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Upon reading Chapter five of “Modern Indian Physical Culture”, specifically in “Degeneracy and Experimentation”, I discovered the link between nationalism and physicality as nationalism is often based on exclusion whereas physicality is defining yourself as outward personality to others. Mark Singleton recognized that the physical culture movement highly influenced the development of modern postural yoga as there was increasingly popular interest in physical culture. Yoga was then displayed more like a set of postures versus yoga being viewed as religious or spiritual content. The Indian ideas of believing that their country was the best (nationalism) during the British colonial period impacted the development of postural-based yoga in India. This was due to the fact that Indian pioneers of modern postural (asana) yoga were worried about what they were looking/acting because of Hinduism effort to rival the YMCA movement. In essence, the upsurging rise of the Olympic games increased the popularity of bodybuilding, as it was a method to train in order to get fit for the Games. Bodybuilding included a variety of gymnastics. Additionally, the rise the YMCA movement proved to create an impact as it further helped raise awareness about Yoga.
Bernarr Macfadden was an American proponent of physical culture. Macfadden reshaped the practice of yoga that consists of both Western and “indigenous” forms of exercise to hopefully achieve healthier and desirable bodies. According to our class lecture, Mcfadden’s goal was to create a culture and religion that was dedicated to yoga (our bodies). Macfadden did not necessarily imply the practice of asana, however, a variety of physical exercises that included weight lifting. Macfadden also attempted to create a society to follow an empirical simulation by introducing Christian religions to other countries. Mcfadden engagement in physical culture was attempted to be practiced in cultural programs for India. The chapter goes on to explain how Macfarren emphasized breathing exercises (known as pranayama in yoga terms) in which consist of expiratory exercises that should be a methodical part of therapy. It was also during this time that solidified the heroes of physical culture, which included international wrestler Ahmed Bux and Professor Ramamurti that claimed to be able to support an elephant on his chest. Essentially, this chapter describes that nationalism is a way to seek government from whomever one believes has called them. For example, the Olympic games was an important way of nationalism because it became a dominance idea and another element in a way of observing physical components on a continuum. For example, Russia became the leading best in gymnastics and Russia was perceived as a “strong” nation because of physicality. According to our class lecture, eugenics corresponds with nationalism, the science of improving a human population by controlled breeding to “increase the occurrence of desirable heritable characteristics”. Generally speaking, if we want to strive for a perfect society, we would have to achieve X and Y standards (i.e: being society’s definition of ‘pretty’, having a fit, white, obtaining a certain class status, and etc).
Moreover, new postural yoga began to emerge in women’s gymnastics that developed out of the “German Gymnastic” movement while others grew within the “unchurched” throughout the United States. During this time period, physical culture was becoming popular and was increasingly rising to the militant of nationalism. New technologies for bodybuilding/weight lifting were being introduced across Europe and Asia. However, India was no exception. It was common for people to borrow European techniques of gymnastics and combined them with indigenous practices.
Furthermore, yoga and bodybuilding were important components of the 1920’s postural revival. In summary, MacFadden became an advocate for promoting healthy living and exercise!
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