Serving, Contemplating and Praying: Non-Postural Yoga(s), Embodiment and Spiritual Capital

Abstract

In this paper, I discuss the role of spiritual seekers’ embodiment of karma, jnana and bhakti yoga(s) in the context of a neo-Vedantic, non-monastic ashram located in southern-Europe, an ashram I regard as an example of modern denominational yoga. Methodologically, I rely on an ex-post multi-sensory autoethnography, involving apprenticeship and full participation immersion, and I share with physical cultural studies a commitment to empirically contextualise the study of the moving body. Theoretically, I employ Shilling’s theory of the body as a multi-dimensional medium for the constitution of society, enriched by other theoretical and sensitising concepts. The findings presented in this paper show that the body of the seekers/devotees can be simultaneously framed as the source of, the location for and the means to, the constitution of the social, cultural and spiritual life of the ashram. As I discuss the development, interiorisation and implementation of serving, contemplative and devotional dispositions, which together form the scheme of dispositions that shape a yogic habitus, I also consider the ties between the specific instances under study and the more general spiritual habitus. The paper ends by broadening its focus in relation to the inclusion of Asian practices and traditions into the Western landscape.

Blending Martial Arts and Yoga for Health: From the Last Samurai to the First Odaka Yoga Warrior

“…As succinctly suggested by Bourdieu and Wacquant ( 1992 :97), “a field may be defined as a network, or a configuration, of objective relations between positions” which shape—and is, respectively, shaped—by social actors' habitus. Bourdieu discusses at length the inextricable relationships between “positions” in a given field, determined by the amount and types of “capital” (e.g., Bourdieu, 1986 ) held by social actors, and “dispositions.” The former, “contrary to a Marxist understanding is defined as a form of accumulated labor composed of both material and symbolic resources” (Di Placido, 2018 :7), while the latter are the constituting elements of the habitus (e.g., Bourdieu, 1983 ). For instance, in his seminal articles ‘ Genèse et Structure du Champ Religieux ’ (1971) and ‘ The Field of Cultural Production ’ (1983), and in his books ‘ Homo Academicus ’ ( 1988 ) and ‘ The Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field ’ (1996), Bourdieu applies his concepts of habitus, capital, and field, to discuss the genesis, internal articulation, and struggles over different positions, in the religious, cultural academic, and literary fields.…”

“…Enriching Jennings' theory of martial creation with a closer look at Roberto's and Francesca's habitus and positions within the martial arts, yoga, and fitness fields, may further help focusing on important elements in the birth and development of Odaka Yoga. First, Roberto and Francesca managed to adapt and transform their respective “martial” (Brown and Jennings, 2013 ) and “fitness” habitus (Sassatelli, 2002 ) into a specific declination of “yogic habitus” (Di Placido, 2018 ) hybridized with martial arts and fitness elements. This signifies that their old-habitus and its schemes of dispositions, developed at the intersection of the martial arts, fitness, and yoga fields, progressively changed as they moved away from the center of the martial arts and fitness fields, and toward the center of the yoga field.…”

Physical Culture

“…Moreover, it is also widely seen as the precursor to the modern form of 'le parcours' (Parkour), developed later by other charismatic figures (Raymond and David Belle) in the 1980s [20], which has itself further evolved into freerunning, spearheaded by yet another charismatic leader, Sebastian Foucan [21]. The significance of charismatic leadership in shaping physical cultures is highlighted in this Special Edition, by Matteo Di Placido [22], who provides an analysis of a modern denominational yoga ashram set up and led by a much-respected Guru in Europe and the forms of spiritual capital developed through these physical cultural practices.…”

Praying interaction rituals: Prayer, ritual, and spiritual capital in a contemporary neo-Guru movement

“…In this article, I focus on the practice of bhaktiyoga, or yoga of devotion, within the largely influential, although substantially understudied Mooji neo-Guru movement (for exceptions see Di Placido, 2018Placido, , 2022. In so doing, I contend that by bridging sociological theorizing with the growing literature on neo-Guru and neo-Hindu movements (Altglas, 2005(Altglas, , 2007(Altglas, , 2008(Altglas, , 2014Goldman, 2005;Lucia, 2014;Srinivas, 2008Srinivas, , 2010Squarcini, 2000Squarcini, , 2002Squarcini and Fizzotti, 2004;Urban, 2005Urban, , 2012Williamson, 2010), for example, an ad hoc framework to understand the social deployments, disciplining dynamics, and collective role of prayer in the social and discursive construction of the identity of the communities in question, can be formed.…”

“…A plethora of similar videos are available on the same platform and on ‘Mooji TV’, a platform defined as ‘the home and heart of Mooji satsangs shared online’: https://mooji.org/mooji-tv (accessed January 22, 2022). For another account of bhaktiyoga in Mooji’s ashram see Di Placido (2018).…”