PracticeInvertedDefined by Blavatsky

Yoga

Also: Rāja-yoga · Hatha-yoga · Union

Sanskrit yoga, ‘yoke, union’; Patañjali, recast for Western occult students by Blavatsky · YO-ga

Blavatsky

Original sense

Yoga means union of the lower with the higher, and she praised raja-yoga — ethical and mental discipline aimed at that union. She repeatedly condemned public hatha-yoga (postures, forced breath, kumbhaka) as a physical ordeal that could awaken powers without wisdom. The Voice of the Silence is her yoga book, and it contains no asana.

Hatha-yoga, at best, results in a purely psychic and physiological training… Râja-yoga is the real science of the development of the spiritual inner man.
The Key to Theosophy; articles on yoga and chelaship

Vivekananda, not Blavatsky, is the main door by which yoga entered American popular religion. Her contribution was to make ‘yoga’ mean an occult path of discipleship in English esotericism before the mat existed.

New Age

Later sense

A global fitness and wellness practice, sometimes with a side of spirituality. Kundalini, ashtanga, yin, goat. The New Age layer adds crystals at the altar and chakra cues in savasana. Raja-yoga in her sense is a niche.

Typical use. Studio memberships, retreats, ‘yoga is my religion.’

The drift

Popular use runs against her stated intent.

She tried to warn the West off the body-first path. The West took the body-first path and put her vocabulary on the soundtrack. Few historical inversions are this clean.

Related terms

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