[INDOLOGY] Yoga Studies Week at the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies

Sat Mar 23 09:56:33 UTC 2019

Dear Colleagues

Please see attached details of Yoga Studies Week, hosted by the SOAS Centre
of Yoga Studies from March 25th to 29th.

Best wishes

SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies

Monday 25th March Directions in Yoga Studies: Established and Emerging
Research – Dr Suzanne Newcombe (Open University and Inform, KCL) and Karen
O’Brien-Kop (SOAS)

6.30-7.45pm, Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT), SOAS

Introducing a week of guest speakers, this talk will provide an overview of
the main and emerging areas of yoga studies in academia currently. We will
highlight new and interesting trends in research for yoga and meditation
studies, taking into account many different disciplinary framings,
geographical areas, and historical periods. The lecture will conclude with
a discussion on areas of contemporary interest in regard to yoga and
meditation both within and outside the academy.

This event is free but booking is required. Booking and more details via
Eventbrite.
<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/directions-in-yoga-studies-established-and-emerging-fields-tickets-55869655644>

*Tuesday 26th March * Brough Lecture. Between Sound and Silence in Early
Yoga: Meditation on OM at the Moment of Death – Dr Finnian Gerety (Brown
University, USA)

6.00-7.20pm, Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT), SOAS

This talk examines how Vedic texts and rituals inform the construction of
mantra-based contemplative practices in early Yoga. Tracing the development
of meditation on the sacred syllable “OM” at the moment of death, Dr Gerety
will argue that the techniques of several early Yoga systems have roots in
the little-known rite of  “yoking” (yukti) from the Jaiminīya school of
Sāmaveda. In this rite, the seated practitioner controls his breath and
senses, visualizes the liturgy, and chants OM out loud while meditating in
silence on other mantras—with the aim of ascending to the sun and attaining
immortality.

Jaiminīya sources thus furnish the oldest link in a chain of Indian
soteriologies associated with OM, death, and solar ascent—a genealogy that
extends from the Vedas up through foundational discourses of early Yoga. By
examining the tension between sound and silence in contemplative practices
involving OM, this talk aims to bring attention to the interplay of mantra
and meditation, and to invite a reappraisal of Brahmanical contributions to
premodern Yoga systems.

This event is free but booking is required. Booking and more details via
Eventbrite.
<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/between-sound-and-silence-in-early-yoga-meditation-on-om-at-the-moment-of-death-with-finnian-gerety-tickets-55869741902>

Yoga as Neoliberal Spirituality: Personal Growth, Self-Care & the Quest for
Liberation – Dr Andrea Jain (Indiana University, USA)

7.30-8.45pm, Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT), SOAS

Neoliberal spirituality relies on the selective deployment of key
neoliberal assumptions, such as the importance of self-governance and
individual responsibilization. It privileges meritocracy insofar as many
activities revolve around discerning and certifying the merit that leads to
the envied lifestyle of personal growth, self-care, and liberation. At the
same time, spirituality has suffered the fate of other cultural areas under
the global dominance of neoliberal capitalism. Adherents must “do more with
less,” cutting costs while meeting ever-greater demands.

In this talk, Prof. Andrea Jain evaluates the ways the global yoga industry
serves as a crucial node of neoliberal spirituality, analyzing different
and conflicting narratives in the yoga industry in order to shed light on
larger systemic issues, particularly by illuminating the following: a
globally pervasive neoliberal logic whereby control over one’s body is
valued, but is defined as an individual achievement; and capitalist
strategies of commodification that contain dissent against dominant
ideologies through gestural subversions. Together, these brew an industry
that largely buttresses the oppressive ideologies of, for example,
neoliberalism and heteropatriarchy.

This event is free but booking is required. Booking and more details via
Eventbrite.
<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/yoga-as-neoliberal-spirituality-personal-growth-self-care-the-quest-for-liberation-with-andrea-jain-tickets-55869814118>

Wednesday 27th March
Sanskrit Reading Room: Singing for Immortality: Texts and Rites of the
Jaiminīya Sāmaveda – Dr Finnian Gerety (Brown University, USA)

1.00-3.00pm, B102, Brunei Gallery, SOAS

The Sanskrit Reading Room is a reading forum for budding Sanskritists to
improve their Sanskrit language skills and be up-to-date with current
research in Sanskrit studies.

Because the texts of the Jaiminīya school of Sāmaveda lack complete and
up-to-date critical editions and translations, the important contributions
of this lineage of Vedic ritualists to the history of Indian religions have
not always been duly appreciated. Chief among these is the construction of
“OM” as a sacred syllable that leads to immortality, a project undertaken
by the authors of the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa (ca. 700 BCE). Combining
reflection on ritual in the style of a Vedic āraṇyaka with metaphysical
speculation similar to an upaniṣad, this seminal prose text explains
esoteric modes of singing “melodies” (sāman) from the Sāmavedic liturgy,
emphasizing the soteriological efficacy of OM in Vedic sacrifice.

In this session of the Sanskrit Reading Room, we will read several passages
from the Jaiminīya Upaniṣad-Brāhmaṇa with the aim of understanding how
Jaiminīya authors approach mantra, ritual, the body, and liberation. To
this end, we will attend to the strategies they use to codify, elevate, and
interpret OM as a recitational technique for attaining immortality. We will
also look for clues in the text that give insights into its broader social
and religious context, including political patronage, attitudes towards
asceticism, and influence on other Vedic schools.

This event is free but registration is required as space is very limited.
Please email srr at soas.ac.uk to book your place.

Visions of Patañjali as a Nāga, Siddha, and Sage – Dr Gudrun Bühnemann
(University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA)

3.30-4.30pm, Khalili Lecture Theatre (KLT), SOAS

Patañjali was the name of an ancient Indian sage to whom important works on
Sanskrit grammar, Yoga philosophy and the medical system of Āyurveda are
ascribed. In recent decades increasing attention has focused on Patañjali
as an authority on and figurehead of Yoga. Believed to be the author of a
set of aphorisms on Yoga philosophy (the Yogasūtras), which has attained
canonical status in many Yoga traditions, he is eulogized with invocations
in Sanskrit recited at the beginning of Yoga classes. Dr Bühnemann’s talk
will discuss this multi-faceted legendary personage and explore the
development of visual representations of the sage, and beliefs and concepts
associated with him.

This event is free but booking is required. Booking and more details via
Eventbrite.
<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/visions-of-patanjali-as-a-naga-siddha-sage-with-gudrun-buhnemann-tickets-55870984619>

The Politics of Yoga: Sex, Religion, and Power in the Global Industry – Dr
Andrea Jain (Indiana University, USA)

6.00-7.15pm, triyoga Camden

In recent years, the global yoga industry—including the popular Iyengar,
ashtanga, hatha, flow, and Bikram (“hot”) yoga forms—has come under
scrutiny for its commercialization, penchant for commodification and
cultural appropriation, and abuses of power. For example, in the wake of
#MeToo, there have been countless revelations that influential gurus and
teachers sexually assaulted students. Arguably, the controversies around
yoga reflect anxieties regarding religion, spirituality, post-colonialism,
capitalism, gender, and identity. In this talk, Prof. Andrea Jain will
discuss the religious, social, and political forces animating contemporary
yoga debates.

NOTE: This event takes place at triyoga Camden. Tickets £12. Booking via
the triyoga
<https://triyoga.co.uk/workshop-events-schedule/?where=1&from=01-03-2019&with=100002157&what=%2A&search=true&courseid&classdescid&fbclid=IwAR3hnIcaU9QRZSuGC4YR_932ejBOGPRTptlQoffcCG-w1ypFPkm9kluHvDg>
website.

Thursday 28th March Yoga and Meditation Traditions in Indonesia – Dr Andrea
Acri (École Pratique des Hautes Études, PSL University, France)

1.00-1.45pm, G3, Main Building, SOAS

Lunchtime lecture. This talk will survey the Indic yoga and meditation
traditions that developed in what is now the nation-state of Indonesia,
from ca. the eight century CE to the present. It will present evidence from
premodern Sanskrit-Old Javanese texts on the philosophical and
soteriological traditions of Pātañjala yoga and tantric Śaiva yoga and
discuss in a comparative fashion their Indic roots vis-à-vis their local
reconfigurations, as well as their continuation into modern Balinese Hindu
practice. It will then discuss yoga motifs that have survived in an Islamic
garb in Classical Malay texts from Sumatra and in modern Javanese mystical
currents.

This event is free but booking is required. Booking and more details via
Eventbrite.
<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/yoga-and-meditation-traditions-in-indonesia-with-andrea-acri-tickets-55870281516>

Friday 29th March Alchemy in Daoism and Haṭha Yoga – Discussion with
Professor Louis Komjathy (University of San Diego) and Dr James Mallinson
(SOAS)

6.00-8.00pm, Brunei Gallery Lecture Theatre, SOAS

Chaired by Suzanne Newcombe (Open University and Inform, KCL). Followed by
a drinks reception.

The perfection of the human, seen as either a means towards ultimate
liberation from suffering or immortality, has a central place in both the
Indian and Chinese esoteric traditions. To these ends, both Haṭha and
Daoist traditions have ‘internal’ practices relating to the manipulation of
energy inside the body as well as more ‘external’ practices which can
involve the ingestion of substances. Both of these Indian and Chinese
traditions have also developed a variety of physical exercises aimed at
strengthening the physical body.

By bringing two leading scholars in their respective fields together in
dialogue, it is hoped that the discussion will further elucidate both
similarities and distinctions between the Indian and Chinese traditions.
Each scholar will make a short presentation on the internal and external
practices of alchemy in their respective tradition(s), before an extended
question and answer session and informal reception.

With support from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation
programme under grant agreements No. 639363 (AYURYOG: Entangled Histories
of Yoga, Ayurveda and Alchemy in South Asia) and No. 616393 (The Haṭha Yoga
Project (HYP).

This event is free but booking is required. Booking and more details via
Eventbrite.
<https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/alchemy-in-daoism-and-hatha-yoga-a-discussion-tickets-56044461493>

------------------------
Karen O'Brien-Kop

*Senior Teaching Fellow*
Department of Religions and Philosophies
SOAS University of London

Office hours: Wednesday 11am to 1pm by appointment, Room 343

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