21/12/2017 0 Comments 6th workshop on "Reconsidering the early history of Yoga and Sāṃkhya" Kyoto university 22-24 DecemberAm looking forward to this workshop. We will learn from some great Sanskrit scholars about 1)The Pātañjalayogaśāstra on Time, 2)Yoga in Poetry: Allusions to the Pātañjalayogaśāstra in the Sixth Canto of the Haravijaya, 3) Pāśupatayogavidhi, and 4) Yogayājñavalkya
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21/12/2017 0 Comments book review of "value of comparison"This book review I did of Peter van der Veer's 'Value of Comparison' is now out.
18/12/2017 0 Comments harvard yoga guideJust came across this site - HARVARD MEDICAL SCHOOL GUIDE TO YOGA - Seems like it might be a good resource.
17/12/2017 0 Comments Yogapedia 2018Found this at the 711 store today, it was ¥1600 for this magazine.
The magazine has about 150 pages of colour photos of postures, which includes only 5 or so pages representing non-caucasian people ... It seems a bit weird to me that the yoga journal represents yoga, in Japan, with 95% white people. Nice job on being inclusive. It reminds me of some of the musings I made in this paper, where I argue that, even though yoga apparently claims to bring people together, there are quite obvious ways in which it actually promotes exclusion, or social asymmetry. Below is a screen shot that shows the popularity of several types of yoga. This survey is based on 3000 participants. The gender split was 男性 (male) 1,503 50.1% and 女性 (female)1,497 49.9%. Fascinating to see that Pilates is the most favourite form of yoga. The top 3 are: Pilates, Hot Yoga and Power Yoga. Followed by Ashtanga, Vinyasa, Iyengar... 13/12/2017 1 Comment value of japanese yoga industryI have a copy of an industry report that values the Japanese yoga industry at ¥260 Billion. This equals AUD3 Billion or USD2.3 Billion.
Currently, there are 5,9 million yoga practitioners in Japan. However, this is expected to grow to 16 million. 68% identify as female. This is interesting, as in other countries the F:M ratio is 85:15. Yoga is practised mostly by men and women in their 20/30s. The reason for starting yoga was "to increase the flexibility of the body", "to eliminate exercise shortage" and to "prepare your physical condition". Women expect "maintenance of beauty and body shape". Compared to other sports, yoga is used mostly for "maintaining beauty and body". And there is a strong expectation of "stress relaxation / relaxation". 12/12/2017 0 Comments guru governmentalityI knew I'd read this term somewhere before. I just like the way it rolls off the tongue 'guru governmentality'. I just re-read this great article, 'Guru Logics' by Jacob Copeman and Aya Ikegame. You can read it here, for free https://www.haujournal.org/index.php/hau/article/view/hau2.1.014
10/12/2017 0 Comments AJJ conference presentation uploadedHere is the link to my presentation at the Anthropology of Japan in Japan conference. I've created a new page in the website, which is labelled 'lectures'. I hope you enjoy the lecture. It's about 27mins long.
6/12/2017 0 Comments Yoga at kyoto universityI just found out that there is a free and daily yoga class in this dilapidated building, which is a part of the Kyoto University. I rode past it the other day, and thought, "wow, that needs to be demolished, I wonder what it is?" A French exchange student I met today, who is selling his bicycle told me about it. Now, I must go have a look. But I"m a bit worried about this building. I hope we don't "om" too loud, or something, and the building collapses...
5/12/2017 0 Comments modern yoga typologyI find this chart handy for typologizing different styles of yoga I come across. I guess it works as well here, in Japan. The chart is inspired by Dr Elizabeth Michelis's work from her book A History of Modern Yoga and her conversations with Jacqueline Hargreaves.
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November 2019
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