CLST 034. Yoga History and Philosophy

What is Yoga? It presently enjoys a place at the center of modern American health and wellness discourse as a system of bodily postures and stretches that make people physically fit. But how did it get here? Why does it look like this, and is this the form it took when it was developed as an esoteric ascetic tradition and later as a classical system of philosophy thousands of years ago in ancient India? This course aims to introduce students to the history and philosophy of Yoga, approaching it from three different angles. First, we will complicate the modern notion of Yoga by studying its original Sanskrit textual sources, namely Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtra and its commentaries, in translation. Next, we will study Yoga’s development as a classical system of philosophy and its impact on other philosophical schools in the Indian subcontinent. Finally, we will discuss how Yoga traveled to the west and became the global phenomenon we witness today.
Humanities.
1 credit.
Spring 2025. Khanna.
Catalog chapter: Classics
Department website: http://www.swarthmore.edu/classics

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