Egyptian Yoga

Egyptian Yoga as it may have been practised in Ancient Egypt has been discussed by Yogi Babacar Khane in several books and articles.
The archeological support
Babacar Khane and his wife, the egyptologist Geneviève Lebaud-Khane, graduate of the University of Montpellier, found in several Egyptian temples, graves and museums many representations of classical hatha-yoga postures, very well-known and practised in India, for example :
- two young men practising Padmasana in Ptahhotep's mastaba at Saqqara (about 2600 BC, ),
- a man practising a very difficult posture, compared by Pr. Wolfgagng Decker to Shirshasana ,
- two women practising Raja-Bhujangasana in the grave of the priestess Zenet, wife of Antefoker,
(Theban Necropolis, about 1950 BC),
- several women practising Urdhva-Dhanurasana and Chakrasana (Red chapel built by Hatshepsut in Karnak temple complex; reliefs showing the Opet Festival, Luxor Temple, reigns of Kings Tutankhamun and Ay, New-Kingdom),
- Pharaoh or a priest(ess) praying and practising Anjaneyasana (see a statue of King Ramses IX, Royal Scottish Museum at Edinburgh, and the papyrus of priestess Herubn in Cairo Museum, New Kingdom)
- a deity (probably Osiris or Geb) featured in Halasana (Dendera Temple, Greco-Roman period),
- two underworld deities in a sitting twist torsion that you can compare to Matsyendrasana (New-Kingdom, British Museum, see one of them above).
Ancient-Egyptian art and yogic postures
In addition to the representations of classical asanas, Babacar Khane pointed out that some sitting, kneeling or standing poses of Pharaos and priests could be considered as specifically Egyptian yoga postures. He suggested that some Egyptian habits of featuring the human body could have been inspired by an observation of real twist attitudes, close to the Indian one. The two wooden statues of underworld beings in a sitting twist attitude of the British Museum show that the Egyptian twist attitude could be not only conventional.
Statue of a turtle-headed deity: New Kingdom. Perhaps from Horemheb tomb, King Valley Nr 57: British Museum.
Pharaonic symbols
With his wife, Babacar Khane showed that a lot of pharaonic symbols could have several meanings and refer to a spiritual achievement and some ways to this one. For example, the monogram Sema Taouy (Union of the Two Lands), the Pschent, the two sceptres, the two Uraei can be seen as referring to a quest of unity that might be not only political, but spritual, too. The word "yoga" is derived from a sanscrit root meaning "join", "unite", "control", and the main goal of Indian yogis is to overcome the duality. Geneviève and Babacar Khane think that the Egyptian expression Sema-Taouy could refer to the same quest and be compare to the word "hatha-yoga". For them, the sign Sema (featuring the lungs and the trachea)was used by the Egyptian scribes to write the word "unite", not only for homophonous reasons, but because the control of breathing is in yoga a way to the inner unity.
From Egyptian yoga to Hesychasm and Sufism
The presence of yoga in Ancient Egypt shows that yoga was more widespread than we believe it. In fact, some aspects of Egyptian yoga might have survived in Hesychasm and Sufism.

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