Yogi Calisthenics 149
beautiful body was both a necessity for and a signal of an enlightened nature.^60
Yogananda did not fail to capitalize on this principle.
Later editions of the Yogoda pamphlets become increasingly lengthy and
elaborate in their commercial claims. The ninth edition contains the following
rather extensive list of ancillary “facts” about the technique:
- It teaches how to recharge and release the body battery any time, at will.
- No change of dress or place is required. Its basic principal exercises can be
practiced without attracting attention— while on chair or sofa— lying, stand-
ing, sitting, or moving. - It can be most profitably applied to all forms of physical and concentration or
meditation exercises. - It teaches how to improve (a) Beauty of form; (b) Grace of expression;
(c) Centre of consciousness; (d) The power of mental receptivity. - It teaches how to prevent hardening of arteries and to insure lasting youth
by stimulating an even circulation and helping eject foreign matter from the
system. - It teaches how to quickly drive away headaches and how to harmonize all
muscle actions. - It is an important accessory to art— improving voice (a help to musicians),
steadying the nerves in violin playing, etc. - While waiting for the trolley car you will not catch cold, if you practice
“ Yo g o d a .” - It teaches you how to exercise those parts which you think you cannot
exercise. - IT TEACHES YOU HOW TO PUT ON OR TAKE OFF FAT.
- It teaches you to make success out of failure, thru intelligent control of your
own will forces. - It teaches you to control your material and spiritual destiny by tuning in with
cosmic consciousness or the inexhaustible storehouse of cosmic supply.^61
To the casual observer, Yogoda attempts to be a cure- all solution, guaranteed
to transform one into a lithe, ever- youthful virtuoso in full control of both his
body fat and his spiritual destiny. Having tapped into the interests and concerns
of his target demographic, Yogananda pitches a modern form of holistic self- help
aimed at professional urbanites, who might be just as occupied with catching cold
while waiting for the trolley as they are with maximizing their cosmic potential.
Moreover, Yogananda is clear in positioning his method in the context of physi-
cal culture, positively contrasting it with contemporary German techniques that
require machinery and props. His claim regarding the practice’s virtue of not