Inhaling Spirit
Harmonialism, Orientalism, and the Western Roots of Modern Yoga
«Inhaling Spirit represents an extremely fascinating and engaging volume, that might serve as a fundamental read not only for scholars, but also for practitioners willing to delve into the history of 'their' yoga, in order to approach its practice in a more conscious and knowledgeable manner.»
Valeria Infantino, Sapienza University of Rome, Recensioni
Recent scholarship has shown that modern postural yoga is the outcome of a complex process of transcultural exchange and syncretism. This book doubles down on those claims and digs even deeper, looking to uncover the disparate but entangled roots of modern yoga practice. Les mer
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Recent scholarship has shown that modern postural yoga is the outcome of a complex process of transcultural exchange and syncretism. This book doubles down on those claims and digs even deeper, looking to uncover the disparate but entangled roots of modern yoga practice. Anya Foxen shows that some of what we call yoga, especially in North America and Europe, is genealogically only slightly related to pre-modern Indian yoga traditions. Rather, it is equally, if not
more so, grounded in Hellenistic theories of the subtle body, Western esotericism and magic, pre-modern European medicine, and late-nineteenth-century women's wellness programs. The book begins by examining concepts arising out of Greek philosophy and religion, including Pythagoreanism, Stoicism,
Neo-Platonism, Galenic medicine, theurgy, and other cultural currents that have traditionally been categorized as "Western esotericism," as well as the more recent examples which scholars of American traditions have labeled "metaphysical religion." Marshaling these under the umbrella category of "harmonialism," Foxen argues that they represent a history of practices that were gradually subsumed into the language of yoga.
Orientalism and gender become important categories of analysis as this narrative moves into the nineteenth century. Women considerably outnumber men in all studies of yoga except those conducted in India, and modern anglophone yoga exhibits important continuities with women's physical culture, feminist reform, and white women's engagement with Orientalism. Foxen's study allows us to recontextualize the peculiarities of American yoga-its focus on aesthetic representation, its privileging of
bodily posture and unsystematic incorporation of breathwork, and above all its overwhelmingly white female demographic. In this context it addresses the ongoing conversation about cultural appropriation within the yoga community.
more so, grounded in Hellenistic theories of the subtle body, Western esotericism and magic, pre-modern European medicine, and late-nineteenth-century women's wellness programs. The book begins by examining concepts arising out of Greek philosophy and religion, including Pythagoreanism, Stoicism,
Neo-Platonism, Galenic medicine, theurgy, and other cultural currents that have traditionally been categorized as "Western esotericism," as well as the more recent examples which scholars of American traditions have labeled "metaphysical religion." Marshaling these under the umbrella category of "harmonialism," Foxen argues that they represent a history of practices that were gradually subsumed into the language of yoga.
Orientalism and gender become important categories of analysis as this narrative moves into the nineteenth century. Women considerably outnumber men in all studies of yoga except those conducted in India, and modern anglophone yoga exhibits important continuities with women's physical culture, feminist reform, and white women's engagement with Orientalism. Foxen's study allows us to recontextualize the peculiarities of American yoga-its focus on aesthetic representation, its privileging of
bodily posture and unsystematic incorporation of breathwork, and above all its overwhelmingly white female demographic. In this context it addresses the ongoing conversation about cultural appropriation within the yoga community.
Detaljer
- Forlag
- Oxford University Press Inc
- Innbinding
- Innbundet
- Språk
- Engelsk
- ISBN
- 9780190082734
- Utgivelsesår
- 2020
- Format
- 24 x 16 cm
Anmeldelser
«Inhaling Spirit represents an extremely fascinating and engaging volume, that might serve as a fundamental read not only for scholars, but also for practitioners willing to delve into the history of 'their' yoga, in order to approach its practice in a more conscious and knowledgeable manner.»
Valeria Infantino, Sapienza University of Rome, Recensioni
«Using the metaphor of inosculation, this fascinating and compelling study traces the Western roots of modern yoga, which Foxen (California Polytechnic State Univ.) argues "is only slightly genealogically related to Indian yogic traditions." She charts the development of physical culture in the West, particularly forms embedded within philosophical and spiritual traditions rooted in classical Hellenism, from Neoplatonic strains in Islamic culture, medieval Platonism, and magical traditions, into the movements of Emanuel Swedenborg, Franz Anton Mesmer, and New Thought. ... This text will be valuable to those interested in the history of ideas, esoteric studies, embodied religions, physical culture, women's studies, Orientalism, yoga, harmonialism, cultural appropriation, countercultural studies, identity construction, and dance.»
G. J. Reece, CHOICE
«With Inhaling Spirit, Foxen contributes to the further demarginalisation of Western esotericism as a legitimate scholarly endeavor and invites us to reflect on the power of labels as we set to interpret the world around us.»
Matteo Di Placido, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan, Italy, Brill
«Foxen's Inhaling Spirit: Harmonialism, Orientalism, and the Western Roots of Modern Yoga adds immeasurably to our understanding of the emergence of modern yoga, but also moves beyond this world to engage a range of issues pertinent to students of New Religious Movements, Orientalism, and conceptions of femaleness and female personhood from the Victorian period to modernity. Scholars and students alike should consider Foxen's study a fundamental contribution to these fields of inquiry, as it takes its place as "required reading" for those engaged in their study.»
Herman Tull, Journal of Hindu Christian Studies