Come for the stretching, stay for the gods: the pedagogy, politics and power of the gods in modern postural yoga

This paper presents my doctoral thesis research, which focuses on the gods in modern postural yoga (MPY). It considers the role they play in the lives and practice of practitioners, and in the pedagogy of teachers. It examines the discursive and affective factors implicated in the presence of the gods. Gods are present in MPY in a number of ways. Their mūrtis appear in MPY studios, displayed as decoration or enshrined as special things (Taves 2012). Their mantras are learned, memorised and recited by practitioners, both privately and during classes. Their names appear in the names of āsanas, and their stories and attributes are referred to in classes. The thesis presented in this paper draws upon ethnographic research conducted with MPY teachers in the UK to describe these various instances of godly presence, considering them in light of the history of MPY. It argues that the presence of the gods in MPY is bound up with a variety of discursive factors, including religious exoticism and Hindu nationalism. These factors are visible in the ways that the gods are harnessed in the curation of spaces, experiences and perceptions, and in the way some practitioners talk about the gods' relationship to MPY. In both of these cases, the gods are often used in support of a narrative of connecting to a presumed “authentic” yoga. However, discourse alone cannot account for the gods. The thesis presented in this paper therefore argues that the gods in MPY cannot be considered apart from the profound experiences that they engender or from which they proceed. The thesis considers the role gods play in practitioners' performance and experience of authority and lineage, in their relationship to knowledge, in the movement of their emotions, and in experiences we might call “peak” or “mystical”.