One of the earliest mentions of yoga in print in the U.S. came in a letter written to a friend by Henry David Thoreau in 1849.
How did yoga come to the U.S.? It's hard to say for certain when the first enthusiast sat down and practiced the earliest holistic poses on American soil, but a string of personal development books published throughout the 20th century indicates the milestones of U.S. yoga history.
One of the earliest mentions of yoga in print in the New World came in a letter written to a friend by Henry David Thoreau in 1849. The Transcendentalist speaks well of the discipline, as quoted in the Yoga Journal:
"Rude and careless as I am, I would fain practice the yoga faithfully," Thoreau enthused, in text later included in a volume of his letter. "To some extent, and at rare intervals, even I am a yogi."
However, it was not until 1893 that a yoga instructor named Vivekananda traveled to Chicago and began spreading the regimen's popularity. That is the conclusion of a recent opinion piece in the New York Times, which noted that the man's books ultimately reached the likes of composer Igor Stravinsky, actor Lawrence Olivier and writers Aldous Huxley and J.D. Salinger.
Talk about beginner's Chicago yoga! In 1893, Vivekananda was leading some of the first yoga classes ever held in the Windy City – or anywhere else in the U.S. for that matter. Today, millions of Americans hold yoga dear.
People who looked at this item also looked at…
Related items
Tags: beginner's Chicago yoga, personal development, personal development books
