The ‘ancient’ body of modern Yoga: The influence of Ramanuja on Iyengar Yoga and the use of Yoga in actor training

Yoga is one of the most popular leisure activities that flourish in contemporary western societies and also one of the most common non-theatrical disciplines used in performer training. This article focuses on the pedagogy that underlies the practice of yoga and poses and outlines two different ways of practising: the active and passive. It draws links between the pedagogy of modern yoga and the conceptualization of the human body in the pre-modern religious doctrine of Ramanuja. Based on this account, it presents the ways in which yoga can inform the actor’s work with different dramaturgies. In this manner, this article aims to examine modern yoga from a perspective that has been neglected so far and also proposes additional ways in which yoga may be used in actor training.