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{{Short description|2010 book by Stefanie Syman}}
{{italic title}}
{{good article}}
 
{{Infobox book
<!-- |italic title = (see above) -->
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| country = United States
| subject = History of [[yoga]]
| publisher = [[Farrar, StraussStraus, and Giroux]]
| pub_date = 2010
| awards =
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}}
'''''The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America''''' is a 2010 book on the history of [[yoga as exercise]] by the American journalist '''Stefanie Syman'''.
It spans the period from the first precursors of [[Yoga in America|American yoga]], [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and [[Thoreau]], the arrival of [[Vivekananda]], the role of [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] with [[Indra Devi]], the [[hippie]] generation, and the leaders of a revived but now [[postural yoga]] such as [[Bikram Choudhury]] and [[Pattabhi Jois]].
 
Several critics gave the book positive reviews, praising its wide range and readability; other critics gave it mixed reviews, noting its strengths, but also its lack of a strong continuous argument and its tendency to gossip.
 
==Synopsis==
[[File:Swami Vivekananda at Parliament of Religions.jpg|thumb|left|[[Swami Vivekananda at the Parliament of the World's Religions (1893)]]]]
 
Syman begins ''The Subtle Body'' by describing in turn the precursors of [[Yoga in America|American yoga]], namely [[Ralph Waldo Emerson]] and [[Thoreau]]. She notes that Emerson's 1856 poem ''[[Brahma (poem)|Brahma]]'' concisely introduced [[Advaita Vedanta|Hindu nondualism]], repudiating "sacraments, supernaturalism, biblical authority, and ... Christianity".<ref group=SB>{{harvnb|Syman|2010|pp=11–25}}</ref> Thoreau, she states, tried to practice yoga, and was seen by some as "the first American Yogi", but by others as "a misanthropic hermit".<ref group=SB>{{harvnb|Syman|2010|pp=26–36}}</ref> SymanHowever, howeverSyman identifies the dramatic<ref name="Forsthoefel 2012"/> arrival of [[Vivekananda]] and his ''[[Raja Yoga]]'' as marking the start of [[modern yoga]], and the key moment in this as being his appearance at [[Swami Vivekananda at the Parliament of the World's Religions (1893)|the 1893 Parliament of the World's Religions]] in Chicago.<ref group=SB>{{harvnb|Syman|2010|pp=37–61}}</ref>
 
From there, she presents the showman [[Pierre Bernard (yogi)|Pierre Bernard]] and his relative [[Theos Bernard]], including sections detailing Pierre confusing yoga with [[tantric sex]], complete with "lust, mummery, and black magic",<ref group=SB>{{harvnb|Syman|2010|p=87}}</ref> and of Theos telling [[Hatha Yoga: The Report of a Personal Experience|a carefully fictionalised account]] of his experiences with [[Hatha Yoga]] in India and Tibet.<ref group=SB name="Bernard">{{harvnb|Syman|2010|pp=80–142}}</ref>
 
AThe book then includes stories about a variety of straighter advocates of yoga followed. Syman tells the story of [[Margaret Woodrow Wilson]], daughter of American president [[Woodrow Wilson]], whowriting how she "turn[ed] Hindu" after she "found peace" in [[Sri Aurobindo]]'s [[ashram]] in [[Pondicherry]].<ref group=SB>{{harvnb|Syman|2010|pp=143–159}}</ref> A [[Cinema of the United States|Hollywood]] connection wasis developedthen explored, featuring [[Prabhavananda]], who translated the ''[[Bhagavad Gita]]''; [[Aldous Huxley]],; [[Alan Watts]],; and [[Indra Devi]]. The books explains how Devi came to America, unknown, having learnt yoga directly from [[Krishnamacharya]];, and how she had grown up in pre-revolutionary Russia, escaping to Berlin and going to India with her diplomat husband. SheIt also tells of the times that Devi taught many celebrity pupils, including [[Greta Garbo]] and [[Gloria Swanson]].;<ref group=SB>{{harvnb|Syman|2010|pp=179–197}}</ref> in a review, Sarah Schrank notes that Syman is interested in how "American fans, often rich and female", made suitable environments for yoga to spread, "shaping celebrity gurus in the process".<ref name="Schrank 2014" />
 
Then Syman gives her view that, in the 1960s, the yoga scene was dominated by celebrity gurus, whether from India like [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] with his [[Transcendental Meditation]], or home-grown like the "[[Psychedelic drug|psychedelic]] sages" [[Ram Dass]] (aka Richard Alpert) and [[Timothy Leary]], both at one time [[Harvard University|Harvard]] professors.<ref group=SB name="Psychedelic">{{harvnb|Syman|2010|pp=198–232, 256–267}}</ref> It then tells how they were followed, towards the end of the 1960s, by Indian gurus of [[yoga as exercise|postural yoga]], such as [[B. K. S. Iyengar]], founder of the precise [[Iyengar Yoga]], and [[Vishnudevananda]], founder of the more overtly spiritual [[Sivananda Yoga]], along with [[Swami Satchidananda]], giving the story of how the Swami made the crowds chant "[[Hari]] [[Om]], [[Rama|Rama Rama]]" at the 1969 [[Woodstock Festival]].<ref group=SB name=Gurus>{{harvnb|Syman|2010|pp=233–255}}</ref>
 
In the 1960s, the scene was dominated by celebrity gurus, whether from India like [[Maharishi Mahesh Yogi]] with his [[Transcendental Meditation]], or home-grown like the "[[Psychedelic drug|psychedelic]] sages" [[Ram Dass]] (aka Richard Alpert) and [[Timothy Leary]].<ref group=SB name="Psychedelic">{{harvnb|Syman|2010|pp=198–232, 256–267}}</ref>
Towards the end of the 1960s, Syman tells how they were followed by Indian gurus of [[yoga as exercise|postural yoga]], such as [[B. K. S. Iyengar|Iyengar]] and [[Vishnudevananda]], along with [[Swami Satchidananda]] at the 1969 [[Woodstock Festival]].<ref group=SB name=Gurus>{{harvnb|Syman|2010|pp=233–255}}</ref>
The book ends with an account of the gurus of more energetic forms of yoga, in particular [[Bikram Choudhury]] and [[Pattabhi Jois]].<ref group=SB name="Penitents">{{harvnb|Syman|2010|pp=268–294}}</ref><ref name="NYT"/>
 
==Publication==
 
''The Subtle Body'' was published as a hardback book by [[Farrar, StraussStraus, and Giroux]] in New York in 2010.<ref name="WorldCat">{{cite webbook |title=The subtle body : the story of yoga in America |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/subtle-body-the-story-of-yoga-in-america/oclc/863497740?referer=br&ht=edition |publisher=WorldCat |accessdateoclc=30 September863497740 2019}}</ref>
 
The book is illustrated<ref name="WorldCat"/> with 25 [[monochrome]] plates, including portraits of many of the people described. Other illustrations are of the chakras from [[Arthur Avalon]] in 1919; a [[circus]] program from 1929 showing yoga-like contortions; the Hollywood Vedanta Temple; a naked woman in [[Vajrasana (yoga)|Laghuvajrasana]], a back bend, at the [[Esalen Institute]] in 1972; and the Sri [[Ganesha]] Temple in [[Ashtanga vinyasa yoga|Ashtanga Yoga]] New York in 2009.
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==Reception==
 
Several critics gave ''The Subtle Body'' positive reviews, praising its wide range and readability.<ref name="Powers"/><ref name="Forsthoefel 2012"/><ref name="Schrank 2014"/><ref name="Weisenberg 2010"/> Other critics gave the book mixed reviews, noting its strengths, but also its lack of a strong continuous argument, its preference for colourful stories, and its tendency to gossip.<ref name="Farmer2012" /><ref name="HT" />▼
===Positive===
 
The novelist Norman Powers gave the book oneOne of the warmest receptions. Writingcame in the ''New York Journal of Books'', hefrom novelist Norman Powers. He calls ''Subtle Body'' "wide-ranging, flexible in its outlook, and satisfying in its inclusiveness, even if Ms. Syman never really defines what, exactly, yoga is." In his view, the result is "really a cultural history of the United States"; Powers notes Syman's statement that yoga "is one of the first and most successful products of globalization", and observes that in America it helped to weave an isolationist population "into the fabric of the larger world".<ref name="Powers">{{cite journal |last=Powers |first=Norman |title=The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America |journal=New York journalJournal of booksBooks |url=https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/subtle-body-story-yoga-america |accessdateaccess-date=5 July 2019}}</ref> The scholar of Eastern religions [[Thomas Forsthoefel]] almost entirely agreed with Powers in his review of the book for ''[[Nova Religio]]'', in which he called it "a compelling account of the complex social and philosophical interface"<ref name="Forsthoefel 2012" /> created by yoga's arrival in America, also describing it as mainly a social history.<ref name="Forsthoefel 2012" />▼
Several critics gave ''The Subtle Body'' positive reviews, praising its wide range and readability.<ref name="Powers"/><ref name="Forsthoefel 2012"/><ref name="Schrank 2014"/><ref name="Weisenberg 2010"/>
 
Forsthoefel, though, sees the book's strength as Syman's storytelling, which he says provides "key snapshots both of the sweep of yoga's evolution in America and of the lives of key figures"<ref name="Forsthoefel 2012"/> in that process, so that the book reads "almost like a novel".<ref name="Forsthoefel 2012">{{cite journal |last1=Forsthoefel |first1=Thomas A. |title=Review: The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America by Stefanie Syman |journal=Nova Religio |date=November 2012 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=109–110 |doi=10.1525/nr.2012.16.2.109 |url=https://nr.ucpress.edu/content/16/2/19}}</ref> The readability has been noted by academics, too: the historian Sarah Schrank, writing in ''[[American Studies (journal)|American Studies]]'', calls ''Subtle Body'' "highly readable" as it traces the various "transmutations" of yoga in America.<ref name="Schrank 2014">{{cite journal |last=Schrank |title=American Yoga: The Shaping of Modern Body Culture in the United States |first=Sarah |journal=[[American Studies (journal)|American Studies]] |volume=53 |issue=1 |year=2014 |pages=169–181 | url=https://journals.ku.edu/amerstud/article/view/4730/4372|doi=10.1353/ams.2014.0021 |s2cid=144698814 }}</ref> Bob Weisenberg, writing in ''Elephant Journal'', states that the book "reads like a thriller"<ref name="Weisenberg 2010" /> and is "so entertaining it clearly has an audience outside the Yoga world".<ref name="Weisenberg 2010">{{cite web |last1=Weisenberg |first1=Bob |title=Elephant's First Online Book Signing "The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America" by Stefanie Syman |url=https://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/08/elephants-first-online-book-signing-the-subtle-body-the-story-of-yoga-in-america-by-stefanie-syman/ |publisher=Elephant Journal |date=4 August 2010}}</ref>
▲The novelist Norman Powers gave the book one of the warmest receptions. Writing in the ''New York Journal of Books'', he calls ''Subtle Body'' "wide-ranging, flexible in its outlook, and satisfying in its inclusiveness, even if Ms. Syman never really defines what, exactly, yoga is." In his view, the result is "really a cultural history of the United States"; Powers notes Syman's statement that yoga "is one of the first and most successful products of globalization", and observes that in America it helped to weave an isolationist population "into the fabric of the larger world".<ref name="Powers">{{cite journal |last=Powers |first=Norman |title=The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America |journal=New York journal of books |url=https://www.nyjournalofbooks.com/book-review/subtle-body-story-yoga-america |accessdate=5 July 2019}}</ref>
 
The scholar of Eastern religions [[Thomas Forsthoefel]] reviewed the book for ''[[Nova Religio]]'', calling it "a compelling account of the complex social and philosophical interface"<ref name="Forsthoefel 2012"/> created by yoga's arrival in America, and describing it as mainly a social history. In his view, the book's strength is Syman's storytelling, providing "key snapshots both of the sweep of yoga's evolution in America and of the lives of key figures"<ref name="Forsthoefel 2012"/> in that process, so that the book reads "almost like a novel".<ref name="Forsthoefel 2012">{{cite journal |last1=Forsthoefel |first1=Thomas A. |title=Review: The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America by Stefanie Syman |journal=Nova Religio |date=November 2012 |volume=16 |issue=2 |pages=109–110 |url=https://nr.ucpress.edu/content/16/2/19}}</ref>
 
The historian Sarah Schrank, writing in ''[[American Studies (journal)|American Studies]]'', calls ''Subtle Body'' "highly readable", tracing the various "transmutations" of yoga in America. Schrank notes that Syman is interested in how "American fans, often rich and female", made suitable environments for yoga to spread, "shaping celebrity gurus in the process".<ref name="Schrank 2014">{{cite journal |last=Schrank |title=American Yoga: The Shaping of Modern Body Culture in the United States |first=Sarah |journal=[[American Studies (journal)|American Studies]] |volume=53 |issue=1 |year=2014 |pages=169–181 | url=https://journals.ku.edu/amerstud/article/view/4730/4372}}</ref>
 
Bob Weisenberg, writing in ''Elephant Journal'', states that the book "reads like a thriller"<ref name="Weisenberg 2010"/> and is "so entertaining it clearly has an audience outside the Yoga world".<ref name="Weisenberg 2010">{{cite web |last1=Weisenberg |first1=Bob |title=Elephant’s First Online Book Signing "The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America" by Stefanie Syman |url=https://www.elephantjournal.com/2010/08/elephants-first-online-book-signing-the-subtle-body-the-story-of-yoga-in-america-by-stefanie-syman/ |publisher=Elephant Journal |date=4 August 2010}}</ref>
 
===Mixed===
[[File:Pierre Bernard 1939.png|thumb|upright|[[Pierre Bernard (yogi)|Pierre Bernard]], a major figure in the book,<ref group=SB name=Bernard/> pictured in [[Ardha Padmasana]] (half lotus) in an article titled "Prizefighter Trains by Yoga Methods", [[Life magazine|''Life'' magazine]], 1939]]
 
Among the most critical was the historian [[Jared Farmer]]. Writing in ''[[Reviews in American History]]'', he calls the book relatively vivid but "inconstant", switching between journalistic, historical, creative, and critical writing styles. Further, in his view it "lacks a strong argument" and "privileg[es] the most colorful stories". The most extreme of those is Syman's longest chapter, on Pierre Bernard, whichwith Farmer writing that it "includes bizarre [[love trianglestriangle]]s, [[menage a trois]], tantric sex, [[Vanderbilt family|Vanderbilt]] heiresses, [[private detectivesdetective]]s, spies, circus elephants, [[baseball]], and [[heavyweight boxing]]." Though Farmer notes, too, how Syman successfully illustrates the importance of women[[Women in shaping American yoga;|women Indrain Devi created a gentle variant of Mysoreshaping yoga]] suitablein forAmerica, "movieparticularly starsIndra andDevi, housewiveshe alike".affirms Butthat today's yoga did not come straight from Devi,; he writes; instead asserts that, in the 1960s, modern yoga split into a mind-oriented stream with [[Transcendental Meditation]] and the [[Hare Krishnas]] (Syman's chapter on "Psychedelic Sages"<ref group=SB name="Psychedelic"/>), and a body-oriented stream with [[B. K. S. Iyengar|Iyengar]] (Syman's chapter "How to be a Guru..."<ref group=SB name=Gurus/>).<ref name="Farmer2012">{{cite journal |last=Farmer |first=Jared |authorlinkauthor-link=Jared Farmer |title=Americanasana |journal=Reviews in American History |volume=40 |issue=1 |date=March 2012 |pages=145–158 |doi=10.1353/rah.2012.0016|s2cid=246283975 }}</ref> These are covered variously in other parts of the book.<ref group="SB" name="Psychedelic" /><ref group="SB" name="Gurus" />▼
▲Other critics gave the book mixed reviews, noting its strengths, but also its lack of a strong continuous argument, its preference for colourful stories, and its tendency to gossip.<ref name="Farmer2012"/><ref name="HT"/>
 
▲Among the most critical was the historian [[Jared Farmer]]. Writing in ''[[Reviews in American History]]'', he calls the book relatively vivid but "inconstant", switching between journalistic, historical, creative, and critical writing styles. Further, in his view it "lacks a strong argument" and "privileg[es] the most colorful stories". The most extreme of those is Syman's longest chapter, on Pierre Bernard, which "includes bizarre love triangles, menage a trois, tantric sex, Vanderbilt heiresses, private detectives, spies, circus elephants, baseball, and heavyweight boxing." Farmer notes, too, how Syman illustrates the importance of women in shaping American yoga; Indra Devi created a gentle variant of Mysore yoga suitable for "movie stars and housewives alike". But today's yoga did not come straight from Devi, he writes; instead, in the 1960s, modern yoga split into a mind-oriented stream with [[Transcendental Meditation]] and the [[Hare Krishnas]] (Syman's chapter on "Psychedelic Sages"<ref group=SB name="Psychedelic"/>), and a body-oriented stream with [[B. K. S. Iyengar|Iyengar]] (Syman's chapter "How to be a Guru..."<ref group=SB name=Gurus/>).<ref name="Farmer2012">{{cite journal |last=Farmer |first=Jared |authorlink=Jared Farmer |title=Americanasana |journal=Reviews in American History |volume=40 |issue=1 |date=March 2012 |pages=145–158 |doi=10.1353/rah.2012.0016}}</ref>
 
The literary critic [[Michiko Kakutani]], writing in ''[[The New York Times]]'', states that Syman deftly traces how Emerson and Thoreau enabled yoga to take root in America, providing a "lively gallery of larger-than-life characters" in the story of American yoga. Kakutani notes Syman's many "entertaining anecdotes" but states that the book fails to cover either yoga's ancient history or to show how the various schools of yoga evolved.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |last1=Kakutani |first1=Michiko |title=Where the Ascetic Meets the Athletic |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/books/30book.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=29 July 2010 |page=C23}}</ref>
 
In another review, the literary critic [[Michiko Kakutani]], writing in ''[[The authorNew York Times]]'', states that Syman deftly traces how Emerson and Thoreau enabled yoga to take root in America, providing a "lively gallery of larger-than-life characters" in the story of American yoga. Kakutani notes Syman's many "entertaining anecdotes" but states that the book fails to cover either yoga's ancient history or to show how the various schools of yoga evolved.<ref name="NYT">{{cite news |last1=Kakutani |first1=Michiko |title=Where the Ascetic Meets the Athletic |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/books/30book.html |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=29 July 2010 |page=C23}}</ref> Almost entirely disagreeing with Kakytani, [[Claire Dederer]], writing in ''[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]]'', calls the book an "exhaustive historical survey". She notes that Syman writes of Devi that to her, yoga refers only to the [[asana]]s, calling this "a turning point ... from esoteric pursuit to health-giving practice available to all." In Dederer's view, Syman "does a wonderful job of showing how yoga, like a virus, has kept evolving in order to survive", but all the same Dederer wonders if Syman wasn't trying too hard.<ref>{{cite web |last=Dederer |first=Claire |authorlinkauthor-link=Claire Dederer |url=https://slate.com/culture/2010/07/two-new-books-explain-why-americans-love-yoga.html |title=Two new books explain why Americans love yoga |publisher=[[Slate (magazine)|Slate]] |date=11 July 2010}}</ref> Similarly, Tara Katir, writing in ''[[Hinduism Today]]'', states that ''Subtle Body'' "proceeds systematically", and is "engaging, if at times a bit gossipy."<ref name="HT">{{cite web |last1=Katir |first1=Tara |title=History of Yoga in USA |url=https://www.hinduismtoday.com/modules/smartsection/item.php?itemid=5104 |publisher=[[Hinduism Today]] |date=July 2010}}</ref>
 
==See also==
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==Sources==
* {{cite book |title=The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America |url=https://archive.org/details/subtlebodystoryo0000syma |url-access=registration |year=2010 |first=Stefanie |last=Syman |publisher=[[Farrar, StraussStraus, and Giroux]] |location=New York |isbn=978-0-374-23676-2 |ref=harv}}▼
 
{{Yoga as exercise}}
▲* {{cite book |title=The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America |year=2010 |first=Stefanie |last=Syman |publisher=Farrar, Strauss, and Giroux |location=New York |isbn=978-0-374-23676-2 |ref=harv}}
 
{{Modern yoga}}
 
{{DEFAULTSORT:Subtle Body}}
[[Category:2010 non-fiction books]]
[[Category:ModernBooks yogaabout booksyoga]]
[[Category:Social history of the United States]]
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