Serving, Contemplating and Praying: Non-Postural Yoga(s), Embodiment and Spiritual Capital

Matteo Di Placido
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Matteo Di Placido: Department of Sociology and Social Research, University of Milan-Bicocca, Milan 20126, Italy

Societies, 2018, vol. 8, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: In this paper, I discuss the role of spiritual seekers’ embodiment of karma, jnana and bhakti yoga(s) in the context of a neo-Vedantic, non-monastic ashram located in southern-Europe, an ashram I regard as an example of modern denominational yoga. Methodologically, I rely on an ex-post multi-sensory autoethnography, involving apprenticeship and full participation immersion, and I share with physical cultural studies a commitment to empirically contextualise the study of the moving body. Theoretically, I employ Shilling’s theory of the body as a multi-dimensional medium for the constitution of society , enriched by other theoretical and sensitising concepts. The findings presented in this paper show that the body of the seekers/devotees can be simultaneously framed as the source of, the location for and the means to, the constitution of the social, cultural and spiritual life of the ashram. As I discuss the development, interiorisation and implementation of serving , contemplative and devotional dispositions , which together form the scheme of dispositions that shape a yogic habitus , I also consider the ties between the specific instances under study and the more general spiritual habitus . The paper ends by broadening its focus in relation to the inclusion of Asian practices and traditions into the Western landscape.

Keywords: karma yoga; jnana yoga; bhakti yoga; modern denominational yoga; body; physical culture(s); multi-sensory autoethnography; apprenticeship; full participation; neo-Vedanta (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: A13 A14 P P0 P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 Z1 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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