PHOTO: PREMYUDA YOSPIM; AZURE-DRAGON/ISTOCKPHOTO.COMIT’S HARD FOR AUSTRALIANS to imagine
— when yoga studios are visible on
every street corner and we can easily
look online for a convenient class —
what it was like when our favourite and
fastest-growing ‘sport’ had just made it
to our shores.
Australia was relatively late to
embrace yoga, compared to America and
Europe. During the 1920s, academics
of the occult began researching the
practice. But it was 50 years ago, in 1967,
when model Roma Blair, in fi shnet
tights and beehive hairdo, got Don Lane
into shorts and onto the fl oor to do a
quick asana tutorial on the set of the
Don Lane Show, that you could truly say
Australians had accepted yoga into our
living rooms.From East to West
It’s good to remember that Australian
yoga wouldn’t have happened without
refugees and immigrants. Our fi rst
yoga studio owner, Michael Volin, also
known as Swami Karmananda, was
born and educated in China and was a
student of Indra Devi. According to his
wife, Daphne Volin, he was expelled byThe International Yoga Teachers Association remembers
the humble beginnings of an ever-changing yoga
landscape and praises the persistence and passion of
those who influenced modern yoga.
OF YOGA IN AUSTRALIA
By Debbie Hodgson Kable, IYTA
32