Dn their book Le Yoga des Pharaons, Yogi Khane and his wife Geneviève Khane (Agrégée and Docteur es Lettres, graduate in Egyptology from the University of Montpellier) showed that ancient Egypt had known and practiced hatha-yoga, as well as a whole set of vertical postures. What we call today “Pharaonic Yoga” or “Egyptian Yoga” designates all the postures of Egypt which are characterized by their verticality.
Pharaonic Yoga and Asian Traditions
However, the pharaonic postures do not oppose the different forms of yoga practiced in India and the rest of Asia. Caitanya, a great master of bhakti-yoga, considered to be an incarnation of Krishna, is often depicted with raised arms, in an attitude close to the Egyptian posture of “lifting the sky”. In the garden of the temple of Wat-Po, in Bangkok, we find a yogi with his arms in the same posture. We also know of examples of statues of Buddha standing, arms in a candlestick. During the ceremony where they receive the sacred cord, the Brahmans also raise their arms in a candlestick.
Egypt is the source of many aspects of Western civilization: medicine, physiotherapy, mathematics, architecture, philosophy were largely inspired by the Egyptian heritage transmitted by Greece. Egypt is also at the origin of Christian symbolism and alchemy. The word “alchemy” also derives from the Egyptian word Kemet, a term which designated Egypt.
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