In Search of the Authenticity of Contemporary Yogas of Non-Indian Matrix

Abstract

In this article, we discuss the issue of the authenticity of contemporary yogas of non-Indian matrices, specifically, five Brazilian yogic perspectives. Several new Indian trade schools emerged in the nineteenth century. In the twentieth century, the so-called modern yoga and its types emerged. These are spiritual movements that, although contain traditional beliefs and practices, deviate from the previous yogic matrices. Modern yogis, in turn, transplant their spiritual schools to geographies far from the Hindu canopy, such as Europe and the USA. Meanwhile, these transplanted modern yogas originate from other yogic denominations, which we here call Contemporary Yogas or Neo-Yogas, are deviations from traditional or Modern Yogas. The yogas that exist in Brazil are examples of contemporary spiritual perspectives produced by singular syncretisms and hybridisms within the Brazilian cultural and religious context. We conclude to conceive the investigated Contemporary Yogas, upheld by non-Indian authorities, as can be understood as legitimate and possible New Spiritual Movements or deviations from modern yoga with new beliefs and practices.