Yoga and Vagus Nerve: A Missing Link in Modern Yoga? (original) (raw)

Social Science Research Network, 2024

Abstract

This work is a reflection on modern postural yoga based on a lived experience of more than half a century of daily practice of what was called, in the sixties, hatha yoga. The goal is to share with researchers and practitioners a set of questions raised by this long-term yoga practice. Now 78 years old, I practice almost the same yoga as in the early 60s with some adaptations related to the inevitable effects of aging. From this point of view, the effects of yoga as an instrument of longevity and well-being are positive, but is this a sufficient justification because yoga has not brought me the enlightenment brought about by what some yogis call "the awakening of Kundalini"? So, what is the meaning of this practice? Is yoga only an instrument of longevity and physical and mental well-being or is there something else behind this practice and, if so, what is its nature: is it liberation as conceived by classical yoga or is it a different spiritual state to be defined? Many questions have arisen about the status of this yoga practice and its relationship with classical yoga that has been practiced in India for several centuries. Academic research has produced results that allow for a better understanding of what is now called modern postural yoga, but it must be acknowledged that its status remains unclear compared to traditional yoga in India. It seems that we are dealing with two very distinct worlds, the world of classical yoga on the one hand, and the world of modern yoga on the other. The world of classical yoga is still practiced today by ascetics who have taken a vow of chastity and who seek this famous Kundalini awakening through severe asceticism and with the help of the traditional techniques of "classical hatha yoga" (mudra, asana, breath retention, concentration on internal sound, purification techniques etc.) to preserve and elevate the bindu (sperm), hence the importance of Bramacharia, and to raise the Kundalini in the central canal (Shushumna) to reach the "Thousand-petalled Lotus" (at the top of the skull). On the other hand, there is the world of modern yoga, essentially postural but also meditative, analyzed by Elisabeth de Michelis in her book "A history of Modern Yoga" published in 2004, which is, in fact, a hybrid and recent creation (beginning of the twentieth century) that developed first in India and then in the West. This yoga is a mix of Indian tradition and Western gymnastics who has a spiritual or philosophical underpinnings that remain ambiguous. In this context, the yogic body is more of a biomedical body which is, for the most part, the basis of a yoga therapy oriented towards well-being. What can be problematic is the transposition of tools from one world (classical yoga) into the other (modern yoga) even though they have different foundations. In his book "The Yoga of Power, Tantra, Shakti, And The Secret Way", Julius Evola seems to go in this direction. He writes: " I do not even dream of proposing Tantrism to the Western world, or importing it here in the West, so that people can practice it in its original aspects " and he adds: "These aspects are strictly and inseparably linked to the local Hindu and Tibetan traditions and the corresponding spiritual climate". However, current research on the biology of the brain and nervous system reveals strange correspondences with the tantric anatomy that serves as a support for the subtle body of classical yoga. These correspondences are particularly evident with the relationship between yoga and the vagus nerve, and this is what led us to propose this vagus nerve hypothesis as a missing link between the two worlds of yoga. To support this work and add some personal elements to this debate, a first assessment

R. Teller hasn't uploaded this paper.

Let R. know you want this paper to be uploaded.

Ask for this paper to be uploaded.