How Modern Yoga Took Shape: Reflections Inspired by Yoga Body by Mark Singleton

In reading Mark Singleton’s Yoga Body, I’ve been fascinated by his central argument: that the yoga most of us practice today—Hatha, Vinyasa, Ashtanga, Power Yoga, and other movement-based forms—did not descend in a straight line from ancient traditions. Instead, the familiar, fitness-oriented yoga of modern studios took shape primarily in the early 20th century, especially between the 1920s and 1950s, through a remarkable cultural exchange between India and the West.

Singleton explains that the flowing, athletic “vinyasa system” we recognize today was deeply influenced by the global physical culture movement of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Gymnastics, callisthenics, and European physical training methods were being imported into India at the same time that Indian teachers like T. Krishnamacharya were reviving Hatha Yoga. What emerged was not simply an ancient practice rediscovered, but a hybrid: a dialogue between modern physical fitness and older yogic traditions in a rapidly changing, post-colonial India.

Before Modern Yoga: The Ascetic Roots of Hatha

In medieval India, Hatha Yoga looked very different.The ascetic yogis (yogins, sadhus, fakirs) practiced physical postures not to improve muscle tone or balance, but to transcend the cycles of life and death. Their bodies were laboratories for liberation, not objects of wellness or aesthetic cultivation.

Postures—asana—were part of a spiritual, often extreme regimen involving breath retention, austerities, and energetic practices. These yogis were not “fit” in the contemporary sense; they were otherworldly.

Yet their reputation was complicated. By the 19th century, many Indians viewed ascetics with suspicion. Vivekananda, for instance, openly criticized physical postures and warned Western audiences not to mistake yoga for “circus acts". His language reflected a widespread discomfort at the time: ascetics were powerful, but also seen as marginal, unruly, and unscientific.

Strength Admired, Practices Reimagined

Despite the stigma, the physical prowess of ascetic yogis was well known. Their practices produced remarkable strength, flexibility, and bodily control—qualities that intrigued Western observers and Indian reformers alike.

When Western physical culture began circulating in India—through gymnastics manuals, calisthenic programs, and new ideas of “scientific fitness”—it provided a new framework for reinterpreting yogic postures. Hatha practices that were once esoteric or ascetic could now be recast as health-promoting exercises suitable for householders, students, and everyday practitioners.

This reframing allowed yoga to move out of cremation grounds and caves and into gyms, schools, and eventually yoga studios.

The 1930s: The Birth of Modern, Secular Yoga

Singleton argues that the pivotal transformation occurred in the 1930s, when Krishnamacharya and others began systematizing posture-based yoga with the language of medicine, anatomy, and scientific health. The mystical dimensions were downplayed; empirical benefits were emphasized. Therapeutic asana manuals appeared. Postures were catalogued, sequenced, and rationalized.

Yet this modernization did not mean that yoga lost its philosophical core. Krishnamacharya, despite drawing from physical culture, still wove into his teaching the traditional frameworks of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras—including ethics (yamas and niyamas), breathwork (prāṇāyāma), concentration, and meditation.

This is especially visible in the Ashtanga Vinyasa method developed by his student K. Pattabhi Jois. While the sequences of postures cannot be traced directly to ancient scriptures, the structure of the practice reflects Patañjali’s eight-limbed path. Ashtanga looks at the practitioner as a whole human being—mental, spiritual, and physical—and encourages a holistic transformation rather than just physical fitness.

In this sense, modern yoga is both new and old, blending physical culture with classical yogic philosophy.

Final Reflections: What Truly Makes Yoga Yoga

As we look for authenticity in modern postural yoga, it’s easy to become preoccupied with where the poses come from or how closely a sequence resembles its historical roots. But the enduring power of yoga has never been limited to physical technique. What distinguishes yoga from physical culture is the depth of meaning and inner work that accompanies the practice.

Even within the innovations of Krishnamacharya’s early 20th-century training—which blended elements of gymnastics, physical culture, and traditional Indian concepts—the thread of Patañjali’s teachings continued to shape the method. While many of the asanas and sequences used today cannot be directly traced to ancient scriptures, the Ashtanga system and other contemporary lineages were built on philosophical foundations that reach far deeper than posture alone.

Ultimately, an authentic yoga practice is not defined by what poses you perform or where those poses originated. It comes from how you practice—how you apply the principles of discipline, breath, concentration, self-study, and ethical living to transform the mind, body, and spirit. Yoga becomes yoga not through the shape of the posture, but through the state of harmony it cultivates.