The practice of yoga, an ancient mental and physical discipline designed to promote spiritual perfection, is mentioned in most of the Hindu holy texts. Today, the physical aspects of yoga have become a widely popular form of exercise around the world. In this activity, the students and teacher will make yoga poses part of their own daily routine.
The teacher introduces the activity by discussing the history of yoga from ancient to modern times, by showing a video on the history of yoga, and by distributing readings from ancient Hindu texts dealing with the practice ofyoga. After a class discussion on the video and texts, the teacher leads students through a basic “sun salutation” series of poses with the aid of an instructional yoga video (students may wish to bring a towel or mat from home, as some parts of the sun salutation involve getting on the floor). Students and the teacher will perform the sun salutation every day, preferably at the beginning of class, either for the duration of the semester or for another set period of time. Students will conclude the activity by writing a summary of their feelings about their yoga “experiment.”
Materials required for the students:
Towel or mat to put on floor during sun salutations.
Materials required for teacher:
A DVD on the history of yoga. Recommended: Yoga Unveiled (2004), an excellent documentary series on the history of yoga. An instructional yoga video that includes the “sun salutation” sequence (many available).
Handouts of ancient Indian writings on yoga. See The Shambhala Encyclopedia of Yoga (2000) and The Yoga and the Bhagavad Gita (2007).
World History
