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Prenatal yoga classes have become widespread worldwide. Still, while scientific studies examined the benefits of such practices, the conceptual and sociocultural meanings still need to be studied. This paper focuses on pregnancy-oriented Iyengar yoga, which includes pre-conception, prenatal and postnatal yoga practices developed in the Iyengar Yoga school. Interestingly, while these practices are seen as ideal for pregnant and postpartum women, they contrast with what is perceived as an ideal yoga practice. Thus, pregnancy-oriented Iyengar Yoga reveals a shift in purpose from achieving an excellent and advanced yoga practice to the health of female yoga practitioners and their children in a modern lifestyle setting. The findings of this paper are based on my doctoral research, and draw on textual analysis of over fifty relevant Iyengar yoga publications, and qualitative interviews with thirty-seven Iyengar Yoga teachers and four members of the Iyengar family between 2015 and 2019.

This article draws connections between the complexities of modern postural yoga practices and global peacebuilding efforts, exploring both tensions and possibilities. First, the article engages key yogic texts--such as Patanjali's Yogasastra, which demonstrates how yoga is historically rooted in social justice work and peacebuilding--in order to link yoga philosophy and peacebuilding theories. This is followed by an analysis of contemporary practice-based examples, which consider the theoretical tools of elicitive peacework and transrational peace research. Through an exploration of yoga as elicitive peacebuilding and conflict transformation, this article considers if yoga has the potential to shift societal notions of peacebuilding and questions the implications of this for peace theory and practice.

Seit Ende der 60er Jahre läßt sich in Deutschland ein regelrechter Yoga-Boom beobachten, welcher bis heute anhält. Der vorliegende Beitrag zeigt, daß die deutsche Yoga-Rezeption nicht neueren Ursprungs ist, sondern daß Yoga bereits seit mehr als einhundert Jahren systematisch praktiziert wird. Dabei untersucht der Autor vor allem die Frage, wie der indische Yoga bei seiner Rezeption im Westen modifiziert wurde. Er kommt zu dem Ergebnis, daß sich besonders die Vermittlung des Yoga heute deutlich von den Anfängen der deutschen Yoga-Rezeption und von den indischen Ursprüngen unterscheidet. "Moderne deutsche Yogalehrer und -lehrerinnen sind nur selten religiöse Praktiker auf der Suche nach der letzten Wahrheit. Und heutige Yoga-Schüler wollen sich vor allem als emanzipierte 'Teilnehmer' verstanden wissen." Außerdem unterscheidet die signifikante Mehrheit der weiblichen Yoga-Rezipienten die deutsche Yoga-Szene sehr von der indischen. (psz)

Yoga has become a highly visible commodity over recent decades, often promoted through images of sculpted bodies on exotic beaches and perfect Instagram homes. This paper explores the less glamorous everyday yoga class—more village hall than Bali beach—describing exploratory surveys and focus groups with teachers from two major British yoga organizations. These teachers offer widely accessed presentations of modern postural yoga and therefore play an important role in how yoga is conceived and continues to evolve. While boutique studios now account for 20% of class locations, the majority of classes still take place in community centres, gyms, church and village halls, schools and workplaces. This suggests that for the moment yoga in Britain remains deeply embedded in community settings. The paper concludes that despite yoga's association with secularized health and wellness most teachers attribute a strong spiritual dimension to the practice. However, in the personal ways yoga is imagined, life history and local context appear as important, if not more important, than yoga lineages and yoga philosophy.