“Yoga The Art of Transformation”

by Nina

I received an early holiday gift today: a copy of the book Yoga: The Art of Transformation! Some of you may have already heard about the fascinating exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Sackler Gallery of Asian art called “Yoga: The Art of Transformation,” which explores the visual art of yoga. Although I do know a few people who have been able to see that exhibit in person (and I may get to when it comes to San Franciso), many of you I’m sure won’t be able to attend in person. Instead, to see a preview, please go to asia.si.edu.

In addition to beautiful full-color reproductions of all the images from the exhibit, the book includes essential information about the history of yoga from writers David Gordon White, Tamara I. Sears, Carl W. Ernst, James Mallinson, Joseph S. Alter, Mark Singleton, and Sita Reddy. I think it’s important for us to learn about the history of yoga because it helps dispel a lot of myths about yoga that still tend to get passed around by various yoga teachers and even yoga magazines. One of the most important messages you will take away from the exhibit and/or the book is that in the 2,500 years of yoga’s known existence, there has never been one single type of yoga.

A BBC News Magazine article I read about the exhibit (Sackler Gallery exhibit shows yoga’s complex history) quoted the curator of the exhibit as follows:

"Five years ago I did think I would find that single yoga tradition," says Debra Diamond, curator of the exhibition Yoga: The Art of Transformation at the Smithsonian's Sackler Gallery of Asian Art.

"But yoga constantly transformed and developed over time. Although there are a couple of main goals, there's nothing that shows up in every single yoga path.

"For some traditions it was heightened consciousness and an end to suffering, a way to get out of the cycle of birth, death and re-birth that is so painful. But for other yoga traditions some of the goals were things like supernatural powers and the ability to control other people."

A dramatic example of this is the painting that shows two different factions of yogis at war:

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