Asana is the central practice of the majority of contemporary yoga practitioners globally. Yet many contemporary practitioners are quick to emphases their yoga practices as essentially spiritual. Questions remain about what continuity there is between pre-modern and contemporary asana practices. Anxieties about having an authentic and respectful practice for contemporary practitioners often elicit questions about the meaning and purpose of āsana within historical yoga traditions. How does āsana practice - past and present - relate to moksha, kaivalya, or some kind of salvation that is ‘more than' being healthy in a physical body.

In this session we will explore the main characteristics of pre-modern yogāsana as well as the range of meanings contemporary practitioners give to their asana-focused yoga practices. The session will focus on considering the meaning of asana, and the diversity of interpretations of asana, highlighting both continuities and changes to the yoga traditions over time and in different cultural contexts.

What we know about the history of yoga, is largely shaped by textual sources. Of which the best knwon are Patañjali's Yoga Sūtras, the Haṭhapradīpikā, the Bhagavad Gītā, and the Upaniṣads. These texts offer insights into practices, methodologies, and belief systems. Yet, these texts, present notable challenges: their dating is often uncertain, authorship is frequently unknown, and the contexts of their compositions remain difficult to reconstruct. Furthermore, as prescriptive texts, they rarely provide information about actual practitioners, serving instead as a snapshot of specific historical moments. To complement textual sources, other forms of evidence—such as oral traditions, art historical materials, and archaeological findings—help us construct a more nuanced understanding of yoga's history. A broader variety of sources included into research over time, and the development of new methodologies continually reshape these interpretations.

The first European-language translations in the 19th century introduced these texts to broader audiences, including communities of practioners. Yet these translations were also cultural reinterpretations, shaped by the methodologies and contexts of their translators. Concepts were often reinterpreted to align with European intellectual frameworks and cultural sensibilities.

Similarly, practitioners, often embedded within specific lineages or communities, adapted the texts and practices to suit their own goals and contexts, navigating the complex interplay between Indic belief systems and European cultural frameworks. This ongoing process of recontextualization has shaped not only how yoga is practiced but also how it is understood amongst practitioners and academics.

This panel explores the transformation of yoga texts into practice across time and cultural contexts. It examines how texts such as the Haṭhapradīpikā and the Yogasūtra have been interpreted in pre-WWII German academia and contemporary yoga teacher trainings in Germany, revealing how these interpretations shape the understanding of yoga philosophy and practice. By connecting historical academic approaches with empirical fieldwork, the panel sheds light on how texts are recontextualized, reinterpreted, and embodied to align with the goals, methodologies, and worldviews of different eras and communities.