So, in promoting my yoga class I have come across a couple of black people whose
immediate response has been to comment ' so didn't yoga come from Africa?'
Now, being in a predominantly black neighborhood, I am aware now that that
question is going to keep coming. I am trying to find more unbiased, accurate information
about yoga and its origins. The history that was thrown at me in my teacher
training would mention regions in or near Africa, but never mention it by name.
Feels like the same as the history of the Moors in Spain in school. So much talk about them
and being driven back to Morocco without ever mentioning that Morocco was in Africa.
Personally, my feelings are that it is useless to get angry and claim it was from Africa
if you are not even into practicing it. Or know the history yourself. I don't feel like a
historian; holding so many facts and figures in my head is nye impossible sometimes.
But if anyone has any information about this, or thoughts, I would really love to hear it.
Namaste
( I honor the divine that dwells within you)
immediate response has been to comment ' so didn't yoga come from Africa?'
Now, being in a predominantly black neighborhood, I am aware now that that
question is going to keep coming. I am trying to find more unbiased, accurate information
about yoga and its origins. The history that was thrown at me in my teacher
training would mention regions in or near Africa, but never mention it by name.
Feels like the same as the history of the Moors in Spain in school. So much talk about them
and being driven back to Morocco without ever mentioning that Morocco was in Africa.
Personally, my feelings are that it is useless to get angry and claim it was from Africa
if you are not even into practicing it. Or know the history yourself. I don't feel like a
historian; holding so many facts and figures in my head is nye impossible sometimes.
But if anyone has any information about this, or thoughts, I would really love to hear it.
Namaste
( I honor the divine that dwells within you)
posted by:
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Philadelphia
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Re: Origins of Yoga
Wed, September 6, 2006 - 8:28 PMI can imagine that conversation. I can't say I've heard anything to make me question yoga's origins as outside of Africa. Yoga is so woven into Hindu and Buddhist culture and thought that someone would have to identify where African culture/thought intersected.
More importantly, where are these folks coming from? Is it resistance to something "non-black"? Curiosity? Urban legend? Cuz it would be nice to come up with an answer whose message is, "it doesn't matter--it's coming from me to you, right now. Is that good enough to start"?
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Re: Origins of Yoga
Wed, September 6, 2006 - 9:53 PMAppreciated, very much appreciated. That is how I wish to be able to approach the whole matter. How
lovely it would be to lay claim to everything as having come from our region, but it may not always be the
case. Yes, we had mathematics and philosophy and even astrology in the old world, but it was passed
into the hands of others who expanded on it. That may be the case with yoga. But I would like to know
the truth. Recent readings I have seen point to ancient shamans who then passed the teachings on to
the hindus, but who were these shamans? Just more questions. -
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Re: Origins of Yoga
Sun, January 21, 2007 - 12:21 PMI am not afraid of controversy, but at the same time I recognize that useless strife between us as Black people is one of the principal factors that have held us back. I further acknowledge that much of this controversy and strife comes from the ego of the individuals instigating it. That realization and my desire to have us move forward, not in lock step but as a people seeking a common goal has motivated me hold off on approaching the following discussion.
Is Kemetic Yoga real? Ever since I first came across the Topic, I have attempted to ascertain whether or not Yoga originated in Africa (whether or not in Khem) or if it came to Africa from another place. In approaching this research I have spent a great deal of time since I encountered this thread back in September. It was as part of that research that I ran across Prasad's treatise, which I posted a link to and asked for assistance in interpreting it. As of this time only LaDonna has seemed interested in approaching it.
Therein also, is my difficulty in broaching this subject. That is the issue of Scholarship, Research, and Empiricism. These concepts are not alien to our consciousnesses as Black People, yet we seem to be willing to set them aside in our support for those among us whom we decide we support. I live in NYC and have lived here for over 40 years. During that period, there was a Cult that called itself the Ansar Allah Community. They had a highly organized mythos and literature. It was all based on the writings (called scrolls) of its leader; who went by a ridiculous assortment of names and titles, the most consistent being Dr. Malachi Z. York. He had a fantastic biography that contradicted itself many times. Whenever anyone would question the facts he presented they were attacked by his supporters. Eventually the cult was forced to leave New York and after several attempts to find a new base of operations they settled in rural Georgia, where they were finally bankrupted and "Dr." York was arrested and is still incarcerated. Much like other cult leaders; such as Jim Jones, David Koresh, et al. Dr. York was hounded by charges of sexual impropriety and pederasty. These were the charges that forced him to leave NYC. I do not know whether or not they are true, but they were certainly persistent. They were a matter of common discourse in the Black Community here in NYC for years before the cult "stole away in the night."
Now "Dr."York has nothing to due with Kemetic Yoga, but I find very disturbing similarities to the "fount" from which all Kemetic Yoga seems to flow. That fount is Dr. Reginald "Muata" Ashby. It seems that whenever you research the credentials and training of Kemetic Yoga Practicioners, the lineage returns to Dr. Ashby. And when you research him the quality of his Scholarship becomes very questionable.
The following synopsis of the citations about Dr. Ashby are from diverse sources online. A Google/ Ask search will yield multiples of this information; which also excerpts Dr. Ashby's official biography.
Mr. Ashby began studies in the area of religion and philosophy and achieved doctorates in these areas while at the same time he began to collect his research into what would later become several books on the subject of the origins of Yoga Philosophy and practice in ancient Africa (Ancient Egypt) and also the origins of Christian Mysticism in Ancient Egypt. Muata Ashby discovered the vast philosophy of Shetaut Neter and Sema (Yoga mystical spirituality) practiced in ancient Africa and has written several book on this subject, detailing its history and practice for modern times. Muata Ashby also discovered the keys to understand the mystical code of the main traditions of Ancient Kamitan (Egyptian/African religion) known in ancient times as Shetaut Neter.
Muata Ashby holds a Doctor of Philosophy Degree in World Religion and Myth, focusing on African and Indian Religion, and a Doctor of Divinity Degree in Holistic Healing. He is also a Pastoral Counselor and Teacher of Yoga Philosophy and Discipline. Dr. Ashby received his Doctor of Divinity Degree from and is an adjunct faculty member of the American Institute of Holistic Theology and the Florida International University. Dr. Ashby is a certification as a PREP Relationship Counselor. Dr. Ashby has been an independent researcher and practitioner of Egyptian, Indian and Chinese Yoga and psychology as well as Christian Mysticism. Dr. Ashby has engaged in Post Graduate research in Yoga at the Yoga Research Foundation. He has extensively studied mystical religious traditions from around the world and is an accomplished lecturer, artist, poet, screenwriter, playwright and author of over 30 books on yoga and spiritual philosophy. He is an Ordained Minister and Spiritual Counselor and also the founder the Sema Institute, a non-profit organization dedicated to spreading the wisdom of Yoga and the Ancient Egyptian mystical traditions
Perhaps my standards are too critically based and unreasonably demanding, but I question the validity of his Doctorates. The cited institutions; in the first case "American Institute of Holistic Theology" is an unaccreditated diploma mill, the second citation, " Florida International University", although accreditated by SACS is dubious in its requisites of admission in its Doctoral Programs. At no place can I find any citation of any pre-Doctoral education. No Bachelor's Degree nor Master's. My greatest doubt of his validity, is the lack of any peer review in any of the Professional Journals dealing with Egyptology, Archeology, or Philology. This of course leads me to the most daunting question; lacking any recognizable training or background in these disciplines; how can "Dr." Ashby perform his research. How is he able to analyze the requisite source materials, written in Heirogliphics and or the latter Greek transliteration of the Khemitic sources. When and where did he do this research? Has this research ever been subjected to the jure process? And most importantly, as seminal as his research would seem to be, why is it NEVER, abstracted, quoted, or referenced by ANY Peer Reviewed and Recognized authorities in the field.
It is and has been easy for us to say, "the White Authorities deny our Scholarship". I was a student of Dr. E.A. Rogers and recognize the reality of that. I was further honored to have had discussions with and the patronage of Lerone Bennett. I wholly support the emergence of the efforts of Pan African Scholars, and their rectification of the distortions of our History, brought about by the forces of Colonialism. However, blind loyalty and support of a popular mythology that everything wonderful came from Africa (mostly Khem), and that we were somehow robbed of this wonderful legacy, does us no good. To live in that mythos, blunts our intellectual armementure and leaves us at the mercy of those unscrupulous individuals who would perpetrate charlatanry upon us.
As we make our strides forward, as a people, it must be truth that is our beacon. Illusion and mythos will only lead us astray. -
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Re: Origins of Yoga
Mon, January 29, 2007 - 6:04 PMI would have to say in response that there is more and more evidence coming out about there being a form of yoga in Africa( I call it Egypt or Africa, because I do not ascribe to the invisible line set forth by Europeans to try to whitewash Egyptian history by pretending it is not where it is, which is IN Africa). There is a book out that is strictly about the Lotus posture. The person giving a synopsis of the book tells of a portion that describes etchings on walls in Egypt of people in the Lotus posture. Besides, in this day and age, it does not matter. There are forms of yoga out there no more than a few years old. People are coming out with their own renditions all the time, dedicating it to whatever philosophy in life they feel is worthy, because yoga is such a living, breathing, evolving thing, which is as it should be, without being detrimental to it's original form. The only thing left is the piecing together of the actual history, so we can learn from it. -
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Re: Origins of Yoga
Mon, April 9, 2007 - 8:58 AMMy response to the whole question of the African origins of Yoga goes like this:
1. Of course our ancestors in ancient Africa did what we now call Yoga. A simple glance at what we call the hierglyphic paintings and carvings on the walls of the temples show them doing all sorts of Yoga postures. Many of the postures they do are unique and not practiced in India or any place else. I've been doing these postures for over 30 years and know that they are Yoga postions because I've experienced the effects. The people I've taught have experienced the unique effects of these Kemetic Yoga postures. You also see familiar Yoga postures that are common to India represented in the hierglyphs. You see the lotus position, sitting on the toes position, bridge, plough and cobra prominently. There is no dispute or question about this, just look at any book about ancient Egypt and you will see it.
2. In studying the philosophy and symbols of Yoga, you can do a comaprison with Kemetic philosophy and symbols and see many fundamental similarities and exact matches. The idea of the immortality of the soul, rebirth, life-force, energy centers, etc. are all common to Kemet and Yoga. The symbol and idea of the serpent as Kundalini in Yoga perhaps the most ancient symbol in African spirituality. In Kemet the Pharoah wore the serpent on his crown over his ajna chakra or third eye. This serpent was called Edjo. The serpent is present in every expression of African and African diasporic spirituality from the aborigines of Australia 60 thousand years ago, to the serpent societies of West Africa and the Carribean, to the Christian snake handlers of the deep south. All of these are expressions of Kundalini. A book by Edward Bruce Bynum called, "The African Unconscious" documents these facts brilliantly. Another book called Opening to Sprit by Shola Arewa is another one that folks should read.
3. The so-called gods and goddesses of ancient Egypt, Kemet are expressions of states of consciousness that we become aware of through our practice of Yoga. The Kemetic cosmology (story of the how the universe came into being) was copied almost exactly in concept by the Indians.
4. The original people of India are Africans. Before there was Hinduism, there was African civiization in India. Blacks migrated into India from Northeast and East Africa over 200 hundred thousand years ago. The earliest civilization in India from which we can trace the earliest representations of Yoga was called Dravidian. The Dravidians were/are Blacks whose culture, spirituality, science, etc is almost identical to that found in ancient Kemet and Ethiopia. For those interested in learning more, go to my blog on www.myspace.com/yogaskills and check out "The African Presence in Early Asia" by Runoko Rashidi and "Ancient Future" by Wayne B. Chandler.
5. Differentiate pre-aryan vs. post aryan: The Aryans, a caucaion group, conquered the original Black African people in a series of wars. The Aryans instituted the caste system into India and a plethora of laws that keeps Indians of the Sudra, Dalit or "un-touchable" caste disenfranchised and oppressed to this day. The Aryans originally replaced the African "male" and "female" dieties with thier male dominated pantheon when they first instituted the Hindu religion. They also used certain doctrines in Hinduism and the Vedas to oppress the African Dalit or Sudra caste. These doctrines have been relaxed and modified over the centuries. Also many of the pre-aryan African dieties have been integrated into the Hindu system. Remember, Buddha broke away from Hinduism and started his system because he recognized the abuses of those in control of Hinduism at that time (Buddha was BLACK). Many of us Black Yogis don't want to deal with these "political" and racial issues because we want to see everything as simply spiritual. However we started what I call the Kemetic Yoga movement over 30 years ago in Chicago exactly because of these issues and because we wanted to provide an alternative view of Yoga that the masses of Black folks could relate to more easily. -
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Re: Origins of Yoga
Mon, April 9, 2007 - 11:55 AMThank you Yirser for you consideration of this question and the wealth of knowledge that you have shared. It is indeed unfortunate that the first thing any conqueror does is to rewrite history. This is much like the process by which, an American Politician; deciding to run for President immediately proceed to go out and build the log cabin he was born in.
In ancient times anyone of the people who rose to prominence and introduced new ideas and or explanations of existing mysteries; was in due time "deified". Thus the elites were able to inculcate the masses with the idea of their superiority and the inability of the masses to achieve anything comporable to their lesser actions. It is this process that is at the core of the evolution of the Caste system as you have referenced. All conquerors, and in time even those who have risen from the masses become infected by this spiritual malaise. The "Trinity" of Christian mythos relating to the Holy Family is nothing more than a transliteration of the Divine Drama of Isis, Horus, and Osiris. It would not be possible for a man of common birth to become the Christ. It had to be because he was of the direct lineage of Solomon and David. It was probably the same thing with the coming of the Buddha; he must have first been Prince Siddhartha.
I meant no diserespect to those worthy Sisters and Brother who offer service through the teaching of ancient wisdom of Khem, which is congruent with the practices of Yoga. It is not in the name that a thing has virtue, but in its connection to all other things. I believe that there is trully a common root to all of these teachings. I am a Hermeticist and my studies of the wisdom of Tehuti, also called Thoth; son of Thotme, the Atlantean have lead me to see the common thread in all teaching of virtue. Trully there has to be a single source, of if not a single source and underlying single truth/reality that has been discerned by Humankind in diverse locations and times. I doubt that in this time and place it really matters who was the first to come to this wisdom and spread it to others. It matters most that the wisdom be spread so that all my benefit from it. -
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Re: Origins of Yoga
Fri, September 14, 2007 - 11:26 AMI was just online and came across this discussion again and decided to respond to your post. I don't know if it is worth going into or not. However it seems that you believe that there is some type of human universality taking place when you say that "it is unfortunate that the first thing any conqueror does is to rewrite history". In essence this is not the first thing that any conqueror does. In fact rewriting history is not even the point. It is the whitewashing of the minds of a entire population of people throughout the world. What has occured to Black people in Africa, the Diaspora, India and the rest of Asia is not universal or standard operating proceedure for conquerors. The conquest and enslavement of Africans, the institution of the caste system, etc, are unprecedented events in human history. There is really no name for the condition that we call "slavery". The word slavery in no way approximates the experience of Africans on this planet and the caste does not denote the true condition of the Sudras, Dalits of India. I recommended some books in my previous post that are written by individuals with impeccable credentials and qualifications. Hopefully you will read them with an open mind and get an understanding of why knowing the truth of where our true culture and spirituality as it relates to Yoga actually comes from is vitally important. We can't just practice Yoga with our heads in the sky and not care about what is going on in the world. The Yogis and Yoginis of ancient India were true revolutionaries. They opposed the lies, oppression and subjugation that the people were experiencing at the hands of the Aryan conquerors. They fought in every way possible on the spiritual plane and on the terrestrial plane. They are fighting in India to this day. There is an African consciousness movement among the low caste Dalits of India, the same as what took place in the US and in South Africa under Steven Biko. Knowledge is Power. -
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Re: Origins of Yoga
Fri, October 19, 2007 - 7:41 AMI think an important lesson that ones must appreciate is that African history or understanding the origin of things is not merely a matter of developing race pride but is about fundamental Consciousness and is inextricable from Spirituality. Sometimes we may want to persist in untruth and gloss over its relevance because such truth is uncomfortable to deal with. It does some restoration of pride to understand that Africa via Kemet and probably its preceding civilizations of Kush and Nubia may be the actual origin of what developed into Yoga, however even more fundamentally it is important to correct misconceptions of the world and therefore our selves. GOD is truth. How can we become fully realized on the basis of untruth. Yoga and all spiritual wisdom is the general treasury of mankind but there is no shortcut to arrival at this universality. It is through knowledge (accessing information) => understanding (assimilating into one's intellect) => overstanding (assimilating into ones being -behaviour and conduct) that we gradually remember our fundamental selves and assimilate those aspects of our being lost in the illusion of maya/ our awareness of separateness in this material existence.
blessed love
Also check out this useful reasoning on the more general principle
"HOTEP: Your history is the same as your genesis that explains to you, how you came to be, WHO you are and WHY you are WHERE you are today.
Proper historical reflection shows the REASON you developed your particular view of the world. It allows you to appreciate your own views and the views of others that may seem different to your own.
Knowing your history alongside developing your character brings your personality into alignment with your self. This way you become more confident in expressing your own views and ideas and you are receptive to learning from others."
Source: www.amonhotep.com/1999/discussions2.htm
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