Yogi Calisthenics 145
for it is precisely “in the degree that we open ourselves to this divine inflow are we
changed from mere men into God- men.”^42
As we saw in chapter 2, the Yogi’s powers, when taken seriously, fell into the
rationalizing current of the meta- scientific concept of a universal energ y. We
have also seen that, from Mesmer’s days onward, metaphysical practitioners have
sought to use this energ y toward therapeutic ends. Mind cure movements, as their
label would suggest, tended to discard the material aspect of this energ y alto-
gether and instead advanced mind itself— which, given their Western ontologies,
translated directly to spirit— as the all- pervading universal substratum of reality.
In Yogananda’s Indian metaphysical landscape, however, mind was by no means
the final frontier. For this reason, though he found himself quite at home in New
Thought and other mind cure circles, he nevertheless differentiated himself from
these schools with quippy remarks, such as claiming that Yogoda did not amount
to “thinking away disease, or mystic body or mind regulation” any more than it
could be reduced down to “the science of physical culture as taught in g ymnasi-
ums and practiced in calesthenic clubs.”^43 Indeed, Yogananda claims that Yogoda
is unique among the various types of exercise science because it aims to focus
attention not on physical aspects of muscle tension or bodily movements but
on the flow of energ y that underlies these somatic manifestations. His method
entails a yoking of bodily movement, mental will, and spiritual energetic power to
yield a system that “is the psycho- physiological clue, with a metaphysical touch,
to the all- around growth of man.”^44
Yogoda is thus both distinct from and intimately related to the haṭha yogic
practice of Kriya Yoga that belongs to Yogananda’s lineage. Yogoda consists of
Yogananda’s calisthenic Energization Exercises followed by two more “advanced
lessons” in concentration techniques that teach basic meditation by utilizing the
Hong- Saw and Om mantras— the latter coupled with a simplified form of the
yoni mudrā— that Yogananda adapted from Kriya Yoga practice. In this sense,
Yogoda survives as the prerequisite to Kriya practice in the SRF’s mail- order
course. It is not surprising then that both systems ultimately rely on a similar
logic of energ y manipulation by way of psychosomatic cooperation via medi-
tative focus. Furthermore, as we will shortly see, though Yogoda boasts many
additional— and rather more practical— benefits, cosmic consciousness is not out
of the question. However, the language through which practical and cosmic ben-
efits are articulated is worlds apart, in no small way because it derives from two
distinctly different discursive spheres.
Kriya Yoga, as it continues to be practiced by members of the SRF and as it
was no doubt initially introduced to Yogananda’s core group of devotees, retains
a very recognizable haṭha yogic character. Energ y— though there is no telling if
Yogananda would have called it prāṇa or lifetrons— is channeled through the