Yoga, mind and body relations. An experience of yoga in prisons, in Argentina.

This paper aims to explore questions around mind and body relations, from the lived experience.

Particularly, making a dialogue between the experience of yoga both in and out of prison. 

What are the conceptions of body, mind (and/or spirit) that arise from this practice? And what are the specific aspects, apart from those usually discussed regarding mind and-or-in body, in the particular context of learning and teaching in the jail context? 

This paper first proposes a dialogue between the traditional ideas that are present in modern yoga realms, an approach from the lived experience of practitioners (part of an ongoing investigation), in conversation with some of the post-humanist theoretical propositions. Then, the analysis of fieldwork in contexts of regular classes and those imparted in prison, discussing the contemporary issues around such projects.

First the particulars of the conceptions of body and mind present in modern yoga practices of Iyengar yoga school are revised. Then the issue of body and mind is considered in field work, also discussing the implications of such práctice in a particular context of prisons. Fieldwork consists both in questionnaires, and the ethnographic experience of a teacher (and social scientist), in both contexts of regular studios, and a males' prison, in Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.

Aware of the challenge of being a "scholar practitioner", the paper aims at raising the issues of mind and body from a situated point of view.