MIDTERM
A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE YOGA MAT
The yoga mat has been created and innovated throughout history to meet the needs of yoga practitioners. The mat itself has been transformed into what it is today because of the and the evolution of the definition of yoga, the westernization of yoga, and commoditization of yoga products.
The word “Yoga” itself is first mentioned in the Kathya Upanishad, a Vedic text believed to have been written in the fifth century BCE:
“When the five senses of perception lie still with the mind, when even the intellect works not – this is the supreme state they say. That firm control of the senses is known as Yoga...”
[Kathya Upanishad 6.10-11, translation by Swami Sarvananda]
It is not certain as to when Yoga became the rites and rituals that then inspired many religions such as Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, but it was somewhere between 200BC and 500CE. Yoga was first established to “yoke” together the spiritual beings (humans) on earth with the cosmic divine with a focus on joining all parts of the self which are the mind, body, and spirit. Yoga was originally the practice of sitting still in a cross-legged position to practice Patanjali’s 8 Sutras with the goal of being enlightened. During this practice, the person would sit either on piles of grass, animal skins, or nothing at all. It is widely known that Siddartha Guatama (the Buddha) himself sat on top of kusha grass underneath the Bodhi tree where he was enlightened and reached Nirvana.
The practice eventually did transform into full body poses, or “asanas” so that the practitioners were able to heal their bodies from impurities so they could focus more on their spiritual self on the path to enlightenment. The practice of pushing the body to feel uncomfortable, so it may sit comfortably once finished became the theme that I take most personally (I will talk more about this topic later in my midterm research from a more autoethnographic standpoint). During this transition from purely seated meditation to more complicated sequences, Indians shifted from animal skins to cloths or rugs to practice on because the asanas became more dynamic and took up more space.
Yoga was brought to the westin 1918 by Shri Yogendra, founding the Yoga Institute of America on Bear Mountain, New York in 1919. This was also around the time the United States was adjusting after the industrial revolution. Because of this, Westerners were quick to entrepreneurship when they saw the opportunity of commoditizing yoga and yoga mats. This is also when the definition of yoga switched from a religious enlightened path to non-duality and non-suffering to almost purely exercising the body. Yes, us westerners practice yoga to practice mindfulness, but most practitioners in the current time in the United States focus on the physical benefits drawn from the original idea of yoga. Therefore, yoga mats became a great product for Americans who were looking to move their bodies and stay active.
The function of the mat has shifted from being merely a pile of grass to sit and meditate on to a full-body sized mat focused on aspects of working out. The innovations of the mat itself goes from being animal skin, cloth or rugs, to “sticky mats.” Angela Farmer, from Germany was the inventor of the “sticky mat.” This mat was made of carpet underlay and provided a grippy surface for yogis to practice on without slipping. (This is the type of mat I will be working with for my midterm, see photo below.) These original “sticky mats” are worn down very easily due to the fragile material, therefore leading to even more innovations. Hugger Mugger yoga mat company in 1990 was able to first innovate this sticky mat into a more robust design that lasted longer. Now when looking at yoga mats online, there are all sorts of types ranging from earth friendly and biodegradable, alignment-reinforcing, and sweat absorbing innovations to the product. I also have noticed a new trend of yoga brands coming out with lines of yoga rugs. I thought this was interesting because it comes to show that history tends to repeat itself, even when the market is highly saturated with rich innovations.
CONNECTING WITH CONTEMPORARY ARTISTS
Body and Art
My inquiry is “how can the body movements of yoga be reflected in my art?” Since my inquiry has little to no research behind it, I decided to research 3 contemporary artists who create in ways similar to what I will be doing for my midterm. One of the artists is known for her beautiful fingerprinting wall art pieces. The other two have a focus on performative dance art. They each have unique ways that explore making visual art with the use of their body movements to create a final piece that reflect some of the “7 Principles of Visual.”
Judith Braun, born in 1955, is a contemporary artist who uses her fingers dipped in charcoal as her primary medium. She is very intentional with every mark she makes, creating very large-scale landscape abstractions. Duncam’s principle of seduction comes into play with her works because they immediately lure in the viewer with a beautiful and overwhelming sublime aesthetic. Because her works are so large and sometimes take up all four walls in a room, the sensory lures can easily evoke emotional responses from the viewer. I am more interested in her use of medium and materials. For my midterm I will be printing my hands and feet on my yoga mat, and Judith does a different version of this. I will be creating something from a planned out yoga sequence, similar to how Judith plans out the work she does on her walls, but not quite as seductive.
Trisha Brown (1936-2017), was a choreographer-turned performance and visual artist. She started as a dancer but has more recently been recognized for her visual artistry. She investigates the limits of her own body and mobility through drawing. She draws on large sheets of paper using her feet, hands, and whole body with crayons or charcoal. She uses her background from dance to explore how body movements are reflected on a flat surface. She inhabits Duncam’s principle of representation because she is representing herself as a dancer in her visual art. From seeing the final piece, there is gesture, body language, and body contact reflected. I want to do something similar with yoga, only I will have a structured sequence to follow and Trisha’s work is fully improvisational.
Heather hansen is a performative visual artist known for her kinetic drawings. She is similar to Trisha Brown because she is a dancer, but rather than being completely improvisational in her work, she starts with a shape and provides herself with restrictions to follow in her process. Heather captures the flow of her dances using charcoal on paper, and usually has a large audience watching her perform. Heather also uses the representation principal, as well as gaze. Because she focuses on performance, the viewers are able to watch her make her art and then have the process ingrained into their minds when viewing the final piece. The viewer’s gaze interprets the process of dance and motion into a static image. I want to use this idea of experimentation through connecting body movements with art for my project. Heather is a good in-between of being experimental with body movements like Trisha, but also having structure and boundaries like Judith.
Both Trisha and Heather were dancers before they became visual artists. They explored their own histories using their bodies as the artifacts. Artifacts are important when representing an individual’s story. Dancing can be done anywhere at any time as long as the person’s body is present. The same goes for yoga because throughout history, Indians did not need a mat to practice yoga. Within the past century there has been a boom of the use of yoga mats in the West because the focus has switched from spiritual meditation to movement of the body. Now, there is a very sentimental connection with the practitioner and their mat. When I roll out my mat, I know that for the next hour, I don’t have to worry about anything outside of it. This is why I chose to use the mat for my artifact.
The theme here is all tied together with my inquiry. I want to take this idea of using body movements of yoga to create a two dimensional art piece. This also goes with yoga ideologies of honoring the present moment. I will be honoring the time that I am present on my mat by turning it into something I can look at and meditate on. I am not expecting this piece to be as beautiful as Heather’s charcoal drawings or Judith’s fingerprintings. I am not going to use improvisation like Trisha did because I will be following a strict yoga sequence. I will however use my body awareness to experiment with combining my two fields. This is the first step in exploring my inquiry because it represents my roots. I was first introduced to yoga through the physical body movements, as many people are. My physical body’s connection to my artifact through performance and visualization must be explored before I can move on to more intelligent, intensional art that integrates both fields.
Side note for Final Project:
Although I am able to come to my mat to connect with my body, for my final I would like to explore more about what it means to practice yoga outside the mat. For this, I will embroider the mat to a large paper or cloth so I may break through the borders of the mat using different mediums of printmaking, painting and drawing.
ASANA
When thinking more about my inquiry, I felt I needed to go into more detail about my own personal history with yoga. My midterm is based on this idea of using my body to create art and I use this same tool to practice asana. Asana is the third limb of yoga and it is translated as the postures practiced. Most people, including myself are introduced to this idea of yoga through the asana portion of it. My inquiry is very asana-based because I will be practicing my asana with paint on the yoga mats to then get a visual reflection of what is left behind. Many modern Western practitioners understand yoga to be only the movement of the body and they use it to work out, get stronger, more flexible, or to enhance their body’s health state. Throughout history, yoga was used in India as a medicine. According to B.K.S Iyengar, a world-renowned philosopher, yoga teacher, and founder of Iyengar yoga stated in his book “Light on Life,” that he was first introduced to yoga through the asana in order to better his health. He was always battling diseases and had to “lift his head with great effort.” His brother in-law showed him yoga and he became stronger with a focus on restorative yoga ever since. Restorative yoga now has the name “Iyengar Yoga” and is practiced by many people here in the West to restore their parasympathetic nervous system. I will be practicing vinyasa yoga because it is more dynamic and fluid. This is the yoga that I was introduced to in the beginning of my yogic journey, but I still believe that it has most of the same benefits for myself. It benefits my mind to be able to focus on my body and being present. It benefits my body by making my endurance stronger and allowing me to learn to control my sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system with breathing. Without a healthy body, I would not be able to practice the other limbs of yoga with a healthy mind. The asana represents the dirt and roots of my yoga practice and it is essential that I explore this notion before I move on to my final project.
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10/14/20
Today was the day I conducted my arts-based research. The materials I used were: one yoga mat, one large piece of birch plywood, relief printmaking ink, and my body. I started by rolling ink onto a glass piece then inking up my hands and feet, but I pressed too hard on the glass with my foot and broke the glass. After I broke the glass, I switched to just rolling the ink directly onto my hands and feet. I did not need to use a lot of ink for this because it stayed wet and saturated for the whole time. Then I stood on the yoga mat to begin the research process. I then proceeded to practice some basic yoga: three Sun Salutation As (Surya Namaskar A) and two Sun Salutation Bs (Surya Namaskar B). I stuck with the Sun Salutation sequences because they offered me structure while I was not sure exactly how the artistic factor would turn out. I ended up really liking this yoga mat piece when I was done with it. I could see exactly where my hands and feet were placed. I noticed that when I was flowing, there was variability to where I stepped and placed my hands, even though I followed a structured sequence. Since I liked the way it turned out, I did almost the same thing on the plywood. The only change was that I only did 3 Sun Salutation As and no Sun Salutation Bs. I am really happy with this research and am excited to apply these findings in my final project.
MIDTERM STATEMENT
This midterm project was very important to me because it brought my two primary fields of study together: art and yoga. How can the body movements of yoga be reflected in an artistic way? This is what I have inquired about during the making of this project. Visual art can be seen in endless ways, which is why I love this opportunity to turn yoga into art and art into yoga. As described in Duncam’s article, there are seven main principles to help understand visual art as it is all around us all the time. I gave myself the responsibility as the artist and creator so anyone who sees it, including myself is able to interpret and understand my work accordingly. My research is autoethnographic, therefore it is a self-reflection through arts-based research to explore my experiences of personal action. I have been studying and making art in college here at CSU for over four years now with a concentration in printmaking. This fall I also began my ten week journey of becoming a 200-hour registered yoga teacher. I know from talking with others in both fields that many people who do yoga also make art and vice versa. I hope my autoethnographic study can not only represent my own life experiences, but also capture the attention of those who relate.
Similar to Muncy’s autoethographic research, I presented an artifact to offer additional evidence of my inquiry. The yoga mat was my artifact because it is what I practice yoga on and it makes for a great canvas. The yoga mat did not exist until it was brought to the West and people started practicing for exercise and health reasons rather than the original spiritual ideologies. I was introduced to yoga through this idea of exercise because it was a healthy way to stay active. The body movement and postural practice of yoga is called asana. Shown in the pictures below is my research representing the idea of asana as art. The yoga mat played a big part in this because I used it as a utilitarian object for my yoga practice, as well as a canvas for my art making. During my process of researching the history of the yoga mat, I realized the mat was not the main artifact after all. It did not register right away for me that the real artifact I wanted to study was my body. I learned that although the yoga mat is an evidential clue into my research, I do not absolutely need it to conduct my research as much as I need my body. Using my body as the artifact instead of the mat, I am able to fully integrate the asana-to-art process.
Although I have written my thoughts and findings of my midterm project, the main aspect of it is the visual representation of creating yoga into art. I would like to point out John Berger’s book, “Ways of Seeing,” and his quote, “Soon after we can see, we are aware that we can be seen.” I can see myself doing yoga while I am doing it, but if I am doing it alone, how can I document the act visually? The process of this visual representation included a yoga mat, a large plank of birch plywood, black printmaking ink, and my body. The artistic process combined with the yoga sequence allows for me and research to be seen. Rolland Moore Park is where my performance-like exploration took place. I began by inking up my hands and feet with the yoga mat laid out on the grass. Then I stood up on the mat, making my first mark with my feet in pure black against the bare canvas. I proceeded to flow through three sun salutation A’s and two sun salutation B’s, slowly printing my hands and feet onto the mat. When I was finished with my last sun salutation, I stepped back and observed the visual I had just created. Satisfied with the outcome, I carried on with the wooden plank but this time I only did three sun salutation A’s because I wanted this one to be less messy as the first. I then stepped away from both the art pieces, observed them, photographed them, and cleaned up my body.
This process taught me the value of seeing. Yes I can see my arms, legs, and torso while I am practicing yoga, but turning this activity into a work of art that others and myself can later observe gives it a whole new meaning. Muncy referred to her photos throughout life as her snapshots. I would like to refer to the visuals I made with this project as my snapshots. This is because they work to freeze a moment in time. These snapshots use Duncam’s principles of ideology, representation, and gaze. The ideology behind them includes yogic ideas like the word “asana” itself. The finished pieces are a representation of the act of practicing yoga through arts-based research. Gaze comes into play because the context of the work influences the way in which it is perceived. The context is yoga and the perception is being able to visualize where the body was when making the art.
With my body as the artifact and the outcome of the process as the snapshots, I am able to conduct self-reflection. Yoga can be documented through art by visualizing body movements from ink placement. The body is the most important artifact when studying yoga or art because it is a vessel for creation. By maintaining a curious eye, artworks are able to be looked at rather than seen. In a way, I am forcing the viewer to look for clues in my work to determine the context. I hope to capture the attention of viewers through seeing and then allowing them to look a little longer and harder. Although it is not very complicated to figure out the meaning behind my snapshots because they are so straightforward, I want to continue to find ways to get viewers to ask questions and find connections between myself as the artist and their own life experiences.