Inhaling Spirit
Harmonialism, Orientalism, and the Western Roots of Modern Yoga
- Publisher's listprice GBP 102.50
-
46 278 Ft (44 075 Ft + 5% VAT)
The price is estimated because at the time of ordering we do not know what conversion rates will apply to HUF / product currency when the book arrives. In case HUF is weaker, the price increases slightly, in case HUF is stronger, the price goes lower slightly.
- Discount 10% (cc. 4 627 Ft off)
- Discounted price 41 651 Ft (39 668 Ft + 5% VAT)
Subcribe now and take benefit of a favourable price.
Subscribe
46 278 Ft
Availability
printed on demand
Why don't you give exact delivery time?
Delivery time is estimated on our previous experiences. We give estimations only, because we order from outside Hungary, and the delivery time mainly depends on how quickly the publisher supplies the book. Faster or slower deliveries both happen, but we do our best to supply as quickly as possible.
Product details:
- Publisher OUP USA
- Date of Publication 5 June 2020
- ISBN 9780190082734
- Binding Hardback
- No. of pages338 pages
- Size 239x147x27 mm
- Weight 599 g
- Language English 0
Categories
Short description:
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.
MoreLong description:
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.
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.
Table of Contents:
List Of Figures
Note On Transliteration
Acknowledgements
Introduction: We, Other Greeks
1: Hot Souls, Pneumatic Bodies, and Interplanetary Journeys
2: Harmonic Spirits and the Music of the Spheres
3: Breathing for Nerve Force, Posing for Poise
4: Pneumatic Dancing Girls
5: A Nautch Girl to Teach Us Delsarte
6: Adaptations, Appropriations, and Aerobics
Epilogue: Ceci n'est pas un Yogi, redux
Bibliography
Notes
Index
