Inside Naropa’s MA in Yoga Studies: A Conversation with professor Ben Williams

Interview: 

Varsha Gollarhalli: Can you describe the curriculum’s structure—how does it balance academic study, philosophical inquiry, and embodied practice?

Ben Williams: The curriculum follows the general arc of the history of Yoga, covering the emergence and recent progress of the field of yoga studies. We trace all the major traditions and epochs of the history of Yoga, from debates swirling around the question its “roots” and “origins” in South Asia as a psycho-somatic discipline aimed at empowerment and liberation, up to ethnographic and archival research on the genesis of modern postural yoga from the 19th century onwards, and its global proliferation. Within this vast survey, spanning several courses, we toggle between the views, metaphysics, philosophies (explicit and implicit), and the way in which yoga has been taught, transmitted, and engaged as a set of practices, interrogating the shifting relationship between these two poles. What becomes clear, immediately, is simply the extraordinary diversity of yogic traditions, which span multiple religions, from Veda-based communities and ascetics, to Buddhist, Jain, and Muslim traditions that flourished in South Asia. We also have a significant curriculum related to Yoga in classical tantra, which is an understudied area, and is often glossed over in Yoga teacher trainings, and has also not received significant scholarly attention in the interdisciplinary field of yoga studies. Here the main tantric traditions in question are Śaiva, Śākta, Vaiṣṇava, and Buddhist, including many lineages radiating from each.

This is a snapshot of the academic dimension of the program, and it is paired with philosophical and existential inquiry, as well as embodied practice, in two meditation practicums, that are essential to the structure of the program. These practicums include meditation sessions in class, meditation homework, and a parallel study of the history of meditation in South Asia. The term yoga, for the majority of its history, has actually referred more often than not to meditative disciplines, and its identification with āsana is a feature of later developments in the tradition of Haṭha Yoga, a trend that reached an apotheosis in Modern Postural Yoga.

The simultaneous historicization and practice of meditative forms of yoga is something unique to the Religious Studies department at Naropa University, and the university’s experiments in contemplative education. This blending often leads to what we might call a ‘critical empathy’ related to yogic traditions: the ability to non-romantically take in the extraordinary complexity of their social and cultural instantiations, while also developing a living connection to their enduring value, and for some students, a sense of stewardship for their futures. 

What inspired the creation of Naropa’s yoga studies program, and how does it distinguish itself from other academic or practitioner-oriented yoga programs?

Naropa launched the first BA in Yoga Studies about 15 years ago, and the success of this program led to the vision to create an MA, which we launched in 2020. The main ways we distinguish ourselves from other Yoga Studies programs is the combination of academic rigor with contemplative inquiry and practice, an in-depth curriculum on Yoga in classical tantra, and a deep dive into Buddhism’s contributions to the history of yoga.

Do you see the program as a form of cultural or historical corrective to the often decontextualized practice of Modern Postural Yoga? How so?

Great question. But first it should be acknowledged that many modern spiritual and religious communities have a tendency to decontextualize their teachings and practices, especially in their popular forms. This is sometimes tied to a “perennialist” sensibility that sees a common universal core to all religions, a fundamental unity in their essential mystical truths, that is then obscured or encroached upon by the human, social, and institutional histories of any given tradition. This worldview, which is often latent in progressive spiritual circles, sometimes leads to an atrophy of interest in the actual history of the practices and teachings one has come to identify with. Regarding Modern Postural Yoga, what often results, and is common in the broader global yoga community, is a very limited awareness of the deep history, myriad cultural contexts, and diverse tapestry of yogic traditions from the civilization of South Asia. The program certainly addresses this head on, in part by looking at the conditions for this lack of interest, as well as the equally obscuring tendency of exoticizing Indian spirituality. At one level, our way of addressing this is to help students develop a foundational “literacy” in the religions of South Asia.

What kinds of students are drawn to the program, and how do they typically relate to Modern Postural Yoga?

All of our students have some relationship to the practice of modern postural or modern meditational yoga. Many of our students have gone through a yoga teacher training, and some are studio owners, while others have been transformed by the practice and teachings of yoga. Others have traveled extensively in India, and have had connections to Buddhist or Hindu-based organizations and communities. We have students of all ages, stages of life, and with various visions for how to apply their learning, from writing and research, to continuing on to doctoral work, to education.

Have you seen changes in how students approach their own yoga practice or teaching after going through the program?

Yes, I have seen a lot of changes over the past five years since our launch. In a few cases, I have seen students drift away from their postural practice, but many continue it and appreciate it; but, in a new light. One of the beautiful things about historicizing Modern Postural Yoga is that this process, while removing naivety about a single, pure, and authentic “yoga”, sometimes helps students appreciate the extraordinary ways in which yoga traditions have adapted and developed. Particularly in relationship to broader social and cultural processes, from the esoteric yogic practices of fringe groups of initiates, to the context of wealthy monasteries in medieval India headed by Rājayogī abbots, to the proliferation of orders of yogis and sannyāsīs, to the interest in yoga and yogis in Mughal courts, to rapid change and sudden rupture of colonialism, which included an influential influx of disciplines and exercise regimes from gymnastic, body building, and movement therapy. Instead of disillusionment, there is often wonderment at the resilience and innovative capacities of any given yogic tradition. However, one change is students’ ability to apply their broader knowledge and language skills (the program includes Sanskrit) to draw on a much deeper reservoir of knowledge and practice, for themselves, and also for communities that they serve, and the tools to ask better questions and seek more historically grounded answers. How they translate that knowledge, and how it informs and lights up different facets of their life, has been surprising and delightful to witness.

Do you think programs like Naropa’s can help bridge the gap between mainstream yoga culture and deeper yogic traditions? Why or why not?

In a small way, yes, for all the reasons I have been tracking. Moreover, Naropa’s yoga studies MA program is a part of a broader wave, in which the popular practice of yoga and its academic study are beginning to flirt with each other. This can be seen also through the success of the “Yogic Studies” platform, created by Seth Powell, as well as the numerous scholars of Yoga and Indian religions that are often invited to teach in Yoga teacher trainings, or serve as guest scholars for yoga retreats, and also the creation of new yoga studies programs in India (there are many, but one example of a recent one is University of Mumbai). 

What are the most common misconceptions about yoga that you encounter among incoming students or the general public?

Yoga is 5,000 years old. There is a single, true, authentic tradition of yoga that has been obscured, a kind of ‘essence’. Yoga is exclusively Hindu. There is also a lot of confusion around the question of ‘cultural appropriation’, but that is a longer conversation.

Have you ever felt resistance—from within or outside the Modern Postural Yoga world—toward what the program is trying to do?

Not yet. Fingers crossed!

What gives you hope about the future of yoga education in the West, and where do you think deeper integration still needs to happen?

I think hope lies in a context in which yoga practitioners in the West become life-long students of yogic traditions, past and present. It is a vast ocean, and invites one to initiate a patient study of worlds that are not immediately relevant. Such deep and sustained study is not easily turned into a product or transaction (although, it seems, almost anything can be these days), and this helps distinguish one’s practice, passion, and commitment from the logic of the spiritual marketplace, which often mediates one’s relationship to their core endeavors and purpose. I think there is also potential for new forms of intercultural understanding, collaboration, and novel forms of cosmopolitanism that the field of yoga studies could help facilitate.