Free The Science of Yoga by William J Broad Page A

dropped certain poses, added others, and in general now handle yoga with much greater care. I hope you benefit, too.
    I see this book as similar to informed consent—the information that the subjects of medical experiments and novel treatments are given to make sure they understand the stakes, pro and con.
    To me, the benefits unquestionably outweigh the risks. The discipline on balance does more good than harm. Still, yoga makes sense only if done intelligently so as to limit the degree of personal danger. I’m convinced that even modest precautions will avert waves of pain, remorse, grief, and disability.
    The heroes of thisbook are the hundreds of scientists and physicians who toiled inconspicuously over the decades to uncover the truth despite the obstacles of scarce funding and institutional apathy. Their early inquiries not only began the process of illuminating yoga but, as it turns out, produced a remarkable side effect. They helped transform the nature of the discipline.
    Yoga at the start was an obscure cult steeped in magic and eroticism. At the end, it fixated on health and fitness.
    To my surprise, it turned out that science played an important role in the modernization. As investigators began to show how the ostensible wonders of yoga had natural explanations, the discipline worked hard to reinvent itself. A new generation of gurus downplayed the rapturous and the miraculous for a focus on material well-being. In essence, they turned yoga on its head by elevating the physical over the spiritual, helping create the secular discipline now practiced around the globe.
    The first chapter details this upheaval. The tale is important not only for revealing the origins of the health agenda but for introducing main characters and themes. For instance, it turns out that a number of yoga miracles—if demonstrably untrue—nonetheless involve major alterations of physiology that can produce a wealth of real benefits. They can lift moods. They can fight heart disease. The newest research indicates that they may even slow the body’s biological clock.
    Not that science has all the answers.
    To the contrary, the investigation of the discipline began in response to an astonishing spectacle nearly two centuries ago that still poses a number of fundamental questions today.
    The science of yoga does more than reveal secrets. It can also shed light on real mysteries.

I
HEALTH
    R anjit Singh was an ugly little man who liked to surround himself with beautiful women. In childhood, smallpox had taken his left eye and pitted his face. He was unlettered. But Singh built an empire through force of character, uniting the warring tribes of western India. He became maharajah of the Punjab and amassed great wealth, including the Koh-i-Noor, at the time the world’s largest diamond. He could be generous. Though a Sikh, he gave a Hindu temple a ton of gold. Singh was a military genius and a humane despot. Most of all, he knew men.
    In 1837, Singh learned that a wandering yogi had approached the court to propose live burial as a demonstration of his spiritual powers. The king agreed to sponsor the entombment but undertook a number of precautions. The holy man would be interred in a small building near the palace. In preparation, Singh had three of its four doorways sealed with bricks and mortar, turning the open structure into something resembling a jail—or, less optimistically, a crypt.
    Military officers, as well as European doctors, watched as the yogi arranged himself into a sitting posture. It was most likely a Full Lotus, with legs crisscrossed and feet atop the thighs. One observer likened the pose to that of “a Hindoo idol.” Attendants then wrapped the yogi in white linen and placed him inside a wooden box. It rested in a shallow pit below the building’s floor. No dirt was applied because the yogi had expressed concern about ants attacking his body. The maharajah’s men did, however, secure the box with lock and key. They