The health imaginary of postural yoga

2007

This paper discusses the importation of Yoga into the

The article explores the stories of engagement with modern yoga and meditation (MYM) methods of a group of long-term practitioners from the combined perspective of body and narrative. It uses Frank’s typology of ‘body use in action’ as an interpretive framework to illustrate key embodied dispositions and health-related narratives that these participants cultivate through their embodied practises, which are perfect renditions of the individualised neoliberal subject of capital. Frank’s typology is applied to rich qualitative data that include practitioner interviews and documentary evidence. The findings illustrate how MYM methods can encourage disciplined, dominating, mirroring and communicative yogic bodies. Specifically, the article argues that disciplined yogic bodies have elective affinities for restitution and/or self-actualisation narratives. Some mirroring yogic bodies tell restitution or/and self-actualisation stories, whilst others may also tell Self-realisation stories. Dominating yogic bodies have elective affinities for Self-realisation narratives and communicative yogic bodies for quest stories. The article considers some of the implications for applying Frank’s typology in the subcultural context of MYM practice and to the sociology of embodiment more widely.

Yoga in Transformation. Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Ed. by Karl Baier et al., 2018

2021

Clear, accessible, and meticulously annotated, _Tracing the Path of Yoga_ offers a comprehensive survey of the history and philosophy of yoga that will be invaluable to both specialists and to nonspecialists seeking a deeper understanding of this fascinating subject. Stuart Ray Sarbacker argues that yoga can be understood first and foremost as a discipline of mind and body that is represented in its narrative and philosophical literature as resulting in both numinous and cessative accomplishments that correspond, respectively, to the attainment of this-worldly power and otherworldly liberation. Sarbacker demonstrates how the yogic quest for perfection as such is situated within the concrete realities of human life, intersecting with issues of politics, economics, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as reflecting larger Indic religious and philosophical ideals.

In book: The Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care, Edition: 1, Chapter: History, Philosophy, and Practice of Yoga., Publisher: Handspring Pub Ltd, Editors: Sat Bir Khalsa, Lorenzo Cohen, Timothy McCall, Shirley Telles, pp.17-29 The Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care is a professional-level textbook with contributions by multiple expert researchers and therapists in the field. - See more at: http://www.handspringpublishing.com/product/principles-practice-yoga-health-care/#sthash.9nw6QPrd.dpuf

International Journal of Hindu Studies 22:523–549, 2018

Krzysztof T. Konecki, Is the Body the Temple of the Soul?: Modern Yoga Practice as a Psychosocial Phenomenon. Krakow: Jagiellonian University Press, 2015. 224 pages.

2012

Page 1. 1 Krzysztof T. Konecki Lodz University Is our body the temple of the soul? Contemporary yoga practice as a psycho-sociological phenomenon (Konecki Krzysztof T. (2012) Czy ciało jest świątynią duszy? Współczesna praktyka jogi jako fenomen psychospołeczny, Warszawa: Difin) Contents Preface Introduction Chapter 1. Hatha-yoga philosophy and practice. Para-religious aspects of hatha-yoga 1.1. Introduction 1.2. Yoga – a scholar of religion's and practitioner's perspective 1.3.

Journal of Yoga and Physiotherapy, 2018

In this essay I explore a relationship between ‘yoga’ and ‘therapy’ as each of these two words are commonly understood. I then explore a more intrinsic relationship between the two, that draws on the essence of both yoga and therapy. My contention is that this deeper understanding of both yoga and therapy provides a goal within which the conventional understanding of yoga as therapy makes sense. Not all students are ready or able to approach yoga as enjoyable. When one is caught up in a tight and restricted body, experiencing pain from physical and psychological injuries, it may take some time to gain confidence that yoga, as therapy, can begin to destress our over-wrought systems. However, as this begins to happen—as we experience an opening within ourselves—we are more amenable to a deeper realization that is afforded by yoga.

Grounded in a qualitative sociological method, this thesis argues that within yoga teacher training programs in Brisbane, senior yoga instructors act as cultural mediators who construct both explicit and implicit discourses of the body. Using a framework provided by three notions of the ‘body’ — the gross body, subtle body, and gendered body — a two-­‐pronged argument that Modern Yoga Teacher Training Programs negotiate attitudes to the body around ‘traditional’ and ‘scientific’ epistemologies (the latter is ‘privileged’, though the former is significant for ‘authenticity’), and unconsciously reproduce existing gender normativities, is presented. This thesis is critically engaged with Modern Yoga Studies literature, to which it offers a contribution.

International Journal of Yoga Therapy, 2005

This article provides an introductory outline of the theoretical foundations for the therapeutic application of Yoga. Over the course of its several thousand year history,Yoga has evolved and refined highly effective models and tools for healing and health, many of which are discussed in the article. These models and tools are interconnected and interdependent, each one supporting the other while at the same time addressing specific aspects of the whole human system. The article also emphasizes Yoga's holistic view of the student/patient. Yoga addresses every aspect of the human system, including the body, the mind, emotions,breathing patterns, relationships, etc. The article shows how Yoga's particular methodology enables the educated and skilled Yoga teacher to design practices tailored to respect the individuality of each person and situation.