The Importance of Rousing Serpents: Kundalini and the Evolution of Modern Yoga

This talk traces how early global yoga teachers—especially Swami Vivekananda and Paramahansa Yogananda—wove together tantric ideas, subtle body practices, and emerging scientific worldviews to present yoga as a path to human transformation. Focusing on the concept of kuṇḍalinī and its role in shaping modern approaches to the body, breath, and self-perfection, the presentation suggests that the initial wave of modern yoga’s globalization was essentially tantric. It also considers how these ideas were reinterpreted or sidelined by later influential lineages, helping us better understand both the continuities and shifts within modern yoga’s development.