Becoming the Breath: Experience in the Practice of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga
Location
Science Center, A155
Document Type
Presentation
Start Date
4-25-2014 4:00 PM
End Date
4-25-2014 5:15 PM
Abstract
The past decade has seen the emergence of modern yoga studies. While much of this scholarship dedicates itself to understanding yoga’s historical development over time, fewer scholars have sought to understand the transformative experiences of practitioners themselves. In this practice—based ethnographic study of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, I examine the experience of heightened sensitivities to—and alternate understandings of—body, mind, the corporeal presence of others, and the surrounding environment. Using these patterns of experience, I argue that the practice of Ashtanga yoga yields new ways of knowing the self and its environment not normally cultivated in daily life.
Recommended Citation
Bianchi, Alexander, "Becoming the Breath: Experience in the Practice of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga" (04/25/14). Senior Symposium. 39.
https://digitalcommons.oberlin.edu/seniorsymp/2014/presentations/39
Major
Religion
Advisor(s)
Laurie McMillin, Religion; Rhetoric
Project Mentor(s)
Laurie McMillin, Religion; Rhetoric
April 2014
Becoming the Breath: Experience in the Practice of Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga
Science Center, A155
The past decade has seen the emergence of modern yoga studies. While much of this scholarship dedicates itself to understanding yoga’s historical development over time, fewer scholars have sought to understand the transformative experiences of practitioners themselves. In this practice—based ethnographic study of Ashtanga Vinyasa yoga, I examine the experience of heightened sensitivities to—and alternate understandings of—body, mind, the corporeal presence of others, and the surrounding environment. Using these patterns of experience, I argue that the practice of Ashtanga yoga yields new ways of knowing the self and its environment not normally cultivated in daily life.
Notes
Session III, Panel 13 - Enigmatic Agents: Studies in the Decoding of Language and Action
Moderator: Cindy Frantz, Associate Professor of Psychology