Authors

Discussion

The life of Malina Michalska (1916–1973) provides a unique lens to explore the interplay between cultural innovation and societal norms in mid-20th century Poland. From her beginnings as a dancer in interwar Warsaw to her later role as a yoga advocate, Michalska’s career bridges periods of political and cultural transformation. Following a leukemia diagnosis in 1960, and building on her background in modernist free dance, Michalska adopted and promoted yoga as both a therapeutic practice and a means of empowerment.

This paper examines Michalska’s transition from dance to yoga during the 1950s and 1960s, positioning her as a figure who navigated between alignment and disruption. Michalska’s approach to yoga emphasized health, vitality, and modernity, appealing to aspirations for cultural sophistication among the urban intelligentsia while aligning with mainstream socialist narratives of progress. Michalska’s entrepreneurial strategies—establishing a yoga studio in Warsaw’s Old Town House of Culture, leveraging media visibility, and performing public yoga demonstrations—illustrate her ability to adapt within a restrictive economic and ideological system, while forging new spaces for female agency and cultural expression. Eventually portrayed as a “yogini,” Michalska embodies the negotiation of individuality, discipline, and cosmopolitan ideals within the broader processes of modernization in post-Stalinist Poland.

Methodologically, this paper adopts a biographical approach, drawing on archival materials, contemporary press coverage, and Michalska’s published yoga instructions. It examines the intersections of gender, physical culture, and shifting cultural values in mid-20th century Poland. By paralleling Michalska’s career with figures such as Indra Devi and other international dancers-turned-yoginis, it also situates her work within a global context and underscores the universal resonance of her trajectory.