Summer 2025 -- An Interview with Magdalena Kraler

It's my pleasure to share with you today's interview with Dr. Magdalena (Lena) Kraler, author of Yoga Breath: Prāṇa and Prāṇāyāma in Early Modern Yoga. The book discusses the yogic breathing practices (prāṇāyāma) between 1850 and 1945, and includes an analysis of the influence of Euro-American physical culture and psycho-physical culture on modern yogis.

Lena gives us a taste of some of her research into the Occult and New Thought movements, and their influence on the Yogis she studied. (And for those of you who get intrigued by these movements, fear not, they'll be baaaack ...) She shares some of the tools she has developed for navigating this historical collossus. Finally, she introduces us to a couple of the fascinating characters she met during her research journey.

Here's the recording of my interview with Dr. Kraler

ON ZOOM:

https://us02web.zoom.us/rec/share/RyiNbK8DEujuHzhjIGdRIKJ_WqCmgt-q6bHFit-sWfHHOvZA9sR-T0-MnVHXlUYv.2OvgaQ5FlL2JOJaz

Passcode: @rcxXb75

ON VIMEO

Password: Kraler2025TheWork**!

And finally, here are some reading materials, if you are interested.

Here's an article by Lena for those who are interested in reading more about Vivekananda and the occult: "Tracing Vivekananda’s Prāṇa and Ā kas´ā : The Yogavāsiṣṭha and Rama Prasad’s Occult Science of Breath."

Yogendra: Yoga Personal Hygiene (1st edition 1931)

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.128307

Vivekenanda: Raja Yoga (1st edition 1896)

https://archive.org/details/raajayogabeingle00viveuoft/page/n1/mode/2up