The sociology of a yoga text in pre-modern India
The lack of strong institutions
We are now in a position where we can draw up a cultural sociological sketch of the background of a text on yoga in most of Indian history. As we have seen most texts are theologically and politically motivated and contribute very little to the use-value of yoga. This was true for the previous Axial Age period and it has also shown to be true for the medieval Tantric period. One of the few exceptions was the text of the Jain Hemacandra; despite this it was also a politically-theologically motivated text.
Significant to understanding this trend within the cultural field of yoga – a sub-system in the general field of liberation – is to realise that the religious institutional framework in India overall was very weak indeed. India was a patchwork of local and regional religious communities. There was nothing that came even close to, say, the Catholic Church in Europe. Instead much of the organisation crystallised at the clan and personal level – or around a king or prince. However such groupings would not last very long. Lineages and dynasties would become extinct, toppled over or be torn apart by internal individual conflicts. Hence in such a decentralised institutional system, there will be a strong tendency to segmentation (Malinar 2007b). Divisions, fragmentation or even extinction were the norm rather then the exception. In Europe we saw this happen to the institutional weak Protestant culture as soon as it evolved: it became a rich and fertile jungle for rapid mutations of sects and cults.
Twist your rib cage to the ceiling and open your chest Yoga poses variations , circling your arm back. Complete the arm circle as your body returns to the starting Yoga poses variations position. Do 5 times. Switch sides and repeat. 5 Seated Ball Moves What could be easier than just sitting on the ball, right? Well, the truth is, sitting on the ball, without rolling, is a difficult exercise in itself. In these moves, you’ll not only be sitting, you’ll be moving as you sit! It’s a lot tougher than it looks and, in fact, people are always surprised at how much trouble they have just sitting on the ball. It’s difficult to sit on the ball because you need to engage your core muscles your abs and back in order to remain stable on an unstable surface. When you factor in movement, such as lifting your legs or rolling your arms, then balancing becomes that much more difficult.
