Thinking in Āsana - Movement and Philosophy in Viniyoga, Iyengar Yoga, and Ashtanga Yoga - Matylda Ciołkosz
10. Yogins, their Yogas, and their Worlds: A Summary
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
By treating “yoga philosophy” as a counterpart of “yoga practice”, I attempt to show how these two aspect of yoga complement each other. By showing a systematic relation between the way yoga techniques are practiced and the way yoga philosophy is understood, I point to the internal coherence of the three studied systems. I argue that the yoga philosophies proposed by Desikachar, Iyengar, and Jois provide a rationale for yoga practice, and explain its efficacy. At the same time, yoga practice provides the experiential basis to interpret the yoga philosophy.