Intercultural East-West Dialogue
Yoga: History, Philosophy, Psychology. Part 4
The beginning of the third stage of Yoga development fell on the period of colonizing the East by European countries. The Western world discovered Yoga for itself in XVIII-XIX centuries. The colonization resulted not only in imposing so called ‘achievements’ of European civilization in the states caught by it. The Eastern world also started to have a great cultural influence on its colonizers. The epoch of intercultural East-West dialogue started as a result of which Europe, America and Russia discovered the spiritual thought of India, China, Tibet and Arab countries.
During this period, the variations of classical Yoga and other oriental schools including the elements of Yoga methods began spreading in the Western world. Originally they were studied only by specialists. Philosophers, linguists, culture experts had been researching Yoga preferably without any practical interest up to the moment when the researchers began to understand the spiritual value of Oriental schools which was more attractive than the dogmatic religions, Western materialism and positivism.
Yoga: History, Philosophy, Psychology. Part 5