SOCIOLOGY OF EMOTIONS: Common-sense Definitions of Yoga and Its Meaning for Practitioners

• Authors: Konecki, Krzysztof , Bogusławska-Lesiak, Anna , Saganowska, Ewa

Abstracts

EN

This paper presents an analysis of the common-sense definitions of hatha-yoga practice.Employing qualitative research methods, I aim to develop an understanding of how yogais perceived by people exercising and practicing it. Initially it appears as if most practitionershad an idiosyncratic approach to definitions of yoga: However, as my analysis showsindividual and personal approaches are in fact based on social framing of yoga definitionspresented in classical yoga texts and by instructors’ interpretations of these texts. Moreover,popular media ideologies emphasising the healthy effects of the hatha-yoga also playan important role, including the stress placed on the psychotherapeutic effect of yogaexercising. My analysis further identifies problematic issues in the verbal transmission ofhatha-yoga definitions; this aspect of this paper suggests that other methods (e.g. visualones) might also be conducive to studying the perception and definition of hatha-yoga.

Keywords

EN

hatha-yoga; B.K.S. Iyengar; definition of situation; meaning; symbolic interactionism; Meditation; Qualitative Research; Sociology

• Publisher: Uniwersytet Gdański
• Journal: Miscellanea Anthropologica et Sociologica
• Year: 2016
• Volume: 17(4)
• Pages: 77-94

Dates

published

2017-08-28

Contributors

author

Konecki, Krzysztof

author

Bogusławska-Lesiak, Anna

author

Saganowska, Ewa