Thinking in Āsana - Movement and Philosophy in Viniyoga, Iyengar Yoga, and Ashtanga Yoga - Matylda Ciołkosz
3. Enaction and Language
Thinking in Āsana - Movement and Philosophy in Viniyoga, Iyengar Yoga, and Ashtanga Yoga - Matylda Ciołkosz
Matylda Ciołkosz [+]
Jagiellonian University, Kraków
Matylda Ciołkosz is an assistant professor at the Institute of Religious Studies, Jagiellonian University in Kraków. She earned her PhD in culture and religion studies in 2019 for her research on the meaning- making role of kinesthetic experience in the practice of modern postural yoga. In her research, she draws from cognitive approaches to the study of religions to explore the influence of sensory, motor, and social contexts on the formation and application of religious concepts.
Description
The chapter focuses on the notion of meaning and the emergence of language. I discuss the social origins of language and its role as a means to regulate and modulate social interactions. I elaborate on the post-kinetic nature of language (described so by Maxine Sheets-Johnstone), i.e. the significance of early-life kinaesthetic experience for the development of abstract thinking and linguistic expression. Finally, I explain the basic concepts from cognitive linguistics (drawing from the work of George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, and Ronald Langacker) that I later apply in the analytical part of the study.