Breath Culture and the Assimilation of Yoga in Fin de Siècle Britain

Abstract

This paper explores the significance of breath control as an early pre-cursor to contemporary commercialized yoga in the context of fin de siècle (1890–1914) Britain. Intended as a historical snapshot of the cultural and ideological strands that shaped modern yoga, it will examine how specific socio-cultural features of Edwardian London—namely the popularization of vegetarianism, the bio-medically informed debate over fresh air, and the activity of transnational spiritual networks—had a role to play in furthering a construction of ‘better breathing’ as a route to health and in the process welcomed yogic ideas into popular health paradigms. This context will be framed through the contribution of leading physical culturist and famed vegetarian Eustace Hamilton Miles (1868–1948). An analysis of Miles’s earliest published writing on breathing and health illustrates the extent to which yogic teachings, especially that of Swami Vivekananda, were assimilated and re-disseminated as part of his model of ‘all-round’ health. This preliminary case study of Miles and his textual legacy provides previously unconsidered evidence of the processes of cultural exchange and appropriation that occurred in the formative phase of modern yoga, introduces Eustace Miles as an illuminating contributor to the history of yoga in Britain, and draws attention to the significance of the breath as a locus of health and as a critical feature of modern yoga’s construction as a transferable cultural product.