<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the Datt\u0101treyayoga\u015b\u0101stra it seems that women are either a hindrance to men achieving yoga, or required as an aid for men to achieve success. In the Amrtasiddhi the yogi is told: \u2018when first practising, the yogi should always shun the use of fire, associating with women and constantly travelling\u2019 (19.6-7). Perhaps when the yogi is more accomplished, associating with women, or travelling, is allowed? These examples show how men\u2019s spiritual goals are prioritised in the textual sources, rather than women\u2019s. It is not clear how much agency women had within their own spiritual lives \u2013 the texts show us representations of women\u2019s role, not the lived reality of their lives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Moksha, the liberation from the cycle of death and rebirth, literally, the freedom from samsara, is the goal of many different religious traditions of South Asia. Women are not explicitly excluded from achieving this in the hatha texts, but it can be hard to find sources that directly address women\u2019s spiritual paths, as we can see from the examples above.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Roots of Yoga<\/em>, Mallinson and Singleton write that the sources \u2013 the yoga texts \u2013 are written from the point of view, and for, male practitioners and therefore it can be hard to determine whether or not women practiced yoga as a means toward liberation, and if they did, what that looked like. There were women ascetics, but it is not clear if they practiced yoga, or hatha yoga, specifically. There are some indications that women could practice vajrolimudr\u0101 and retain menstrual fluid (rather than semen) \u2013 this mudr\u0101 is the path to success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Despite the lack of sources written by and for women, it would be wrong to say that women\u2019s spiritual lives or achievements are lesser than men\u2019s, or that they have been involved in the religious fabric of society to a lesser degree. This is something Beatrix Hauser writes about \u2013 women have rich religious and spiritual lives, evidenced through Hauser\u2019s (and other\u2019s) ethnographic work. It is not that women are unable to achieve moksha, it is that their spiritual and religious experiences have been systematically ignored and therefore we know less about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2018Yogini\u2019 can refer to many different things! It is, as Shaman Hatley says, a polythetic term. This means there are many different, but commonly occurring, things that can make one a yogini. And of course, it depends which sources you look at. Often, a yogini is a divine being that possesses powers, can shape-shift and fly. In the 8th century tantric text, the Brahmay\u0101mala<\/em>, yogini\u2019s are also many things \u2013 the goddess in her living form, divine beings that women can become, mortal women who play a role in tantric rituals. In this way, the term \u2018yogini\u2019 does not simply mean a woman who practices yoga \u2013 the yogini figure represents the collapse of the boundary between the divine and mortal. A yogini is not the female equivalent of a yogi (assumed to be male). The Hathaprad\u012bpik\u0101, <\/em>however, suggests a woman can become a yogini through yogic practices, which breaks away from earlier hatha texts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are some women ascetics in India today and some of these practice yoga, but they are the exception. The majority of ascetics are still men. Daniela Bevilacqua has written about women ascetics in contemporary India and found that their experiences are different from those of male ascetics. There are limitations placed on women that hinder them from pursuing the life of a wandering ascetic. In some cases women aren\u2019t allowed to travel alone so they travel in groups; they can be treated badly by householders as well as other ascetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n There are so many reasons why, outside of India, women dominate the practice of modern yoga \u2013 it comes down to cultural forces and the influence of key individuals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the late 19th century there was a rise in physical culture. The modern Olympics began in 1896. Initially, women weren\u2019t allowed to compete but this revival had a huge impact on society and by 1924 they did participate. Mark Singleton writes about the cultural space that was created and yoga moved into, in the west. In the late 19th and early 20th century women did physical activity that was a kind of spiritual stretching known as harmonial gymnastics, to keep them slim and young looking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Mollie Bagot Stack founded The Women\u2019s League of Health and Beauty in the 1930s in the UK and developed mass market keep-fit exercise classes. She had travelled to India and studied hatha yoga but at the time did not name her exercise system as yoga, specifically. The movements she developed looked very similar to some kinds of yoga. It became socially acceptable for women to participate in this kind of thing and not long after this yoga became something that mostly women did (in the UK and US, at least). It must have been familiar, acceptable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the US, in the 1940s, Indra Devi set up a yoga studio in Hollywood and was teaching yoga to famous actresses, as well as regular women. Her classes and books were really popular and marketed to women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n In the 1960s in the UK, Yogini Sunita taught hundreds of women yoga in the UK. By the second half of the 20th century yoga became associated with the natural childbirth movement. At various points in the UK there were TV shows about yoga where you could practise along with it, scheduled at times when women would be typically be watching. Also in the UK yoga was offered as part of the adult education programmes. These were quite gendered and typically men took woodworking or car maintenance classes, for example, and women did yoga (amongst other things).<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the same time, yoga was (and is) part of the alternative spiritual movement in the west. Women have always been at the forefront of this \u2013 they have less power than men within mainstream religions in the west and have had to look elsewhere. As women gained new found social, political and economic freedoms (the right to vote, bodily autonomy, their own bank accounts, the ability to go to university) the Church has not kept up. So what we see is that, in the 20th century, women were doing postural yoga but were also actively supporting spiritual gurus and swamis, especially in the US, in search of spirituality.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n Yoga is not essentially good or bad, empowering or disempowering. It can, and has been, used in different ways and contexts. As you say, yoga can be normative. Postural yoga is one of many movement practices that have been used to establish and maintain beauty standards and body ideals expected of women \u2013 white, thin, flexible, able bodied. In commercial group movement classes (modern postural yoga is part of this) there\u2019s always been an emphasis on staying young looking \u2013 for women, this is part of health and wellbeing and is not particularly feminist, empowering or radical.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, having spaces where women can come together and move their bodies can be considered subversive, radical and feminist. Women\u2019s bodies are monitored, controlled, and regulated in legislative and cultural ways, and the spaces they\u2019ve been allowed to exist in have also been regulated. Yoga is not exclusively for women but it can and has often provided an opportunity to gather with other women. In this way, yoga is part of women\u2019s empowerment. I wouldn\u2019t say yoga, of any kind, is inherently feminist or empowering \u2013 this would be too essentialist.<\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n\n\n\n If you are interested in Amelia Wood's work, you can follow her on Instagram: @amelia_wood_yoga<\/a> <\/span><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cittavritti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/ascetics-2.png\")
Are women considered as suitable for liberation in premodern yoga traditions?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
\"There were women ascetics, but it is not clear if they practiced yoga, or hatha yoga, specifically\"<\/em><\/h6>\n\n\n\n
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We often use the term yogini to talk about women practitioners, what does this term refer to ?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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Are there any women practitioners in hatha yogi contemporary sects in India ?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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How did contemporary postural yoga become mostly a women\u2019s practice ?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cittavritti.fr\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/Seal_posture_Mollie_Bagot_Stack_1931.jpg\")
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Yoga is sometimes presented today as an empowering practice for women \u2013 yet the yoga world is filled with normative images and discourses about how a woman\u2019s body should be. Can yoga play an emancipatory role for women ?<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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