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| Yoga asana from Egyptian Hieroglyph |
The practice of yoga is currently associated
with India. And it is certainly true that an unbroken chain of teachers and
students, along with an enormous library of texts, has survived in that country.
Today, the word yoga has become synonymous with India and, in the West, with
some of the great teachers of the past century such as Pattabhi Jois and B.K.
Iyengar.
But the yoga tradition itself does not
claim any nationality. Indeed, pointing to the spiritual roots of yoga, many
masters have claimed it to be universal. To understand this assertion, one needs
to examine yoga’s roots. Originally, Indian yoga was practiced in the forests
by mendicants who had renounced the world. Some of these forest-dwelling yoga
lineages still exist—one, called the Nath sect—remains popular in India.
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| From a carving in an Egyptian temple |
Thus, it can be understood that, in a
general sense, anyone who retreats from human society and into solitude to engage
in spiritual practices is doing yoga. In all traditional cultures, whether in
ancient Europe, the Middle East or China, yogis, by different names, would have
been familiar.
In the
early period of Egypt, during the Old
Kingdom, Egypt was referred
to as Kemet, or
simply Kmt, which means “the Black land.” The inhabitants called themselves "remetch en
Kermet", which means the "People of the Black Land." The term
refers to the rich soil found in the Nile Valley and Delta. The
great temples along the Nile, built during that time, showed, in hieroglyphic
texts, a stunning number of persons in familiar yoga poses.
Kemetic yoga, or African yoga, focuses on
breath-work and meditation, and aligns itself with the spiritual beliefs of the
ancient Egyptians. It combines
physical exercise, meditation, self-philosophy and healing through the
stimulation and movement of essential life energy throughout the body. The
concept of life energy, called prana in
Sanskrit, was widespread throughout the classical world, in Greece, India,
China and Egypt.
The modern
version of the ancient Kemetic system was developed from primary research
conducted by Dr. Asar Hapi and Elvrid Lawrence (Yirser Ra Hotep) during the
1970s. Kemetic yoga is gaining interest, in mostly the
Black American community, with more
studies and books being published, such as those authored by Dr. Muata Ashby, and
with classes being offered in yoga studios in America.
Mohan Ashtakala is the author of "The Yoga Zapper," (www.yogazapper.com) published by Books We Love (www.bookswelove.com)
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