Why Yogis Don’t Actually Have Supernatural Powers

Many yoga practitioners are fascinated by stories of yogis being buried underground and surviving there for months without air. There are also other stories of yogis having supernatural powers which kind of give a sense of a glimmer of hope that maybe one day if I practice yoga I could do some of those magical things as well. At times believing in these supernatural feats makes you feel like yoga is a special practice. But is it true that yogis do have supernatural powers and maybe there's a deeper reason why we tend to believe they do? Let's start by taking a bit of a look at the history of the yogi burials. As author J. William Broad details in his book The Science of Yoga, back in the day investigators who were in search of the miraculous had to pay close attention to the possibility of cheaters. India teemed with street magicians who did feats of illusion for a living, everything from charming snakes and dismembering one another to climbing ropes that disappeared in thin air. These ragtag teams were operating for centuries and they refined their acts so well that even western conjurers had a difficulty understanding how The magicians of India typically worked hard to cultivate religious associations, invoking the names of Hindu gods and saints. So too, many poor religious figures in India, including yogis and swamis, gave in to the temptation of doing street magic as a way to make a living and often sought to pass off simple conjuring as miraculous evidence of divine powers, according to Lee Siegel, an analyst of Indian magic. One time an Indian sociologist disguised himself as a penniless monk in order to survey hundreds of Hindu holy men. More than 6% of them actually admitted directly that they were doing pseudo-yogic feats and magic tricks, which included live burials. These buried performers would secretly get food delivered to them or would have secret holes through which they would leave the cell. In one of the cases, the townspeople were actually surprised to find a holy man walking by the river who was supposed to be buried at the time under the ground. In 1896, Hungary held a millennial exposition in Budapest to celebrate its first thousand years. The festivities were to include two holy men from India. The yogis were said to have the ability to go into deep trances, seemingly to die, and then return from the dead. Professor Oral Funturuk had a difficult time making arrangements to see the holy men and taking measurements. These two men made massive exhibitions by going into a glass coffin and switching places every week or two. Since the event was so chaotic with so many people and so much noise, it was difficult for the scientists to actually take any measurements. With some irritation, Funturuk noted in a preliminary report that true science was difficult under the circumstances. An expected result had clearly aroused his suspicions. The professor had finally found a chance to study the men carefully but could find no plunge in their vital signals. A couple of skeptics hid themselves in the room where the glass coffin was standing and one late night they were surprised to see the coffin open up and a yogi came out of it. He proceeded to enjoy a cake and a bottle of milk. They seized the startled man, yet he and the other imposter managed to escape and save their show for another city and another day. Later on, in October 1924, an ashram opened up which was devoted to take a scientific look at yoga. While many of the studies done there benefited the yoga practice by discovering many of its benefits, the founder of the ashram, Jagannath G. June, eventually decided to test the reality of live burial. He had his team design a so-called samadhi pit which was meant to mimic a live burial place. Yet this one was designed to minimize the chances of extraneous variables, not to mention cheating. This one was not dug in sand like the ones that the yogic superman would prefer. Instead, it was dug in the foundations of a laboratory where gas flows would be easier to monitor and eliminate. The team installed a seal around the door to make it airtight. This was the first in history scientifically proven burial ground which made sure that no air would enter or no yogis would suddenly pop out. The ashram took volunteers from its own ranks and beyond. The most gifted turned out to be a traveling showman of athletic build who wore bangles on his wrists and trunks of tiger skin. He also boasted for having lived through live burials for almost a month. Twice in 1962 he entered the pit. The first time he managed to withstand the chamber not for anything approaching 40 days or 40 nights, not even for a month or a week. He went 11 hours. His second try was better. He went 18 hours before demanding to be let out, gasping for air. In total, the scientists had 11 volunteers who entered the pit. Nothing like that was ever done in history, but unfortunately for the yogi believers, after these experiments were made, nobody was able to prove that live burials are actually positive. Today the ashram is visibly aged, but the pit is frozen in time, bright and spotless and ready for any new volunteer who might appear. It is part museum, part open challenge. Makran Ghor, a senior researcher at the ashram says that they are still ready to do this. A bundle of wires are hanging down from the ceiling of the Samadhi pit, waiting for a miracle worker. Ghor's boss Tiki Berra says that the ashram looked for decades for yogis who had spiritual superpowers, but they had found none. Berra remarked by saying people say yoga is black magic, but what we found is that it gives the power to live on reduced metabolism. That's all. It's not magic. Of course, some people could claim that real yogis live somewhere deep in the jungle, in some cave, and they don't go out promoting their superpowers. What's more likely though is that we want to believe in the supernatural and the grandiose. It's part of our human nature and it's what makes many people feel more special. It also creates this illusion that maybe if that yogi was able to use superpowers, that maybe one day I will too be able to use it if I practice yoga enough. In order to protect that worldview, many people will go far out of their ways to try to justify why scientists were never able to document any yogis with superpowers. Yet as the famous Christopher Hitchens phrase goes, what can be asserted without evidence can also be dismissed without evidence. It makes much more sense to leave our imaginations about yogic superpowers unbelieved in, unless proven otherwise by science. Instead, it is better to focus on what really works and on the benefits that are proven by science, since the belief in the supernatural will not get you far. If you want more videos taking a critical look at yoga, click on this playlist right here. In one of the videos in this playlist, I also share the story of how I was a professional yoga instructor for almost a decade and how eventually I became disillusioned by it. Also, share this video with your fellow yogis of whom you would like them to be more rational. Thanks for hanging out and let's keep creating a culture of critical thinking together.