Questioning Yoga: Bridging Ancient Traditions and Modern Innovations
Today I share a short video essay exploring my journey in beginning to question yoga and the intersection between ancient yoga traditions and modern innovations. I share a bit of my own personal journey, from my early days in Sivananda and Ashtanga yoga to my evolution as a teacher and lifelong student.
Scroll down for transcript notes and references.
In this video essay I explore:
- The dogmatic teachings I encountered and how they shaped my initial practice.
- The pivotal moments that led me to question long-held beliefs and practices in yoga.
- The importance of critical thinking and questioning in the pursuit of truth within yoga.
- How understanding the modern evolution of yoga has empowered me to innovate and adapt my teaching.
Key Themes:
- Question the teachings, the teachers, and even your own beliefs.
- Embrace the quest for truth, understanding that yoga is a living, evolving practice.
- Balance respect for ancient traditions with the flexibility to innovate and adapt for modern needs.
Questioning Yoga: Bridging Ancient Traditions and Modern Innovations
My early days in yoga I explored two styles, Sivananda and Ashtanga, quite different in practice, but quite similar in being a bit dogmatic and rigid, and full of rules both spoken and unspoken. ‘Because I said so’, or ‘because the guru said so’, was often the answer to questions. So, I learned not to question, to just drop in and experience and absorb rather than think critically.
As I began to develop my own teaching practice, and then teaching yoga teacher training, I started again to really question some of the teachings, the dogma, the culture. But I was slow to do this, there wasn’t a lot of support in my community for someone questioning the senior teachers. I felt, in a way, disobedient, questioning felt unfitting of a good yogi. But my questions remained.
I remember really clearly this one moment that was a real light bulb for me. I was teaching a YTT course, and talking about how we should ‘relax our glutes’ in backbends – because that was the teaching of the time – and, a student (hey Kylie) asked, why wouldn’t we use our glutes, they are a primary hip extensor? And, I didn’t have an answer. It was just a moment where, although I had already been questioning a lot of what I had been taught, I realized I might have to question everything I had been taught.
I remember feeling so tired at the thought, like, I have to research every little thing I’ve been taught?
It felt like I had climbed a yoga mountain up to this point, and I look out and there are hundreds more mountains to climb. It was really overwhelming, and depressing.
But, if yoga is anything, it is a quest for truth. So, while it’s taking me decades to unlearn and relearn and reteach, it’s the only path forward. What’s the point in continuing to teach things that, while they might work for some, or feel true for some, aren’t universally helpful and aren’t based on any fact, or science, or often even the actual tradition of yoga?
My message to you today is: question the teachings, question the teachers, question authority. Even mine. I have made mistakes and will continue to do so. So will you. But, at least these days, I’m not convinced I’m right, or that there even is a single right way.
Why do we imagine we are so different from the yogis of history? The Yogis and sages and philosophers of history weren’t so different from us. They were people seeking and questioning, exploring and experimenting. They found truths that sometimes were universal truths, and sometimes were more relevant to a particular time or place or culture. Why shouldn’t we keep up that quest?
Why would we not keep exploring, keep experimenting, keep innovating?
I heard an analogy last week on the You’re Wrong About podcast, it was about the Supreme Course in the US, but it struck me as an interesting lens to look at yoga.
When someone passes down a recipe to you, tells you how they make it, what they sometimes add or subtract, you aren’t required to stick rigidly to that recipe for all time. Maybe there’s something you are allergic to, maybe you are plant based, maybe you have so many zucchinis you have to find a way to add them. Recipes, like traditional teachings, are there to guide us, not to rule and to constrain. We can be flexible, experimentative, innovative, and I think that this is at the heart of yoga.
One big question that I brought to this inquiry is: what part of yoga is ancient?
As a modern western white atheist yoga teacher, I have worried about respecting the ancient aspects of yoga that should be honored and respected, while being able to identify those aspects that are more modern iterations, and which are flexible or adaptable. This was especially important when it came to the technical practice, which was not working well for my body, or for many of my students.
I found the confidence and clarity to adjust my teaching through further study of the innovations and evolutions of yoga, particularly in the 1920’s and 30’s, through the work of folks like James Mallison, Elliot Goldberg, and Mark Singleton, and more recently through the work of the boys at Conspirituality podcast.
Understanding that what was yoga to me, as a western practitioner, was Modern Postural Yoga, not necessarily the traditional spiritual practice of India, gave me some space to consider making some changes. If what I’m practicing is a modern interpretation of yoga, which borrowed ideas from ancient yoga philosophy and practice, and blended that with movements from 1920’s physical culture of Europe and other places, could I not keep innovating?
This gave me confidence to make changes that I thought would better suit me and my students, I was empowered to add more warmups to my sequence, make sun salutations more accessible, and I changed many of my teaching strategies, the way I cue, demonstrate, adjust, and sharing the teachings of yoga in my classes.
Without this understanding of the evolution or continued innovation of yoga, I felt like questioning, making changes, adapting sequences, was taking liberties with an ancient spiritual tradition, and perhaps in some ways it still is.
But, understanding that my role as a modern Western teacher is to share these modern interpretations, that has given me some solace.
We owe it to those who came before us to carry on their work. To keep questioning, seeking, searching, and not get stuck in the blindness of obedience to things that might not have meant much, even at the time.
So, take the ancient recipe, add new flavours, make it more accessible to others, experiment with new methods, make it something that we can all enjoy today, while respecting those who came before us who began the process, who carried the traditions all this way, and who gave us a chance to benefit from all that yoga has to offer.
Thank you for reading and sharing the journey with me as, together, we continue to explore ancient yoga traditions and modern innovations in yoga!
Heather Agnew, ERYT-500, senior trainer, Yoga Trinity
Join the Conversation:
Have you ever questioned your yoga practice or teachings? Share your experiences and thoughts in the comments below or on our socials at Facebook, Instagram, or YouTube. Let’s create a community where inquiry and innovation are celebrated!