Platform Body/Space
The yoga mat: A functional object designed to prevent from slipping, the yoga mat, invented in Europe in the late 1970s, signals the expansion of yoga from an ancient meditation discipline into a global fitness activity.
The yoga mat: A functional object designed to prevent from slipping, the yoga mat, invented in Europe in the late 1970s, signals the expansion of yoga from an ancient meditation discipline into a global fitness activity. To consider it as a platform separating the body from the ground and from other bodies and implying a set of rules and techniques offers an angle to view the history of yoga through the different materialisations of this platform: animal skin, oriental rug, blanket, living-room carpet , purpose-made mat & and even digital platform. These different manifestations show how yoga shifts over time between spiritual discipline and physical activity and East and West.
Throughout its long history, yoga has moved from outdoor spaces to indoor spaces and back (gardens, gym studios, homes, the beach or the street), and it is associated to different of conceptions of the body ranging from 19th century ascetic male Hindu to 21st century young woman on Instagram.
- Download: Handout Yoga Mat
More background resources from the curator on the yoga mat as platform.