Here are two interesting statements from A Perfect Man, a biography of Eugen Sandow. Unfortunately, the author does not cite a source for these statements and doesn't appear to be familiar with yoga himself. (Also, the author strikes me as a little too eager to establish Sandow's influence on the modern world.) With those caveats in mind:
Sandow's ideas were taken up enthusiastically [in India after Sandow's visit there.] There were many who saw physical fitness as the first step on the road to independence and political power. These included Swami Vivekenanda, the Hindu nationalist leader (and exponent of the three Bs: beef, biceps, and the Bhagavad-Gita.)
Later, speaking about the physical practice of yoga that became popular in the west:
According to some historians, this modern posture-based yoga owes more to Western physical culture (including Sandow's) than it does to Indian tradition.
Sandow himself made many grandiose statements about the power of his physical exercise program to cure almost any bodily ailment. No one takes his claims seriously nowadays because he presented them as material facts, but if he had cloaked them in a bunch of mystical bullshit and attributed his ideas to an exotic ancient tradition, he might still have followers today instead of being a mostly forgotten Victorian curiosity.
As Pierre Bernard, one of the first of many indefatigable charlatans who popularized yoga, or at least its physical-training aspect, hatha yoga, in the United States, put it, “The purpose of yoga is to prepare us from getting cheated; to enable us to make better bargains, and to get what we go after!” Fabulous sex was high on Bernard’s menu even in the strait-laced 1910s. Robert Love’s entertaining biography, “The Great Oom,” depicts a bold and successful liar who could tell his gullible disciples with a straight face that oral sex, punishable in 1915 by up to 20 years in prison, was a sacred practice in India and produced orgasms 10 times longer than ordinary intercourse.
Sandow's ideas were taken up enthusiastically [in India after Sandow's visit there.] There were many who saw physical fitness as the first step on the road to independence and political power. These included Swami Vivekenanda, the Hindu nationalist leader (and exponent of the three Bs: beef, biceps, and the Bhagavad-Gita.)
Later, speaking about the physical practice of yoga that became popular in the west:
According to some historians, this modern posture-based yoga owes more to Western physical culture (including Sandow's) than it does to Indian tradition.
Sandow himself made many grandiose statements about the power of his physical exercise program to cure almost any bodily ailment. No one takes his claims seriously nowadays because he presented them as material facts, but if he had cloaked them in a bunch of mystical bullshit and attributed his ideas to an exotic ancient tradition, he might still have followers today instead of being a mostly forgotten Victorian curiosity.
EDIT: Here's an example of a westerner who did exactly that(quoted from http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/books/review/Mishra-t.html...):
As Pierre Bernard, one of the first of many indefatigable charlatans who popularized yoga, or at least its physical-training aspect, hatha yoga, in the United States, put it, “The purpose of yoga is to prepare us from getting cheated; to enable us to make better bargains, and to get what we go after!” Fabulous sex was high on Bernard’s menu even in the strait-laced 1910s. Robert Love’s entertaining biography, “The Great Oom,” depicts a bold and successful liar who could tell his gullible disciples with a straight face that oral sex, punishable in 1915 by up to 20 years in prison, was a sacred practice in India and produced orgasms 10 times longer than ordinary intercourse.
Can I have a Sham-Wow with that?