[INDOLOGY] Yoga in Theory and Practice Unit at the 2019 AAR in San Diego

[Sravana Borkataky-Varma]

Dear Members,

You might find the following panels, sponsored by the Yoga in Theory and
Practice Unit, to be of interest as you're planning your schedule for next
weekend's meeting of the AAR.

Please note that the YTP business meeting is scheduled following our panel
on Saturday, 5:30 PM–7:00 PM Hilton Bayfront-Aqua 305 (Third Level).

We look forward to seeing you in San Diego!

Best wishes,

Sravana Borkataky-Varma and Anya Foxen
Chairs, Yoga in Theory and Practice Unit

***

*A23-222*
Hinduism Unit and Religion in South Asia Unit and Yoga in Theory and
Practice Unit
*Theme: A Beautiful Sunset: The Legacy of Gerald James Larson (1938–2019)*
Saturday, 1:00 PM–3:00 PM Convention Center-2 (Upper Level West)

This panel will address the legacy of Gerald James Larson, an
internationally renowned scholar of the philosophies, religions, and
cultures of India, who passed away in April 2019. The panelists will
explore Larson’s contributions, as one of the world’s foremost authorities
on the Sāṃkhya and Yoga systems of religious thought, to the development of
Sāṃkhya studies and Yoga studies in the academy through his seminal
works *Classical
Sāṃkhya: An Interpretation of Its History and Meaning* (1969), *Sāṃkhya: A
Dualist Tradition in Indian Philosophy* (1987), and *Yoga: India’s
Philosophy of Meditation* (2008), culminating in *Classical Yoga Philosophy
and the Legacy of Sāṃkhya* (2018). The panelists will also reflect on
Larson’s contributions, as a scholar and mentor, to a range of other
fields, including the study of tantric traditions; systems of Indian
medicine; religion, politics, and law in modern India; Indian traditions of
visual arts; and the cross-cultural philosophy of religion.

John Nemec, University of Virginia, *Presiding *

*Panelists:*
Barbara A. Holdrege, University of California, Santa Barbara
Tracy Pintchman, Loyola University, Chicago
Knut Axel Jacobsen, University of Bergen
Lloyd W. Pflueger, Truman State University
Paul E. Muller-Ortega, Blue Throat Yoga
P. Pratap Kumar, University of Kwazulu
Natal David Haberman, Indiana University
Joseph Prabhu, California State University, Los Angeles
Pravrajika Vrajaprana, Vedanta Society of Southern California

***

*A23-445*
Yoga in Theory and Practice Unit
*Theme: Consumption for Transcendence: Foodways, Diet, and Drugs in Yoga
Practice *
Saturday, 5:30 PM–7:00 PM Hilton Bayfront-Aqua 305 (Third Level)

Combining philological, ethical, historical, and ethnographic voices, this
90-minute panel addresses yogic practices of consumption particularly as
they relate to foodways, diet, and drugs. Our approach is purposefully
broad in scope, drawing from both pre-modern and modern sources in order to
initiate a conversation concerning categories of yogic practice that fall
under the umbrella of “consumption” that have received little focused
attention in yoga studies. Our papers individually and collectively
demonstrate how studying yogic practices of consumption propels yoga
scholarship into a discussion of the relationship between yoga and other
fields of textual inquiry (e.g. ayurvedic, tantric, alchemical) as well as
into an investigation of wider cultural logics wherein we encounter yoga
practitioners in health food stores, eating nationalist food products,
and/or attending ayahuasca retreats in the ethnographic present. This panel
thus also suggests new methodologies for studying the category of “yoga”
from both theoretical and practical perspectives.

Seth Powell, Harvard University, *Presiding *

Patricia Sauthoff, University of Alberta
*Water As Elixir of Longevity: A Rasāyana Practice from the Ānandakanda *
Jonathan Dickstein, University of California, Santa Barbara
*Before They Were Food: Wasting and Weaponizing Animals in Yoga
Gastropolitics*
Nirinjan Khalsa, Loyola Marymount University
*Creating Healthy, Happy, Holy Yogis through Vegetarianism, Ayurveda, and
Kundalini Yoga*
Christa Kuberry, Yoga Alliance, Arlington, VA
*American Yoga and the Substance of Substances *
Christopher Patrick Miller, Loyola Marymount University
*Yogic Foodways at Kaivalyadham: Achieving Liberation through BioMoral
Consumption*

*Responding:* Stuart R. Sarbacker, Oregon State University
*Business Meeting:* Sravana Borkataky-Varma, University of North Carolina,
Wilmington, and Anya Foxen, California Polytechnic State University,
Presiding

***

*A24-340*
Yoga in Theory and Practice Unit
*Theme: Yoga Across Boundaries: New Technologies and Changing Practices*
Sunday, 3:30 PM–5:00 PM Hilton Bayfront-Sapphire D (Fourth Level)

This roundtable discussion focuses on the impact of current and emerging
technologies on the evolution of various forms of yoga. Specifically, four
presenters will contribute material on: the co-construction of modern yoga
across cyberspaces, the innovative internet business model of YogaGlo,
online Jain yoga, and finally, Yoga Bhavadhara, a new form of modern
postural yoga, which incorporates digital projectors, simulated
environments, and online streaming audio services. The panel also features
two responders, who will add to the discussion from both a more traditional
academic angle, as well as assessing the popular practitioner-oriented and
business dimension of the presentations.

Sravana Borkataky-Varma, University of North Carolina, Wilmington,
*Presiding *

*Panelists:*
Matteo Di Placido, University of Milan - Bicocca
Derek Mills, YogaGlo, Santa Monica, CA
Darren Iammarino, San Diego Mesa College

*Responding:*
Sthaneshwar Timalsina, San Diego State University
Christa Kuberry, Yoga Alliance, Arlington, VA

***

*A25-306*
Buddhism Unit and Law, Religion, and Culture Unit, and Yoga in Theory and
Practice Unit
*Theme: Author-Meets-Critics: Panel Discussion of Debating Yoga and
Mindfulness in Public Schools: Reforming Secular Education or
Reestablishing Religion? (University of North Carolina Press, 2019) by
Candy Gunther Brown*
Monday, 3:30 PM–5:00 PM Convention Center-20A (Upper Level East)

The 2019 publication of *Debating Yoga and Mindfulness in Public Schools:
Reforming Secular Education or Reestablishing Religion?* by Candy Gunther
Brown (University of North Carolina Press), the conference theme Scholarly
Workers in Public Spaces, and our location in San Diego constitute a
remarkable convergence. In the 2013 court case *Sedlock v. Baird*, parents
sued San Diego’s Encinitas Union School District for indoctrinating
children in Hinduism and Buddhism by teaching Ashtanga yoga and
mindfulness. Both parties enlisted religious studies scholars, among them
Brown, as expert witnesses. Brown draws on experience in *Sedlock* and
three additional legal challenges to assess ethical and legal implications,
foregrounding values of respect for cultural and religious diversity,
informed consent, transparency, and voluntarism. This author-meets-critics
panel facilitates conversation among scholars who have been involved and/or
analyzed the stakes when yoga and mindfulness are practiced and debated in
public spaces. It seeks to model civic discourse across difference.

Richard K. Payne, Graduate Theological Union, *Presiding*

*Panelists: *
Andrea Jain, Indiana University - Purdue University, Indianapolis
David McMahan, Franklin and Marshall College
Ronald Purser, San Francisco State University
Steven Green, Willamette University

*Responding:* Candy Gunther Brown, Indiana University

---
Dr. Sravana Borkataky-Varma
Faculty
Religious Studies Program

University of Houston

Co-Chair, American Academy of Religion, Yoga in Theory and Practice


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