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Yoga: A Window to Embodied Theology and Spirituality
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Yoga: A Window to Embodied Theology and Spirituality

A special issue of Religions (ISSN 2077-1444). This special issue belongs to the section "Religions and Health/Psychology/Social Sciences".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2022) | Viewed by 11470

Special Issue Editor

Dr. Helene T. Russell

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Christian Theological Seminary, Indianapolis, IN 46208, USA
Interests: process feminist theology; yoga and spirituality; trauma-sensitive theology

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

While many Christian churches are emptying, yoga studios are filling up. Why? What does yoga offer that is lacking in church? Grappling with this question could provide guidance and insights for deepening understandings of embodied spirituality and embodied theology. This conversation could offer revisions for thinking about God with our attention to our bodies, enrich the practice of yoga, and offer churches possible venues for connecting with a broader range of participants.

Yoga is not merely a science of exercises that strengthen the muscles of the body and increase flexibility and range of motion. While it does provide these and other health benefits, yoga, at heart, is an ancient science, art, and practice of embodied spirituality. Some 2000 years ago, Patanjali recorded threads of wisdom for alleviating suffering and realizing joy and freedom. In the Yoga Sutras, he defines yoga as the stilling of the fluctuations of thinking and calming the disturbances of mind. There are eight limbs, which include ethical principles and personal disciplines as well as physical and breathing exercises, along with mental and spiritual practices toward meditation and prayer. Yoga is nonsectarian, and its tools and techniques can be used toward deepening integrated spiritual unity and wholeness in a variety of worldviews and religious traditions.

Christian theology, on the other hand, has had an ambiguous relationship with the body. While Christianity claims that Jesus’s incarnation, physical suffering, and bodily resurrection are at the heart of its theology, it has a checkered history of viewing the human body in positive ways in its formulations as well as in its common practices.

This is a significant flaw in many historical and current theological formulations. There have been a variety of approaches toward amelioration of this issue from varied perspectives and traditions, including the Roman Catholic “Body Theology”, and Open Theist Evangelical John Sanders’ Theology in the Flesh, as well as many feminist and womanist theologians, such as Carol Christ, Rosemary Radford Ruether, and Kelly Douglas, as well as Anthony Pinn’s excellent work on embodiment and Black theology. Nevertheless, few have had a sustained dialogue with the philosophy, theology, and practice of Yoga with an eye toward how Yoga might help theology and philosophy to consider the self as an embodied whole.

The question I pose is the following: In what ways can yoga provide insights, tools, and practices as well as an example, and even as a paradigm, for embodied, integrated spirituality and an embodied, integrated theology to match?

Proposals for essays addressing this issue are welcome. Areas of focus might include embodied theology for embodied spirituality; practical theology of breath and spirit; trauma, yoga, and theology; and other creative approaches.

Dr. Helene T. Russell
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a double-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Religions is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • Yoga
  • Theology
  • Embodiment
  • Body
  • Spirituality
  • Well-being

Published Papers (4 papers)

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14 pages, 281 KiB  
Article
The Change: Yoga, Theology and the Menopause
by Emma L. Pavey
Religions 2022, 13(4), 306; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13040306 - 31 Mar 2022
Viewed by 2200
Abstract
In this article, I explore the interplay of yoga, theology and the time of perimenopause and menopause. Through an approach centered physically, theologically and philosophically on becoming, I find an integrated web of thinking, feeling and moving that weaves new ways of perceiving [...] Read more.
In this article, I explore the interplay of yoga, theology and the time of perimenopause and menopause. Through an approach centered physically, theologically and philosophically on becoming, I find an integrated web of thinking, feeling and moving that weaves new ways of perceiving and living this time of change; an example, I suggest, of what Keller calls creatio ex profundis, new creation from the depths of a life. I bring aspects of process theology (along with feminist and queer theology), phenomenological materialism, embodiment and somatic psychology/physiology into conversation with personal narrative. I examine ideas of severance, threshold and emergence, and images such as release, holding and breath that resonate helpfully with the holistic embodiment of yoga, theologies of change and (peri)menopause. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Yoga: A Window to Embodied Theology and Spirituality)
18 pages, 363 KiB  
Article
What Can Postural Yoga Contribute to an Embodied Christian Spirituality? An Analysis of the Strengths and Weaknesses of Postural Yoga in the Light of Kashmir Śivaism
by Fabrice Blée
Religions 2022, 13(2), 120; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13020120 - 26 Jan 2022
Viewed by 1913
Abstract
In this article, I propose to examine how the practice of āsanas (postural yoga) offered in Western yoga studios might contribute to an embodied Christian spirituality. I will do this with reference to Kashmir Śivaism, which links postural yoga to the “way of [...] Read more.
In this article, I propose to examine how the practice of āsanas (postural yoga) offered in Western yoga studios might contribute to an embodied Christian spirituality. I will do this with reference to Kashmir Śivaism, which links postural yoga to the “way of action” (kriyopāya) and considers it to be ‘inferior’ to the two other paths to supreme liberation, that of energy (śāktopāya) and that of will (śāmbhavopāya). In my critique of the widespread contemporary emphasis on postutral yoga, I will point out both its strengths and its weaknesses, and reaffirm the role of the body in our relationship with God. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Yoga: A Window to Embodied Theology and Spirituality)
15 pages, 1172 KiB  
Article
When Yogis Become Warriors—The Embodied Spirituality of Kaḷaripayaṯṯu
by Maciej Karasinski-Sroka
Religions 2021, 12(5), 294; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12050294 - 22 Apr 2021
Cited by 1 | Viewed by 2937
Abstract
This study examines the relationship between body and spirituality in kaḷaripayaṯṯu (kaḷarippayaṯṯu), a South Indian martial art that incorporates yogic techniques in its training regimen. The paper is based on ethnographic material gathered during my fieldwork in Kerala and interviews with practitioners of [...] Read more.
This study examines the relationship between body and spirituality in kaḷaripayaṯṯu (kaḷarippayaṯṯu), a South Indian martial art that incorporates yogic techniques in its training regimen. The paper is based on ethnographic material gathered during my fieldwork in Kerala and interviews with practitioners of kaḷaripayaṯṯu and members of the Nāyar clans. The Nāyars of Kerala created their own martial arts that were further developed in their family gymnasia (kaḷari). These kaḷaris had their own training routines, initiations and patron deities. Kaḷaris were not only training grounds, but temples consecrated with daily rituals and spiritual exercises performed in the presence of masters of the art called gurukkals. For gurukkals, the term kaḷari has a broader spectrum of meaning—it denotes the threefold system of Nāyar education: Hindu doctrines, physical training, and yogico-meditative exercises. This short article investigates selected aspects of embodied spirituality in kaḷaripayaṯṯu and argues that body in kaḷari is not only trained but also textualized and ritualized. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Yoga: A Window to Embodied Theology and Spirituality)
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9 pages, 578 KiB  
Case Report
Sanctuary Yoga
by Leslie Ann King
Religions 2022, 13(9), 856; https://doi.org/10.3390/rel13090856 - 14 Sep 2022
Viewed by 3223
Abstract
Christian congregations find themselves caught in a polarized cultural environment which can lead to simplified theological and spiritual constructs. Moreover, congregants are facing spiritual challenges that come from entrenched differences. The Pantañjali yogic system offers an opportunity for Reformed Christian communities to develop [...] Read more.
Christian congregations find themselves caught in a polarized cultural environment which can lead to simplified theological and spiritual constructs. Moreover, congregants are facing spiritual challenges that come from entrenched differences. The Pantañjali yogic system offers an opportunity for Reformed Christian communities to develop yoga practices that integrate breath, movement, and appropriate Biblical texts. Three practice plans are offered. The honorable appropriation of yoga by a Christian community promises not only an integrative method but also a spacious experience for the practitioner who may, in turn, participate further and influence their community of faith towards such relevant spaciousness. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Yoga: A Window to Embodied Theology and Spirituality)
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