Reclaiming Yoga as a Practice of Female Empowerment
Womb yoga is a women's yoga practice developed in the UK from the observation that male bodies and experiences are privileged in mainstream yoga. Based on modern postural yoga, womb yoga integrates the philosophy and mythology of śakta tantra in reference to scholarly texts and reinterprets tan...
| Published in: | Journal of feminist studies in religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Indiana University Press
2023
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| In: |
Journal of feminist studies in religion
Year: 2023, Volume: 39, Issue: 1, Pages: 137-153 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Great Britain
/ Yoga
/ Woman
/ Empowerment
/ Spirituality
/ Tantrism
/ Shaktism
/ History 1980-2023
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| RelBib Classification: | AD Sociology of religion; religious policy AG Religious life; material religion BK Hinduism, Jainism, Sikhism KBF British Isles TK Recent history |
| Further subjects: | B
feminine divine
B Tantra B menstrual cycle B women's spirituality B Yoga |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | Womb yoga is a women's yoga practice developed in the UK from the observation that male bodies and experiences are privileged in mainstream yoga. Based on modern postural yoga, womb yoga integrates the philosophy and mythology of śakta tantra in reference to scholarly texts and reinterprets tantric traditions in line with Anglo-American Goddess spirituality. Through body practice, chanting, visualization, and ritual, female cyclic experiences and the different stages of women's lives are approached as gateways to the divine and as opportunities for spiritual empowerment. In addition, by offering a seasonal understanding of the menstrual cycle and establishing energetic resonances between natural elements and the body, womb yoga fosters experiences of cosmic connection and communion. The study is based on ethnographic research, combining participant observation and in-depth interviews. It details the practice of womb yoga and the experiences it engenders among participants, and discusses its feminist potential. |
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| ISSN: | 1553-3913 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Journal of feminist studies in religion
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