The Prāṇāyāma Grid: Yogic Breath Cultivation in Early Modern Yoga (Webinar)

Magdalena Kraler

You can watch the recording of this event on YouTube . For other event recordings see our Media page.

--

Prāṇāyāma , which means ‘breath control’ in a literal sense, can also be understood more broadly as ‘yogic breath cultivation’. In early modern yoga, it became a container for a variety of practices including haṭhayogic forms, ritualistic forms as outlined in various prayer books for Hindus, and breathing techniques described by Western gymnasts and exponents of physical culture.

Magdalena Kraler will discuss prāṇāyāma with regard to the cultural settings in which it is placed, the ‘ prāṇāyāma grid’. A focus will be Swami Vivekananda’s influential if controversial understanding of prāṇa and prāṇāyāma . This will be juxtaposed with the contribution of Swami Kuvalayananda who both continued and opposed Vivekananda’s legacy in his scientific experiments on prāṇāyāma and his down-to-earth understanding of prāṇa .

We will share a link to access the Zoom event to those registered on the day of the event. Register via Eventbrite .

Note that there is a limited number of spaces but if we sell out please add yourself to the waiting list as spaces often become available just before the event starts. Most events will also appear on our YouTube channel afterwards.

Speaker Biography

Magdalena Kraler holds an M.A. in Music and Dance Education and is a PhD candidate at the University of Vienna, Department of Religious Studies. Her research interest lies in the overlap of physical and religious practices in the fields of modern yoga, physical culture, and dance. In her dissertation project, supervised by Prof. Karl Baier, she focuses on the development of yogic breath cultivation ( prāṇāyāma ) in transnational contexts of modern yoga between the 1880s and the 1930s.