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 Master Yogi Khane in a fundamental posture of Egyptian Yoga: The "Egyptian walk." |
___The
present article proposes an interpretation of the origin of yoga. It comes
from a close collaboration with Yogi Khane, the Senegalese yogi founder
of the International Institute of Yoga, whose office for Africa is located
in Dakar. In fact, Yogi Khane is the only master of Egyptian yoga today.
It is he who taught us this discipline and revealed its existence to us.
___For a long time we believed that lndu yoga had Aryan origins. The excavations done at Mohengo-Daro, in the lndus Valley, revealed that the Indus civilizations already knew all or part of the yogic techniques, about 3000 years before the arrival of the Aryans. The origin of Indu yoga must be attributed to the Prearyan peoples who lived in the lndus Valley at that epoch. According to certain theories, these groups of people were close to Black Africans. It is disturbing to note that yoga also existed in Egypt at the time, as shown by the work of professor Cheikh Anta Diop. Yoga appeared thus as a link of the great Indo-African culture. ___ In the beginning, the religious character of this discipline became obvious. lf, today yoga is often considered as a technique of well being with therapeutic importance, in the beginning it was a technique of prayer practiced by the priest. Thus the papyrus called Herubn shows us priest Herubn in a praying posture in the lotus posi- tion, arms in candlestick and the trunk twisting. On another engraving of that same papyrus one can see Herubn in another praying posture: the legs are always in lotus position but instead of being vertical, the trunk is bent and the head almost touching the ground in a sign of humility and worship. Egyptian iconography shows us many variants of that worshipping posture. We can to mention, among other examples a statue of Rams II, and another of Ramsey IX, the legs in lotus position and the bust bent, but this time the head is raised instead of being inclined toward the ground. |
| ___ The knee praying
posture adopted by Christianism was commonly practiced by the Egyptians.
We find many ex- amples, from earliest times. We can mention the cube posture,
excellently demonstrated by the naophore statues. ___ Also in India the religious character of yoga appeared neatly. Here is what Sir John Marshall wrote, concerning a statue discovered at Mohenjo-Daro: ___ "It apparently represents someone in the posture of a yogi and it is for that reason that the eyelids are more than half closed and that he looks down toward the point of the nose... It is probably the statue of a priest or rather that of a king priest, since it has not the horns which one might have expected if it was a representation of divinity itself. The fact that it possesses a religious character or quasi religious is sug- gested by the specific drawing in clover shape of her dress, design which is reserved in Ser for the object of religious nature." ___ The other representations of cyogis postures discovered at Mohenjo-Daro concern the different divinities of the Great God himself. The fact that the gods themselves are represented in a yogis posture can show that they are the ones who are considered as having taught yoga to the men. ___ One will ask himself perhaps what the link is between the body posture and prayer. In fact the immobilization in a posture allows one at the same time to immobilize the mind, to compel it to concentrate more effectively on the object of its worshiping. Really, as Master Yogi Khaki said, meditation can be defined as a posture of the mind. The aim of the positions (or arenas) is to allow the grant to more easily reach that posture of the mind. They have an effect on certain centres of subtle energies, as well as on the meridians of energy, intermediary term, in the suc- cession of vibrations, between the mind and the body. This allows the believer to direct all his energy and thoughts towards God. Moreover to make the body participate in the praying act, as the Muslims do it, means a participa- tion of the being. That is to say a total devotion to God. This adds evidenUy to the symbolic meaning of certain postures. |
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___ Egyptian civilization was an essentially religious
civilization, as Egyptian architecture witnesses it. Confronted by the temples,
we are obliged to conclude that such realizations have been possible only because
of all the kinetic forces of the Egyptian nation and the Egyptian economical
system were at the service of the religious. It is not surprising to note a
very large presence of Egyptian yoga and the concepts which subtend it.
___ In describing the posture of the priestess
Herubn, we have mentioned the position of the candlestick. That posture was
found in one of the famous Egyptian symbols the symbol of Ka. Ka is in fact
represented by two arms raised in the posture of the candlestick. According
to pastor Dr. Feller, Ka represents "the possibility that man has to visit God",
an interpretation which is quite in agreement with what was seen concerning
the original role of yoga.
___ The symbol of Ka, the posture of the candlestick
is not the only posture of Egyptian yoga which has obtained recognition in the
hieroglyphic system. We also found there the posture of the cube, and also a
twisting posture, arms in candlestick. This last hieroglyphic symbolizes the
idea of eternity, and we very often encountered it in association with the name
of the Egyptian God Atoum Great God creator of the heliopolitan cosmogony. )
There again, the religious character obviously appeared.
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A
statue of king Hor surmounted by Ka
12th Dynasty cairo musuem |
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| A true vertebral medicine
___ The fact that the postures of yoga have been expressed by the hieroglyphic signs is obviously an indication of the impregnation of Egyptian civilization by yoga, and so the an- tiquity of .this discipline. In fact this im- pregnation is noticeable in all Egyptian art. Man and woman are represented here generally by the body, the pelvis and the head in profile, the eye and the trunk full-face. This strange posture did not fail to strike all those interested in Egyptian art. It was only generally seen there an aesthetic convention. Master Khaki, the founder of the Inter- national Institute of Yoga had to revive Egyptian yoga for the origins of this convention to become subject of discus- sion. If it is question of yoga postures, we are in thepresence of various representationas It is likely that, from the copy of the original, the Egyptian posture quickly became a convention. In fact it is found in profane as well as in religious scenes. It is therefore likely that the Egyptian painter or sculptor, finding it comfortable and aesthetic, adopted it by truly making it a technique of represntation of the face. |
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. . . examples of Egyptian yoga techniques |
___
This posture constitutes, with that of the
candlestick, the key posture of Egyptian yoga, as maste Khane teaches it
today. The reason is that, combined with the position of the candlestick
and the movement of the eagle wings, it allows one to obtain a good work
of rehabilitayion and flexibility of the verteberal column. Egyptian yoga,
at the same time a discipline for prayer, was a true vertebral therapy,
a complete technique of self manipulation of the column. This makes yoga
a very attractive discipline today for certain members of the medical corps,
especially chiropractors. ___ In relation to the twisting postures, vertical trunk, arms in candlestick which constiture specific postures of Egyptian yoga, we found again in the Egyptian iconography a certain number of postures which are also classics of indu yoga, for example, the lotus, the royal cobra and the bridge. We will notice that sometimes the person who works these postures is shown in company with others who seems to be clapping their hands, as if to indicate a ryhthm, a measure. This seems to supose that certain postures of Egyptian yoga have been adopted by the dance.
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Posture
of extension toward the back
by Irena Lexova: Ancient Egyptian Dances Praha 1935. |
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Posture
of Egyptian walk.
Funerary Tumb of Djeddhor 4th century B.C. Louvre Musuem |
___ Which
is nothing astonishing, since orginally the dance also possessed a certain religious
character. Hercone sees the possible beginning of a passing from religious to
the profane.
___ Certain
of these postures have survived in the dance figures done by the young Ivorian
dancers of the serpent society. This seems indicative of a diffusion
of Egyptian yogic techniques in a part of present Black Africa, a phenomenon
which can be corroborated by the pressence, in of Peul initatic stories transmitted
by Amadou Hampate Ba, of a certain number of initiatic elements wich arem iniscent
of ancient Egypt. I could take for example the story of the iniation of Dyon-Dyeri
by Gagoumawel in the Sparkle Of the Large Star. The ritual which goes
with the initiation can be related to the Egyptian ritual of "the opening
of the mouth"; this is certainly not a coincidence. The text and the critical
display of Kaidara hint at the importance of immobility. The immobility, the
static character of the postures are a trait very characteristic of yoga. In
Black Nations and Culture, Professor Cheihk Anta Diop established a rapport
between the Egyptian uraeus and a design which decorates the hairstyle
of an Ife head. The uraeus can be linked with the esoteric knowledge whic goes
with yoga. It also would be suitable to mention the Dogon Hook, and the stretched
arm posture towards the sky, which characterize certain forms of representation
of the God Nommo. These are, of course, only the first indications which require
more serious study. But the mere fact of mentioning them shows to what extent
yoga could have been linked, originally, to the Black world.
By Genevieve Khane
The following images added by web host.
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Cross
legged posture
Central Africa 20th century. |
Cross
legged posture
North East Africa Dynastic Period |
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Amenhotep
III
East African Uraeus Ancient Kmt |
West
African Uraeus
Ife, Nigeria Notice that the head dress has been moved up and off brow ridge. Headress still cuts across hair line. |
