EARLY TIMES OF YOGA IN BRAZIL, c. 1910-1920

1 Introduction

Despite the current social relevance of yoga in Brazil, which mobilizes perhaps millions of practitioners and was incorporated as a therapeutic resource by the national health service in 2017 (cf. BAGDADI, 2011; FOLHA DE S. PAULO, 2002; ZABAKI, 2003), in the wake of the emergence of new medical paradigms influenced by Eastern practices or imaginaries (NOGUEIRA, CAMARGO JUNIOR, 2007), there are few academic works on its history¹. Most of the historical material available on the subject was produced by practitioners, often of a memorialistic nature and scattered across different sources — a fragmentation that hinders access to such information. Furthermore, in a context in which tradition confers prestige, as is the case with yoga, different groups compete with one another for primacy in the diffusion of the practice, which compromises the impartiality of the available accounts. Where the weight of history can be mobilized as a marketing strategy, disputes over memory tend to be particularly fierce (cf. LINDHOLM, 2008; TAYLOR, 2011). Among yoga masters and practitioners, conflicts can even be observed around the definition of who would have first pioneered the spread of the practice in the country. It is no coincidence that different available versions of the history of yoga in Brazil conflict with one another, even though they usually converge in recognizing the 1950s as the milestone of this process.

In this context, we analyzed the history of yoga in Brazil through newspapers and magazines available in the digital collection of Rio de Janeiro's National Library (https://bndigital.bn.gov.br/hemeroteca-digital/). Research in these sources identified hundreds of news items about yoga, published in dozens of periodicals from different regions of Brazil throughout the 20th century. These news items date back to the end of the 19th century, increasing in number throughout the first half of the 20th century, as shown in Chart 1. The mere identification of these sources already suggests a first contradiction in the predominant accounts of the history of yoga in Brazil: the 1950s were not the period in which the practice began in the country, even though a growth in published news did in fact occur from that period onward.

Amid the thicket of interpretations usually disseminated on the subject, basically five versions can be found regarding the beginning of yoga in Brazil. The first attributes it to the Frenchman Swami Asuri Kapila, who is said to have visited South America in 1936 (SOCIEDADE BRASILEIRA DE YOGA INTEGRAL, 2017). At that time, Kapila is said to have traveled to Montevideo, from where he set out on various "missions" in Brazil with the deliberate intent of spreading his proposal for an "Integral Yoga" (CORDEIRO, 2016).

A second version points to the pioneering role of the also French Leo Costet de Mascheville, known as Sevananda Swami after his initiation into yoga. On one hand, Sevananda is said to have begun his work of spreading yoga in Brazil when his master, Asuri Kapila, sent him to present teachings on the practice at a congress in Rio de Janeiro in 1947 (SANCHES, GNERRE, 2015). Sevananda's biography, however, prepared by the Igreja Expectante based on notes from his disciples, biographical data from his book, O homem, esse conhecido [The Man, That Known One] (published in 1953), as well as accounts from his companion, Sadhana, points to Asuri Kapila as one of his main disciples, not as his master (SANCHES, 2017). According to this version, the introduction of yoga in Brazil would have come through Sevananda's work, not Asuri Kapila's (CARUSO, 2010; FERNANDES; ROCHA, 2005; GNERRE, 2010; SANCHES; GNERRE, 2015; ZICA; GNERRE, 2016).

Sevananda is said to have been initiated into yoga by a German man whom he met while crossing Argentina on foot, and who was allegedly connected to the "Suddha Dharma Mandalam," a "spiritual," "mystical," and "centuries-old" organization, as some of its followers define it, headquartered in the Himalayas (SANCHES, GNERRE, 2015). After that, Sevananda is said to have founded, at some point between the 1930s and 1940s, in Montevideo, the Independent Group for Esoteric Studies, creating lines of study in yoga, theosophy, Buddhism, and Vedanta in order to spread such knowledge throughout Latin America (GNERRE, 2010; ZICA; GNERRE, 2016). In Brazil, more specifically, Sevananda's work to spread yoga is said to have begun in June 1952, during a journey across the country. In 1953, Sevananda is said to have arrived in the town of Resende, in the interior of Rio de Janeiro, where he founded a monastery and an association, the "Associação Mística Ocidental" [Western Mystical Association], pointed to in certain accounts as the first space for the practice and study of yoga in Brazil (SANCHES, 2017).

A third version mentions the pioneering role of Caio Miranda, an army general said to have begun teaching yoga in Rio de Janeiro in the mid-1940s (SIEGEL; BARROS, 2013, ZICA; GNERRE, 2016). It is said that Caio Miranda had his first contact with yoga through reading the book As 14 Lições da Filosofia Yogi [The Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy], by Yogi Ramacharaka, to whom we will return further on.

A fourth version further points to the Japanese-Brazilian Shotaro Shimada, who is said to have begun teaching yoga classes in São Paulo around 1956 (ZICA; GNERRE, 2016; CABRAL, 2007). Like Caio Miranda, Shotaro Shimada is said to have had his first contact with yoga through reading a book by Ramacharaka, in this case, A ciência hindu-yogi da respiração [The Hindu-Yogi Science of Breath] (SHIMADA, 2008).

Finally, there is also the version that emphasizes the role of José Hermógenes, an army lieutenant said to have been initiated into yoga in the late 1950s as part of treatment for tuberculosis. After being cured, Mestre Hermógenes, as he became better known, began to spread yoga as a therapeutic resource through books and classes at his own studio, established in Rio de Janeiro in the early 1960s (CARUSO, 2010; SANCHES, 2017). Shortly before, in 1960, Hermógenes published the book Autoperfeição com Hatha Yoga [Self-Perfection through Hatha Yoga], one of the greatest publishing successes on yoga in Brazil of that period (GNERRE, 2010). Only three years later, in 1963, the book was already in its fifth edition, as revealed by records in the catalog of Rio de Janeiro's National Library. The book's success, soon followed by the apparent success of his studio as well, contributed to cementing Mestre Hermógenes's name as a pioneer of "yoga therapy" and "holistic medicine" in Brazil (GNERRE, 2010).

Nevertheless, the prominence given to these names constitutes a web of opposition between the remembered and the forgotten. Well before what these more widely disseminated narratives point to, celebrating figures now enshrined in the memory of this community of practitioners, there was already a significant set of initiatives dedicated to organizing and spreading yoga in the country. As we shall see, these first initiatives for the spread of yoga in Brazil were very important for the subsequent development of the practice in the country. According to our argument, the initiatives for the dissemination of yoga, developed systematically from the early 1910s onward, slowly made available a repertoire and a vocabulary about yoga that influenced the wider diffusion of the practice that would take place in the following years. Focusing then on the 1910s and 1920s, drawing on news items from newspapers and magazines in the digital collection of Rio de Janeiro's National Library — notably those indicated in Table 1 — this article aims to analyze this kind of forgotten history of yoga in Brazil.

We adopted no particular criterion for the search, other than identifying news items in these periodicals that contained the word yoga. Moreover, the following analysis did not select categories a priori, nor did it undertake systematic a posteriori categorizations, such as those indicated by methodologies like discourse analysis, widely used in historical research on sports. Instead, we limited ourselves to reading through all of this documentary material, seeking an interpretive and contextual understanding of it, supported by the established bibliography on the historical period considered (among others, cf. ARÓSTEGUI, 2006; CARDOSO, PEREZ BRIGNOLI, 1990; CARDOSO, 1999; CARR, 1996; SIMIAND, 2003).

2 The forgotten history of yoga in Brazil

The earliest news items about yoga in Brazil treated the practice as a curiosity, emphasizing eccentric dimensions and the feats of Indian fakirs. The first news item we located, published in 1895 in the Rio de Janeiro newspaper A Notícia, narrated the death of an American man during an attempt to remain in a vegetative state inside an underground cave. The man is said to have tried to imitate a practice attributed to Indian fakirs, following accounts by foreign travelers who had visited India during that period. According to the description in these accounts:

The fakir seals with wax his eyes, ears, nose, and all other openings of the body, with the exception of the mouth. A disciple then lifts the tip of his tongue and, folding it back against the throat, seals the entrance to the pharynx with it. Thus arranged, [the fakir] falls into a state of lethargy so close to death that not even the beat of his pulse or heart can be felt. Then surrounded by aromatic herbs, which seem to serve the sole purpose of warding off insects, he remains inside a sealed cave for two or three months, until the disciple returns once more, parts his lips, unfolds his tongue, and, through proper practices, calls him back to life (A NOTÍCIA, 1895, p. 1).

News items linking yoga to Indian fakirs would continue to appear in Brazilian newspapers until at least the mid-1920s, always emphasizing its "exotic," "extravagant," "superstitious," and "unscientific" dimension. In these accounts, fakirs were said to be able to make trees grow in a matter of minutes, as well as to remain fasting, motionless, and without breathing for months on end. Classified as "miracles," the explanation for these physical feats was usually attributed to the practice of "Hatha Yoga," then presented as something capable of altering the functioning of the nervous system and the body's general physiology. Through these sensationalist accounts, news items about yoga helped attract readers' attention to the practice, thus contributing to the modest beginnings of its dissemination in the country.

Nevertheless, the main vehicle for the dissemination of yoga in Brazil in the early years of the 20th century was initiatives of a spiritual nature (not necessarily religious), dedicated to different syncretic forms of mysticism. From that time on, various "naturist," "esoteric," "occultist," "psychist," and "psycho-transcendental culture and mental vibration" organizations, as they called themselves, held lectures and published articles on yoga. More specifically, initiatives of the "Theosophical Society," originally founded in New York by the Russian Helena Blavatsky around 1874 or 1875, played a key role in beginning the regular and systematic dissemination of yoga in Brazil. Dedicated to attempting to form the nucleus of a universal brotherhood, to studying the hidden nature of man for the development of his spiritual powers, as well as to encouraging the study of the sciences, philosophies, and religions, theosophical societies played a relevant role in the dissemination of yoga not only in Brazil but also in several other countries (ZICA; GNERRE, 2016; LACHMAN, 2014; WASHINGTON, 2000). "Between 1890 and 1920, it is estimated that theosophical societies published more than 750 titles with different esoteric materials, including books and pamphlets on yoga" (NEWCOMBE, 2009, p. 989).

In the first decade of the 20th century, the first theosophical lodges and study groups began to emerge in Brazil (PINTO, 1969). Articles linked to theosophical content soon became more abundant in several newspapers of the period. Some of these articles laid out the connections between theosophy and so-called "Eastern" philosophies, eventually including yoga. According to one of these articles, theosophical principles were said to have been inspired by ideas of the "Orient" — often taken as a synonym for India. As was stated:

[…] it was there, in that vast and mysterious India, in that corner of the planet, beneath the rays of a scorching and fecund sun, or under the star-studded dome of night, that human thought, disciplined and obedient, began to architect this vast repository of philosophical principles (BARROS, 1916, p. 1).

By the end of the 1910s, countless theosophical groups had been formed in the country. Several of these groups organized lectures and wrote articles disseminating yoga in widely circulated newspapers. In 1919, following a suggestion by Annie Besant, international president of the Theosophical Society at the time, theosophy followers in Brazil began organizing the founding of a "National Section of the Theosophical Society," which was meant to function as a sort of confederation of theosophical study groups in the country (PINTO, 1969). Already in November of that year, a first meeting was held aiming at organizing a "Brazilian Theosophical Congress" (THEOSOPHIA, 1919, p. 9).

Once this national section was formed in 1919, articles on theosophy in various Brazilian newspapers appear to have become more frequent. Most of these articles consisted of promotional pieces, encouragement, and instruction on theosophy. Such articles frequently addressed the philosophy of yoga, attributing to it the possibility of expanding consciousness, altering mental states, and the fusion of man with God. The tone of the articles clearly sought to lend them a scientific dimension, with a noticeable intent to emphasize aspects far removed from the exotic imagery that had until then typically marked news items about yoga or other Indian practices. An article published in 1920 in the pages of O Jornal, of Rio de Janeiro — which published many articles of this same kind during this period — stated, for example, that the methods of yoga were "based on the perfect knowledge of psychology and led man to the summit of the most sublime spirituality" (emphasis ours). Claiming to draw on the teachings of Annie Besant, the article emphasized the preparatory character that the practice of yoga could have for health. According to the article, "the habit of concentration advocated by Yoga, which consists in making the spirit fairly stable by fixing thought, develops the brain cells, and thus manages to create its own instrument and methods of purer and more elevated thinking in the future" (NICOLL, 1920, p. 7). From that moment on, the "scientific" dimension of yoga would occupy a very important place in discourses about the practice, being heavily emphasized in discussions promoted by the press and also in the efforts of other groups to spread yoga, just as was happening at the same time in several Western countries (cf. STRAUSS, 2002).

After the national section of the Theosophical Society was formed, several lectures on yoga were organized. In December 1922, for example, Aleixo Alves de Souza gave a talk on yoga and Hinduism at a theosophical lodge in Rio de Janeiro, covered in three of the city's most important newspapers of the period: Correio da Manhã, O Paiz, and O Jornal (CONFERENCIAS, 1922; NOTAS SOCIAIS, 1922; THEOSOFIA, 1922). Aleixo would from then on prove to be an engaged participant in this community. Beyond this specific talk on yoga, Aleixo directed a theosophical lodge in Rio de Janeiro, gave countless lectures on related subjects between the 1920s and 1940s (including others on yoga), regularly sent articles on theosophy to various Rio de Janeiro newspapers during this same period, and also accompanied the visit of the Indian master Jinarajadasa to Brazil in 1928.

Indeed, it was on the initiative of members of theosophical societies in Brazil that this Indian master's visit to the country that year was promoted, as part of a longer tour that also took in other South American countries. Portrayed by the Brazilian press as a "wise professor," the Hindu Freemason-theosophist master Curuppumullage Jinarajadasa, an Indian educated in London, gave several lectures on theosophy and yoga in Brazil, especially in Rio de Janeiro and cities in São Paulo state. Several of these lectures received coverage from some of the leading and largest newspapers of the era, such as Jornal do Commercio, O Paiz, and Correio da Manhã. In São Paulo, the repercussions of the lectures appear to have been especially large, gathering more than 1,500 people at some of them (O ENTHUSIASMO..., 1928; AS CONFERENCIAS..., 1928). An anonymous chronicler for the newspaper Diário Nacional, of the São Paulo capital, in describing Jinarajadasa's lecture at the São Paulo Municipal Theatre, mentioned "prolonged applause" and a "colossal audience." In his words:

[…] it is remarkable how Jinarajadasa impresses the people of São Paulo. The mere fact of his gathering a colossal audience at the [Teatro] Municipal like yesterday's indicates that his doctrine awakens among us an exceptional reception. With some justification, the chronicler inferred that the Indian's apparent success in Brazil implied a certain interest in his ideas. According to the chronicler, "the insistence with which the public greeted the visiting theosophist suggested that what he had said had penetrated deep into the souls of those present" (JINARAJADASA EM SÃO PAULO, 1928, p. 12).

Besides the theosophical societies, other "spiritualist" organizations, as they themselves usually defined themselves, also held lectures at which "yogic philosophy" was disseminated. One such organization was the "Esoteric Circle of the Communion of Thought," conceived still in the first decade of the 20th century by the Portuguese Antônio Olívio Rodriguez, active in various Brazilian cities. From 1926 onward, at its Rio de Janeiro headquarters, members Gerson Paula Lima and Muller Barbosa held several lectures on yoga, frequently reported in different widely circulated newspapers in the city, such as Gazeta de Notícias and O Paiz. As can be seen in the announcement of one of these lectures, published this time in the newspaper O Brasil, "practical exercises" of yoga, lasting thirty minutes and restricted to members only, were already being offered at these gatherings, following the "magnetic passes" and preceding the practical exercises of the course on "[…] hermic sciences" [sic] — probably meaning "hermetic sciences" (CRENÇAS DIVERSOS [sic], 1926, p. 7).

Other "spiritualist" institutions of the period, such as the "Centro Comum Brasileiro" and the "Comunhão Mystica Darma," also contributed to the dissemination of yoga from the 1920s onward through the organization of lectures on the subject. In 1925, the newspaper O Brasil announced Rubey Wanderley's lecture on "Human Redemption from the Point of View of Yoga." According to the announcement, after a general explanation of the spiritualist question, the lecture would address the "soundness of occultism" and "the laws of Karma and Reincarnation," followed by a definition of what yoga was and how the practice intervened in and accelerated the process of human redemption (FALARÁ O SR. RUBEY WANDERLEY..., 1925, p. 2).

The "Sociedade Dharana," a kind of Buddhist and Masonic brotherhood created in the mid-1920s, representing in Brazil the "great current" of the "White Brotherhood of Tibet" — an international organization said to also have representations in the United States, Egypt, Japan, India, Russia, and Germany — also promoted "yogic philosophy" among its members. With the broader purpose of educating and preparing the mental state of its brothers in humanity, the Sociedade Dharana promoted a wide range of knowledge that could be seen as means of guiding the minds of its members from a lower state to a higher one, which included physics, chemistry, natural history, and yoga (SOCIEDADE DHARANA, 1927, p. 8).

Another important initiative of the "spiritualist" organizations, especially the theosophical societies, was the translation and publication of books on yoga. Indeed, alongside talks or lectures, the publication of books on yoga was perhaps the most important initiative for the initial dissemination of the practice in Brazil. From the beginning of the 1910s, on the direct initiative of theosophical societies, several books on the subject were translated and published in Brazil, among them Raja Yoga ou Desenvolvimento Mental [Raja Yoga or Mental Development], Hatha Yoga ou Filosofia Yogi do Bem Estar Físico [Hatha Yoga or the Yogi Philosophy of Physical Well-Being], Ciência da respiração [The Science of Breath], Quatorze lições sobre Filosofia Yogi [Fourteen Lessons in Yogi Philosophy], and As doutrinas esotéricas das filosofias e religiões da Índia [The Esoteric Doctrines of the Philosophies and Religions of India]. These books, always translated and published on the initiative of theosophical societies, appear indeed to have played an important role in the process of disseminating yoga in Brazil, as they would in other countries as well, such as England or the United States (cf. NEWCOMBE, 2009). Tellingly, some of the figures usually identified as pioneers of yoga in Brazil, such as Caio Miranda and Shotaro Shimada, said they had been initiated into yoga around 1950 by reading one of these books (translated and published from approximately 1910 onward).

Advertisements for these books were published in various widely circulated newspapers of the period, frequently emphasizing the ability of these works to teach exercises for the purpose of promoting health and physical well-being. The books were widely sold in bookstores, in addition to being discussed at lectures and study groups, as shown by the invitation to a meeting of the "Ordem Mystica do Pensamento," in Rio de Janeiro, which also intended to create a new section of the "Psychological Institute and Respiratory Gymnastics," whose purpose was precisely to devote itself to the study of Ramacharaka's works (COMUNICADO..., 1927).

All the books on yoga translated and published by theosophical societies in Brazil from the early 1910s onward were authored by Ramacharaka. According to the consensus understanding of American historiography, Ramacharaka was in fact a pseudonym of the lawyer William Walker Atkinson, who, after having suffered and overcome health problems through mental healing techniques, converted to the "New Thought Movement," a syncretic American spiritual movement, directly or indirectly influenced by theosophy, which also combined science, philosophy, Christianity, spiritism, and various Eastern religions, among other influences. From then on, Atkinson wrote countless texts on subjects as diverse as yoga, magnetism, telepathy, occultism, orientalism, Buddhism, Hinduism, parapsychology, and mind-cure, in addition to having edited, between 1901 and 1919, two important magazines of the New Thought movement (New Thought and Advanced Thought). Around 50 books or more are authored or co-authored by him, or attributed to him, who, besides Yogi Ramacharaka, is also said to have adopted the pseudonyms Swami Bhakta Vishita and Swami Panchadasi (MELTON, 2001, p. 112-113). It is no coincidence that historian Carl Jackson (1975) classified him as one of the most prolific American writers of the New Thought movement on Eastern religions (p. 537).

Even before the books, articles signed under some of these pseudonyms of Atkinson's had already appeared in New Thought movement magazines. Indeed, some of these books simply gathered into a single volume articles previously published in these magazines. Of the books attributed to Atkinson, more than a dozen are dedicated specifically to yoga. The precise circumstances through which Atkinson supposedly came into contact with yoga are uncertain. According to a version apparently disseminated by the Yogi Publication Society, the publisher responsible for publishing Ramacharaka's books in the United States, Atkinson is said to have first come into contact with yoga in Chicago, between 1892 and 1893, through a certain Baba Bharata, said to have been a disciple of Yogi Ramacharaka, an Indian master born in the final years of the 18th century, who is said to have entrusted his disciple with the task of continuing to spread his ideas. Ramacharaka's books are said to have been psychographed by Atkinson himself or by other people, under the direct spiritual guidance of the deceased Indian master, who thus assumed authorship of the works. The absence of documentary records concerning Baba Bharata and Yogi Ramacharaka, both in India and in the United States, suggests that the entire story may be nothing more than an invention, perhaps motivated by advertising purposes. The books, in any case, went on to be widely disseminated, not only in the United States but also in several other countries, including Brazil, where such publications did in fact exert influence on the development of yoga.

3 Historical meanings of yoga

Of Indian origin and with extremely ancient roots, sometimes traced back five thousand years depending on the version and modality, yoga began to be introduced in the West around the 19th century. This process was favored by European Romanticism and imperialism. On one hand, Romanticism valorized new forms of subjectivity that relativized Western paradigms, while at the same time encouraging the assimilation of cultural elements from the East that could be seen as primitive or esoteric, as was the case with yoga. The interest of European artists, writers, philosophers, academics, and scholars in things of the East gave rise to what may be called an Oriental renaissance (SAID, 2007). Imperialism, for its part, allowed for contact with cultures of the East, expanded the flow of material and symbolic exchanges between East and West, and, moreover, facilitated, through coercion and co-optation, an arbitrary selection of historical and cultural elements that would later become established as "authentically Eastern traditions."

In the mid-19th century, as the British struggled to consolidate their colonial rule over India, certain Muslim groups mounted strong resistance, while parts of the Hindu elite, driven by their own interests, sometimes acted as strategic partners. The British and their new Hindu allies soon began to represent India's Islamic past as an era of darkness, tyranny, and fanaticism. In this context of colonial domination and political disputes among different factions of the Indian elite, India's Islamic heritage was almost entirely suppressed in favor of celebrating an idealized Hindu past (MISHRA, 2007, p. 121-122). The presence of yoga techniques in religious traditions other than Hinduism, such as Buddhism, Jainism, or Sikhism, was equally underestimated (NEWCOMBE, 2009).

The fact that Western Christianity, through the doctrine of "muscular Christianity," so influential in the global spread of sports (cf. PUTNEY, 2001), also postulated, since the 19th century, the notion that caring for the body through physical exercise was an effective form of spiritual connection with God, also tends to be conveniently overlooked, which accentuates the supposed uniqueness of "Eastern" practices as a means of connecting or reconnecting body and spirit. Thus, the holistic dimension of yoga, whose techniques are said to link body and spirit, tends to be emphasized as a historical peculiarity of the East and its practices. Moreover, Christian ideological influences on modern formulations of yoga, or even of Hinduism, in India have also been and still are downplayed (ALTER, 2006; KING, 1999). On the other hand, in order to facilitate adaptations and accommodations, elements potentially conflicting with Western cosmologies are attenuated or even excluded from the universe of references of yoga, as was the case with the possibility of spiritual involution advocated by Hindu religiosity.

The beginning of the travels of the first Hindu masters from India to the United States marks an important historical turning point in the process of yoga's diffusion in the West, as much as in the configurations the practice would assume in India. In the early 20th century, the presence of Indian yoga masters in Europe and the United States increased, while, at the same time, Europeans and Americans began traveling to India in search of further knowledge about yoga. The flow of people between East and West facilitated the exchange of ideas in both contexts. Bodily techniques from the current repertoire of yoga, such as relaxation, frequently associated with a supposed medieval Indian religious tradition, in fact have no precedent in pre-modern India and are, to a large extent, European and American inventions of the 19th century (SINGLETON, 2005).

Only from a Western perspective, guided by a gaze biased by exoticism and driven, moreover, by a desire to satisfy the symbolic and spiritual expectations of the Western middle classes, could the otherness of yoga be confined to absolute cultural differences between West and East. Indeed, an adequate understanding of modern yoga is only possible if the frame of reference is global. Yoga, after all, as we know it today, is the result of the modern encounter of people and ideas — both religious and scientific — from East and West (MICHELIS, 2008).

The history of yoga in Brazil, in particular, is also the result of a long, complex, and multilateral international circuit of material and symbolic exchanges between India, South America, and the North Atlantic, with roots reaching back to the end of the 19th century. As we have seen, these circuits involved a syncretic esoteric organization created by a Russian woman in the United States, whose members, in Brazil, would later organize the travels of Indian yoga masters educated in European schools, while at the same time translating and disseminating books by an American who was initiated into yoga without ever having traveled to India.

In this context, it was fundamentally as a therapy or a form of gymnastics through postural and breathing exercises that yoga spread in Brazil and in other Western countries, notwithstanding the philosophical or spiritual components of the practice. The assertion of yoga as a bodily technique with a scientific foundation, capable of promoting the health of its practitioners, was fundamental to the assimilation of the practice in the West, thereby distancing it from the images of exoticism and charlatanism that had initially marked it in this context, while at the same time avoiding confrontations with Christian theologies.

Since the end of the 19th century, when the systematic dissemination of yoga in the West began, influential disseminators of the practice, almost always connected to syncretic spiritual movements, repeatedly and explicitly emphasized that only some of its aspects should be assimilated, seeking to make them compatible with Christian beliefs and Western rationality (JACKSON, 1975). This same rhetoric was also pronounced in the modern development of yoga in India itself, in the transition between the 19th and 20th centuries, when figures such as Yogendra and Kuvalayananda structured and disseminated yoga as a practice for the physical education of Indian children and a symbol of Hindu nationalism (ALTER, 2006; STRAUSS, 2002). In this dynamic, the religious aspects of the practice were selectively attenuated, both in the West and in the East.

Thus, throughout the first half of the 20th century, yoga tended increasingly to assert itself as a scientific form of gymnastics for the promotion of health, as a lifestyle to be consumed by the urban middle classes, or as a philosophy for individual spiritual development — almost never as a religion with communal appeal. These processes of modernizing yoga in India and assimilating the practice in the West, which tended to downplay, though never entirely dismiss, its religious dimensions, nevertheless counted on the active participation of Indian masters, generally educated in European schools. It was Vivekananda, after all, the greatest icon of yoga's initial diffusion in the West, who was the first to say that the Gita and Krishna would be better understood with stronger muscles (ALTER, 2006, p. 759). It was likewise Vivekananda himself — who traveled to the United States for the first time in 1893 to take part in the Parliament of Religions in Chicago, where he was able to strengthen dialogue with Christian scientists, remaining there for seven more years — who established yoga as an individual, scientific bodily technique; a kind of Eastern spiritual commodity, subject to commercial exchange for Western material goods, thereby determining the meanings of yoga's modern transformation both in the West and in India (BURGER, 2006). In other words, it was Vivekananda, an Indian master, who was the first to offer possibilities of spiritual salvation through the practice of yoga in exchange for money.

4 Final considerations

The process of assimilating yoga in Brazil, specifically, did not escape this same general picture, which in a certain way still marks the universe of this community of practice to this day. Unlike the meanings that seem to predominate today around the practice of yoga — strongly associated with a bodily technique aimed at promoting health, which even displeases some followers who see this as a distortion of what they imagine to be the "authentic Indian traditions" — the first initiatives to disseminate this practice in Brazil were strongly marked by the valorization of a mystical, esoteric, philosophical, and spiritual dimension, much as these followers, discontented with the practice's current emphasis on health, seem to wish for today. Paradoxically, however, while these meanings predominated, the practice remained confined to a relatively small group of enthusiasts, despite efforts to spread it.

Although it is difficult to assess how much yoga actually became popular in Brazil during the first two or three decades of the 20th century, the initial results of the first initiatives to disseminate it appear to have been limited, keeping it something marginal and confined to restricted circles of enthusiasts. Nothing suggests that a significant popularization of the practice occurred during this period. Only from the 1930s onward, and especially from the 1940s onward, would there in fact be a slow but progressive expansion of the circle of yoga followers and practitioners. This gradual process of popularization coincides with the moment when the spiritual aspects of yoga began gradually to give way to an increasingly bodily-performative dimension. From that period onward, weekly magazines and widely circulated newspapers began featuring stories about famous artists, athletes, and politicians who had adopted yoga as a resource for physical beautification, a prophylactic measure for promoting health, and a bodily training practice (DESILUDIDO DA VIDA, 1938; LOU NOVA..., 1939, p. 18; A BELLEZA..., 1939, p. 23).

The slow diffusion of yoga in Brazil, as in other Western countries, would tend to fix these meanings around the practice ever more visibly. These meanings, already distant from the rhetoric of an exotic practice, combined a spiritual or philosophical horizon — to which some of its enthusiasts aspired and still aspire today — while at the same time emphasizing the opportunities for the practice to also function as a form of gymnastics. In fact, a significant part of yoga's historical appeal lies precisely in the possibility of combining statements that present it as a practice capable of improving health, as prescribed by the modern medical mindset, while at the same time being associated with an ancient Eastern spiritual tradition (STRAUSS, 2002). Thus, yoga was disseminated and assimilated as a modern gymnastics with scientific foundations, with the added advantage of still reconciling, at the same time, opportunities for spiritual development through the connection or reconnection between body and spirit, without, however, confronting Christian religiosity and Western rationality.

References