In this episode, we speak with return guest and teacher Dr. Daniela Bevilacqua to discuss the publication of her latest work, From Tapas to Modern Yoga: Sādhus’ Understanding of Embodied Practices (2024). We discuss the origins of the book as part of the research and output of the infamous SOAS Hatha Yoga Project (2015-2020), her methodology as an ethnographer working in India, the various sampradāyas, the role of yoga and the question of who are the yogis amongst sādhus today, and many stories and details from her years of conducting research in India. 

Speaker Bio

Daniela Bevilacqua is an Indianist specialized in Hindu asceticism, investigated through an ethnographic and historical perspective. She received her PhD in Civilizations of Africa and Asia from Sapienza University of Rome and in Anthropology from the University of Paris Nanterre. She worked as a post-doc research fellow at SOAS, for the ERC- funded Haṭha Yoga Project (2015–2020). She is currently a researcher at CRIA (ISCTE-IUL) in Lisbon as PI of the project “Performing the Sacred: Ethnographies of Transgender Activism in the Kinnar Akhara”. She authored Modern Hindu Traditionalism in Contemporary India (Routledge 2018), From Tapas to Modern Yoga. Sādhus’ Understanding of Embodied Practices (Equinox 2024), edited volumes, and written several articles and book chapters on topics related to Hindu religious tradition, gender, and embodied practices.

Links

• From Tapas to Modern Yoga: Sādhus’ Understanding of Embodied Practices (2024)
• YS 103 | Yoga and Hindu Asceticsm, Past and Present
• YSP 2. Daniela Bevilacqua | Hindu Asceticism and Haṭha Yoga

In this episode we speak with Briana Dana Akers, who is a publisher, editor, and translator, best known for his translation of the Haṭhapradīpikā. We discuss his background discovering yoga at a young age, learning Sanskrit in Michigan and in India, and how he first began publishing Sanskrit works on yoga when he founded YogaVidya at just 23 years old. Brian shares with us insights into the world of independent publishing, Sanskrit translation, working with scholars like Dr. James Mallinson, and why the Kāmasūtra may not have sold as many copies as the Śivasaṃhitā. We conclude by discussing Brian's latest book, The Yoga Manifesto, a short 60-page tract that traces some of yoga's history and looks critically though optimistically at yoga's present and future in modern society. 

Speaker Bio

Brian Dana Akers is a publisher, editor and translator (Sanskrit-English bilingual editions of the yoga classics), and also an author (science fiction and fantasy). He began practicing yoga at age twelve, learning Sanskrit at seventeen, and working in publishing at twenty-three. Brian grew up in Kalamazoo and spent his teenage years building telescopes, reading science fiction, and practicing Yoga. He started six years at the University of Michigan in 1975, with his senior year abroad in India. His studies included Sanskrit and Indian history. After graduate school, he left for the Bay Area and worked as a typographer and network manager. In 1991, he met his wife Loretta, moved to New York, wrote a little science fiction, and founded YogaVidya.com. 

Links

• YogaVidya.com
• BrianDanaAkers.com

In this episode we speak with Zoë Slatoff about her background as an Ashtanga Yoga practitioner and teacher turned academic and Sanskrit professor at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. We discuss how her experiences within the Ashtanga Yoga community led her to the study of Sanskrit, and the eventual writing of her textbook called Yogāvatāraṇam. She details how her love for the study of yoga, Sanskrit, and philosophy led to her pursuing a PhD on the Aparokṣānubhūti, or "Direct Awareness of the Self." We discuss the history of the Aparokṣānubhūti, whether or not it is actually written by the great Advaita Vedānta philosopher Śaṅkara, the differences between the dualism of Sāṅkhya-Yoga and the non-dualism of Advaita Vedānta, how Vedānta views yoga philosophy and practice, and more. We conclude by previewing Zoë's upcoming online course, YS 215 | Yoga and Vedānta: The Aparokṣānubhūti.

Speaker Bio

Zoë Slatoff has a Ph.D. in Religion and Philosophy from Lancaster University in the U.K. and an M.A. and B.A. in Asian Languages and Cultures from Columbia University. She is the Clinical Professor of Sanskrit at Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, where she teaches Sanskrit and Yoga Philosophy courses in the Yoga Studies M.A. program, as well as undergraduate courses through the Theology department. Her Ph.D. dissertation—which she is working on turning into a  book—was an exploration of the intersection of Yoga and Advaita over time, centering around a  translation of the Aparokṣānubhūti and its commentaries. Zoë is also the author of Yogāvatāraṇam: The Translation of Yoga, a Sanskrit textbook based on classic yoga texts, which integrates  traditional and academic methods of learning, from which she teaches.

Links

• https://www.yogicstudies.com/ys-215
• Yogāvatāraṇam: The Translation of Yoga, (North Point Press, 2015)

In this episode we speak with Kunsang about her upcoming series of courses in Classical Tibetan. We learn about her fascinating journey growing up in Venezuela and Italy and first encountering Tibetan Buddhism in her youth, studying Buddhist philosophy in Italy, becoming ordained as a Buddhist nun, studying Tibetan language and joining a nunnery in Dharamsala, India. We discuss some of the details and curriculum of her life as a monastic studying and training in India, eventually becoming a translator for HH the Dalai Lama, among others. We then discuss the differences between classical and modern Tibetan, the relationship between Tibetan and Sanskrit, and pedagogies for teaching Tibetan. We conclude by previewing Kunsang's upcoming online course, TIBET 101 | Elementary Tibetan I.

Speaker Bio

Kunsang studied Letters and Philosophy at the Central University of Venezuela and attended a two-year residential Buddhist Philosophy program in Italy, where she became ordained in the Tibetan Tradition in 2006. After this, she moved to India and joined Thosamling Nunnery and Institute in Dharamsala. There she completed both Basic and Advanced Tibetan Language programs. She also completed the Traditional Buddhist Philosophy Studies in Tibetan, which correspond to a Lobön (slob dpon) degree in Buddhist Studies in the Tibetan Tradition.

She has been teaching Tibetan language, translating Buddhist texts and interpreting for numerous masters for over 16 years. Currently, as a lay teacher, she offers various courses online aiming to transmit and preserve the study method of philosophical debate derived from the ancient Nalanda University. She believes that a direct, accurate translation from Tibetan into Western languages is essential to better understand the Dharma through the study and practice of Tibetan Buddhism.

Links

• https://www.yogicstudies.com/tibet-101
• https://pdkunsang.wixsite.com/proyectodespertar 

In this episode we speak with Lucy May Constantini about her fascinating research and practical experience studying the south-Indian martial art tradition of kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘. We discuss Lucy's background of training in Kerala, the history of kaḷari, the role of the gurukkaḷ ("lineage-holder"), the tradition's Śākta Tantra context in Kerala, medieval ankam battles, the gendered dynamics of male and female practitioners, training with weapons, parallels with yogāsana and the renaissance of modern postural yoga, and much more.  We conclude by previewing Lucy's upcoming online course, YS 128 | Kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘: Embodying the Cosmic Wind.

Speaker Bio

Lucy May Constantini is a dance-artist turned scholar who first encountered the South Indian martial art kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘ in 2002 during a residential dance workshop in South India. She went on to train extensively in kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘ at CVN Kalari Sangham in Thiruvananthapuram. In 2012 she was initiated into and apprenticed in kaḷaricikilsa, kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘’s therapeutic system. She was awarded with distinction a masters in South Asia Area Studies from SOAS, University of London in 2018, and recently submitted her PhD thesis in the School of Religious Studies at the Open University in the UK. This was funded by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Open-Oxford-Cambridge Doctoral Training Partnership and supported by the École française d'Extrême-Orient in Pondicherry. Lucy’s research was co-created with the lineage-holder of CVN Kalari Sangham and explores the relationship between practice and textual traditions in kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘. Her interdisciplinary research encompasses ethnography, drawing on the relationship since 2002 with CVN Kalari in Thiruvananthapuram, and the study of manuscripts in Malayalam. Her research methodology draws on her background in dance and somatic practices, where her work investigates the confluence of her praxes of postmodern dance, martial arts and yoga.

Links

• https://www.yogicstudies.com/ys-128
• https://open.academia.edu/LucyMayConstantini
• "Firm Feet and Inner Wind: Introducing Posture in the South Indian Martial Art, Kaḷarippayaṟṟ˘" (2023, Journal of Yoga Studies)

In this episode we welcome back Kate Hartmann, former director of Buddhist Studies Online, to discuss all things pilgrimage and Buddhism. We discuss how Kate first got into pilgrimage studies as a grad student at Harvard, whether pilgrimage is a universal concept across cultures, and question what separates a pilgrim from a tourist? We then turn to the early history of the Buddhist pilgrimage tradition in India, going back to accounts of the words of the Buddha himself to Ānanda and his other close disciples. We discuss some of the major Buddhist pilgrimage sites in India and other parts of Asia, what a Buddhist pilgrim sees and experiences, and question the age-old adage of whether a Buddhist pilgrimage is more about the journey or the destination. Leaning into Kate's own research, we look at the Tibetan pilgrimage tradition, and discuss various types of Tibetan literature on pilgrimage--from guides and handbooks to the diaries of pilgrims. We conclude by previewing Kate's upcoming online course, BS 110 | Buddhism and Pilgrimage.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Kate Hartmann is an Assistant Professor of Religious Studies in the Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies at the University of Wyoming. Hartmann’s primary research focus is on the intellectual history of pilgrimage in Tibet, but she also researches Buddhist ethics, as well as Buddhist approaches to addiction and recovery. Her book Making the Invisible Real: Practices of Seeing in Tibetan Pilgrimage Literature is forthcoming from Oxford University Press. 

She received her PhD in Buddhist Studies from Harvard University in 2020, an MA in the History of Religions from the University of Chicago in 2013, and a BA in Religious Studies from the University of Virginia in 2011. 

As part of her training, Hartmann has spent extended periods of time living in Asia. She has spent summers backpacking across India, living with Tibetan Buddhist nuns in Ladakh, in Dharamsala working in the Library of Tibetan Works and Archives, studying at the Dunhuang caves in China, traveling to Lhasa, and conducting research around Boudha in Nepal. She speaks modern colloquial Tibetan and conducts research in Classical Tibetan and Sanskrit.

As a scholar and teacher, Hartmann has long been interested in the practices religions develop to transform people's experience of the world. She aims to help students understand Buddhist traditions through deep engagement with primary sources, a process that helps illuminate central Buddhist concepts while embracing the internal diversity of Buddhist traditions. She balances an irreverent and down-to-earth style with deep respect for Buddhist texts, traditions, and practitioners. She teaches both online and in-person courses on the history and philosophy of Buddhism and other Asian religions, and has presented at lectures and conferences around the country.

Links

• BS 110 | Buddhism and Pilgrimage
• https://www.drkatehartmann.com 

In this episode we speak with Christopher Miller about his recent monograph, Embodying Transnational Yoga: Eating, Singing, and Breathing in Transformation (Routledge 2023) and his upcoming online course at Yogic Studies. We begin by discussing his academic background and how he first got into critical Yoga and later Jain Studies, his experiences as a practitioner of yoga in Santa Monica, California, and how he developed his dissertation project that would eventually become the book. We discuss the importance of shifting Modern Yoga Studies beyond the study of postural yoga, exploring his three book chapters which analyze the practices of eating (yogic diet), singing (kīrtan), and breathing (prāṇāyāma). We discuss the origins and history of the harmonium, how yoga intersects with food and pollution studies, and question what it means to practice prāṇāyāma in a heavily polluted Indian city. We conclude the conversation by previewing Miller's upcoming online course, YS 127 | Embodying Transnational Yoga.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Christopher Jain Miller is the co-founder, Vice President of Academic Affairs, and Professor of Jain and Yoga Studies at Arihanta Institute. Miller completed his PhD in the study of Religion at the University of California, Davis. He is a Visiting Researcher at the University of Zürich’s Asien-Orient-Institut and Visiting Professor at Claremont School of Theology where he co-developed and co-runs a remotely available Masters Degree Program focusing on Engaged Jain Studies. His current research focuses on Modern Yoga and Engaged Jainism. Christopher is the author of a number of articles and book chapters concerned with Jainism and the practice of modern yoga. He is the author of Embodying Transnational Yoga: Eating, Singing, and Breathing in Transformation (Routledge 2023) as well as co-editor of the volumes Engaged Jainism: Critical and Constructive Approaches to the Study of Jain Social Engagement (SUNY Forthcoming) and Beacons of Dharma: Spiritual Exemplars for the Modern Age (Lexington 2020).

Links

• YS 127 | Embodying Transnational Yoga
• Arihanta Institute
• https://uzh.academia.edu/ChristopherMiller
• Embodying Transnational Yoga: Eating, Singing, and Breathing in Transformation (Routledge, 2023) -- use code ESA32 before Dec 31, 2023 to receive a 20% discount.

In this episode we speak with Samuel Grimes about his research and experience with the tradition of Newar Buddhism in Nepal. We discuss the unique history of Buddhism in Nepal, the decline of Buddhism in India, and what it means to be the only living "Sanskritic Buddhist" tradition in South Asia. We then discuss the meaning and role of yoga within Buddhist traditions, previewing Grimes' upcoming online course, BS 112 | Yoga in Buddhism.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Samuel M. Grimes is the Shinjo Ito Postdoctoral Fellow in Buddhist Studies, at the University of California, Berkeley. He is a scholar of South Asian Buddhism and Hinduism in the medieval and modern periods, with a specialization in the tantric traditions of Nepal, and with broader interest in historiography and ritual studies. Nepal is host to the only place in Asia with unbroken traditions of Buddhism and Hinduism existing side-by-side, and as a result the two religions there exhibit a high degree of exchange. A scholar must be expert in both to study either. Grimes works with the primary texts of these traditions directly, reading in Sanskrit, Newar, and Tibetan, frequently consulting sources that are only preserved in handwritten manuscripts.

Dr. Grimes’ research into yoga primarily involves an investigation of Vajrayāna, tantric Buddhism. This research ranges from purely textual studies of premodern texts to on-the-ground ritual training in Nepal. He is especially interested in the dynamic interactions between the visualized objects and somatic activity in ritual practice. He has conducted extensive ethnographic fieldwork with the Newar Buddhists of Kathmandu, who practice the only living Buddhist tradition that still conducts all ritual and preserves all liturgy in Sanskrit.

Links

• BS 112 | Yoga in Buddhism
• https://virginia.academia.edu/SamuelGrimes 
• "Amṛtasiddhi A Posteriori: An Exploratory Study on the Possible Impact of the Amṛtasiddhi on the Subsequent Sanskritic Vajrayāna Tradition" (2020). 

In this episode we welcome back Keith Cantú for a wide ranging conversation on the history of the Theosophical Society and in particular its unique relationship with the modern history of yoga. We discuss the influence of figures like Helena Blavatsky and Henry Steel Olcott, as well as lesser-known South Asian Theosophists and Theosophy-adjacent authors and scholars. We discuss the impact of Theosophical publications on the global dissemination of yoga in English-print books and journals, a legacy still felt today in modern yoga circles. We conclude the conversation by previewing Keith's upcoming online course, YS 126 | Theosophy and Yoga.

Speaker Bio

Dr. Keith Edward Cantú is a historian of religions whose interdisciplinary research especially focuses on South Asian yoga, tantra, and the interface between Sanskrit and Indic vernacular languages like Bengali, Tamil, and Hindi, and on modern occult movements in Europe and North America such as Thelema and the Theosophical Society. He is currently both Research Affiliate at the Center for the Study of World Religions at Harvard Divinity School, where he will begin a full-time postdoctoral fellowship in Asian Religious Traditions next June as part of the Transcendence and Transformation Initiative, and Visiting Assistant Professor in Religious Studies at St. Lawrence University. He previously was a research fellow at FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg in the “Center for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences: Esoteric Practices and Alternative Rationalities from a Global Perspective” and Assistant Professor (postdoc) at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland in the project “Cultures of Patronage: India 1674–1890,” and received his doctoral degree in Religious Studies (South Asian religions) in 2021 from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Keith’s first monograph, Like a Tree Universally Spread: Sri Sabhapati Swami and Śivarājayoga, has been published this year by Oxford University Press (Oxford Studies in Western Esotericism series), and he is actively engaged in reprinting and translating several previously unknown or largely forgotten Tamil and Hindi works of Sri Sabhapati Swami and of his gurus. In addition to work on the swami, he is the author of numerous chapters and articles as varied as an ethnography of Tantric songs and sādhana or “practice” in Bengali, Indological research on south Indian mantra and yoga practices at tumuli and temples and on the Sanskrit alchemical mythology of Srisailam, modern yoga and discourses of Orientalism and cultural authenticity, haṭhayoga as “black magic” in Theosophy, and Islamic esotericism in the songs of the Bāuls and Fakirs of Bengal.

A scholar-musician, Keith regularly sings and performs the Bāul songs of the nineteenth-century Bengali humanist poet Lalon Fakir (Lālan Phakir, d. 1890) as well as Śyāmāsaṅgīt or “music for the dark Goddess,” which he learned directly from sadhus and sadhikas during immersive stays in Bangladesh and West Bengal, India over the past twelve years, and regularly co-teaches a course on Tantric meditation and its connection with this music at the Esalen Institute near Big Sur, California. English versions of many of Lalon’s songs as translated by the late Carol Salomon can be found in City of Mirrors: Songs of Lālan Sā̃i, published in 2017 with Oxford's South Asia Research series, which Keith co-edited together with Dr. Saymon Zakaria.

Links

• YS 126 | Theosophy and Yoga
• https://ucsb.academia.edu/KeithCantu 
• YSP Ep 28 | Esotericism, Bauls, and Sabhapati Swami

Links

• SKT 303 | Vedic Sanskrit
• https://harvard.academia.edu/CaleyCharlesSmith