Yoga in Germany
Yoga in Germany is the practice of yoga, whether for exercise, therapy, or other reasons, in Germany.
Interest in yoga began in the 1920s with the Indologist Jakob Wilhelm Hauer's books on yoga in ancient India and its relevance to the Nazi racial ideology. Boris Sacharow founded Germany's first school of yoga in Berlin in 1921; it was reestablished in 1946, teaching the Rishikesh Reihe sequence of asanas. Many Germans visited Switzerland to study under Selvarajan Yesudian, author of the 1949 book Sport und Yoga. Rudolf Steiner's writings helped to spread interest in yoga.
More recently, yoga has become widespread in Germany, with schools teaching
History
Nazi era
The German historian and yoga teacher
Postwar
From the 1940s,
Rudolf Steiner's writings on anthroposophy helped to spread interest in yoga.[5] The Buddhist Hans-Ulrich Rieker founded the European branch of the Arya Maitreya Mandala in 1952,[6] and translated the Hatha Yoga Pradipika into German in 1957.[7] The Romanian scholar Mircea Eliade's 1954 book Le Yoga: Immortalité et Liberté[8] appeared in a "popular"[9] German translation in 1960. Based on the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, it presented yoga asanas as a way of preparing for pranayama (yoga breathing) and meditation.[9]
In 1994,
By 2016, according to a
Professionalisation
Yoga teacher training standards
In Germany, standards are set by the (German) Yoga Teachers' Union (BDY ), founded in 1967; these require 720 hours of class instruction over a period of four years, assessed by an oral examination, a written examination, and a practical teaching demonstration.[14]
Yoga therapy
Yoga is entering the
Research
The University of Hamburg has established a Center for Yoga Studies to conduct research into the history and practice of yoga and meditation.[16]
See also
- European Union of Yoga
- Yoga in Britain
- Yoga in France
- Yoga in Italy
- Yoga in Russia
- Yoga in Sweden
- Yoga in America
Notes
- ^ It was co-authored with Elisabeth Haich, and first published in Hungarian as Sport és jóga in 1941.
References
- ^ Anon (12 April 2017). "Nazi Leaders Fascinated By Yoga". Yoga Journal.
- ISBN 978-3869350134.
- ^ Day, Matthew (22 February 2012). "Nazi leader Heinrich Himmler a fan of yoga". The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012.
- ^ a b Bytwerk, Randall. "The German National Catechism". German Propaganda Archive (Calvin University). translating May, Werner (1934). Deutscher National-katechismus: Dem jungen Deutschen in Schule und Beruf [German National Catechism: Young Germans in School and Work] (in German). Breslau: Verlag von Heinrich Handel. pp. 22–26.
- ^ OCLC 290552174.
- ^ Zotz, Birgit: Achtzig Jahre Ārya Maitreya Maṇḍala – Eine Chronologie. (Eighty years of Ārya Maitreya Maṇḍala - A chronology). In: Der Kreis No. 270, October 2013, pp. 6–21.
- ^ Rieker, Hans-Ulrich. Das klassische Yoga-Lehrbuch Indiens. Hatha Yoga Pradipika. Rascher Verlag, Zürich 1957
- ^ Eliade, Mircea (2009) [1954]. Yoga: Immortality and Freedom. Translated by Willard R. Trask. Princeton University Press.
- ^ a b Misiak, Anna (2019). "Why We Practice: A Short History of Yoga in the West". Yoga International.
- Sivananda YogaEurope. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
- ^ "Germany's Yoga Vidya a success story in Europe". Religion Watch. 33 (2). 2017. Yoga Vidya's own website is at "Yoga Vidya – Europe's biggest Yoga Institution".
- ^ "Geschichte". Iyengar Yoga Deutschland (in German). 2019.
- ^ "Yoga boom in Germany". Deutschland.de. 20 June 2016.
- ^ Mullins, Daya. "Yoga and Yoga Therapy in Germany Today" (PDF). Weg Der Mitte. Retrieved 4 September 2019.
- PMID 29741426.
- ^ "Center for Yoga Studies". Universität Hamburg. 14 November 2018. Retrieved 9 November 2020.