Yoga with a Dutch taste

Doing a headstand at the age of 85, Queen Elizabeth of Belgium not only startled her Guru B.K.S. Iyengar but the whole world. 🤸‍♀️A precious gift to her Guru was a self-sculpted bust of his.

André van Lysebeth, a Belgian who was one of the first teachers to promote Yoga in Europe and undoubtedly Belgium, was enthralled by Sri Sivananda and Sri Pattabhi Jois. His fascination drew him to India after World War II.  His writings, especially, the magazine Yoga and the book J’apprends le Yoga (Yoga Self-Taught) earned him world fame too, which brought several Westerners to Mysore to study yoga. 🧘

Doga – Yoga with the dogs to achieve harmony with pets, this style of yoga can also get our honden 🐕 on the mats. 😉 Pet massage, some poses and breathing make these classes interesting and fun to strengthen the bond. Fun fact – By the way, do we know that Lenovo has a tablet named Yoga? The people of Oregon practise Yoga with the goats for affection and not to forget; they are dol op (crazy about) Dutch Bros. coffee.

With its roots in North-India, Yoga means vereniging, eenheid (to join, unite). The legend goes that Lord Shiva, who is worshipped as the first Adiyogi and Adi guru, transferred his immense knowledge to the Saptarishis (zeven rishi’s). There have also been traces of Yoga practice and meditation poses during the Indus-Sarasvati Valley Civilisation Age. Not to forget, the renowned Yogasoetra’s (Yoga Sutras) of Patanjali who was a sage belonged to India. Fun fact –The oldest yoga teacher of India was V Nanammal from India who was 99.

Though Katherine Tingley’s plan to open the first Yoga school in The Netherlands did not succeed, the first yoga studio Hatha Yoga zelfgeneesinrichting came into being in Amsterdam at Prinsengracht. The motto of this studio was more inclined to healing people through Yoga. Jan Rijks, also known as Saswitha, is said to have started with the first teacher’s training course in The Netherlands apart from opening the first Yoga school after the Second World War.⚔⚔ Fun fact – The Yoga school was first opened in the name of Rijks Instituut voor Yoga😉which was later changed.

Our most beloved band played an important role in the widespread popularity of Yoga and meditation in the West. The Beatles were deeply inspired by Swami Vishnu-Devananda and Maharishi Mahesh Yogi who is known to be the founder of Transcendental Meditation. Helping against drugs, becoming more creative with their music pieces and songs, meditation transformed them to a great extent. 🎙🎹🎶They were also accompanied by several other celebrities during their visit to Maharishi’s ashram in Rishikesh. From Swami Vivekananda to other Gurus and their students who helped spreading Yoga to the West were Swami Sivananda, Sri Krishnamacharya, B.K.S. Iyengar etc. It is said that even George Harrison’s ashes were offered to The Ganges post his death.
Fun fact – Did we know that the prisoners in India could reduce their term in jail by topping a Yoga test and this piece of news was doing the rounds? 🦹‍♀️