Is the Body the Temple of the Soul?

Modern Yoga Practice as a Psychological Phenomenon

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Hatha-yoga in Western culture is often perceived as the practice of physical exercises (practice of the asana position), usually done to improve one’s health and emotional state. Even if that is the case, it is still based on the rule of “the silencing of the modifications of the mind.” It is about a containment of mind dispersion in terms of non-important, minute, everyday issues, which are not important for the basis of our existence, balance and inner harmony, the unity of body and mind. Even if we train only for our health and for improvement of our physical fitness, then the end result, in the case of many physical and sports activities, is stopping mind movement. The full concentration on one action, on one point in space, might not have any metaphysical meaning for us, but it still remains full concentration. This can be achieved by patiently practicing hatha-yoga.


Rok wydania2015
Liczba stron226
KategoriaPublikacje darmowe
WydawcaWydawnictwo Uniwersytetu Łódzkiego
ISBN-13978-83-7969-819-6
Numer wydania1
Informacja o sprzedawcyePWN sp. z o.o.

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Spis treści

  Foreword (Michał Szczepanik)     8
  Introduction     10
  
  Chapter 1. Philosophy and hatha-yoga practice. Para-religious aspects of hatha-yoga     22
  1.1. Introduction     22
  1.2. Yoga – the perspectives of religious studies scholar and the perspective of yoga practitioner     23
  1.3. Yoga and society – “religion of everyday life”     30
  1.4. Conclusions     36
  
  Chapter 2. The social world of yoga practice     40
  2.1. What is the social world?     40
  2.2. Hatha-yoga practitioners and their social world – arenas and legitimization     41
  2.3. The intersection of the worlds     49
  2.3.1. Intersection of the world of yoga practice and the world of climbing     49
  2.3.2. Intersection of the world of conventional medicine and alternative medicine     49
  2.3.3. Intersection of the world of business corporations and the world of yoga practice     51
  2.3.4. Intersection of the world of yoga and pop-culture     54
  2.4. A disagreement about hatha-yoga origin. The vision of Marc Singleton     55
  2.5. Conclusions     68
  
  Chapter 3. Commonsense definitions of yoga and its meaning for practitioners     70
  3.1. Introduction     70
  3.2. Individual interpretations of hatha-yoga     71
  3.3. Conclusions     81
  
  Chapter 4. The process of becoming a hatha-yoga practitioner     84
  4.1. Introduction     84
  4.2. Introductory phase – construction of motives and first steps     86
  4.2.1. Constructing motives     86
  4.2.2. First steps – beginning of the practice     92
  4.2.3. Noticing the effects     99
  4.3. The phase of fuller recognition of psychophysical effects, and ascribing appropriate meanings to them     106
  4.4. Phase of fuller recognition of the spiritual (para-religious) aspects of hatha-yoga     118
  4.5. Conclusions     137
  
  Chapter 5. Visual transmission of knowledge and the meaning of corporality and gestures in the social world of yoga practice     142
  5.1. Introduction     142
  5.2. The method of studying corporality with the usage of visual techniques     148
  5.3. What do I see and feel when I practice? Analysis of the interviews data     151
  5.3.1. What do I see when somebody else practices? The analysis of films from the Internet used for interviews     153
  5.3.2. What do I feel when I practice? Analysis of the movie-elicited interviews     160
  5.3.3. Non-passable knowledge. Difficulties with verbal interpretations and description of asanas     160
  5.3.4. Body empathy based on visualization     163
  5.4. The role of the teacher and the correctness of asana performance     174
  5.5. Conclusions     175
  
  Chapter 6. Emotions and yoga practicing. Working on emotions and achieving “emotional culture” without emotions     178
  6.1. Introduction     178
  6.2. Working on emotions – explanations based on practitioners’ statements     184
  6.3. Conclusions     191
  
  Chapter 7. Teacher and guru in hatha-yoga practice     196
  7.1. Introduction     196
  7.2. Teacher-student interactions     198
  7.3. Conclusions     208
  Conclusions     210
  Bibliography     218
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