This gave rise to new studies of the 3 central hatha-yoga texts (HYP, Gerandha- and Siva-samhita – all three belonging to the Muslim era of India), which had recently – about 1900 – been publicised in modern translations. In line with the trends of the time, the efforts were now to de-mystify and disassociate hatha-yoga from the arcane and make it into a modern super-gymnastic, says Alter.
In this period, there emerged further writings describing asanas, maintaining that the writings themselves were authentic and belonged to an ancient yoga tradition. Actually, today we can see that they combined modern forms of gymnastics, physical training and hygiene with asana, shatkarma and pranayama techniques. This reveals that the texts were not as old as they pretended to be, according to Alter. However it was firmly believed that this mixed bag of techniques belonged to the hatha-yoga tradition’. Ideologically the texts combined old techniques with modern exercise-forms maintaining that it was all rooted in a remote past. It was claimed that these discovered’ hatha-yoga asana techniques were ideal for a modern body exercise regimen. The old yoga signifier’ had attached to itself a true new signified’/signification.
Hold the hips and thighs steady. Lift up the left Yoga symbols side of your ribs and your left armpit to be level with the right side. Find Yoga symbolsthe longest stretch you can make; stay there as you breathe Yoga symbols deeply. Extend out through your left arm and back through your left hip with a calm Yoga symbols , steady effort. To come out of the pose, raise your head and walk your hands back to center. Repeat on the left side. This gently curving stretch flexes the lumbar spine and extends the thoracic spine. It is often used between other poses.
