupt her focus on living in her present. Far from a quiet zen master, as she grew older refused to 'get old' and couldn't retire because "there are always more things to do."
"If yoga isn't just exercise, if it isn't religion, and if it isn't, in its current form, even all that old, then what the hell is it?" In short, a fusion and ongoing evolution of an already-evolving yoga of 100 years, influenced by the previous traditional understanding of yoga. Its contemporary links to "the same cultural matrix of organic food, holistic spas, and biodynamic beauty products - things that seem to go together so naturally" are linked so strongly in large part due to Devi pushing her brand of yoga in the 1950s at spas, and gained traction only when the spirituality element was thickly veiled or taken out entirely.
But as Goldberg points out, there is no such thing as unchanging authenticity - yoga is a creative dialogue and so far from its beginnings that it shouldn't need to be thought of in terms of purity or corruption.