Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies


Book Launch:

Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies, 1st Edition.

By Suzanne Newcombe, Karen O’Brien-Kop.


"The Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies is a comprehensive and interdisciplinary resource, which frames and contextualises the rapidly expanding fields that explore yoga and meditative techniques. The book analyses yoga and meditation studies in a variety of religious, historical and geographical settings. The chapters, authored by an international set of experts, are laid out across five sections:

Introduction to yoga and meditation studies

History of yoga and meditation in South Asia

Doctrinal perspectives: technique and praxis

Global and regional transmissions

Disciplinary Framings

In addition to up-to-date explorations of the history of yoga and meditation in the Indian subcontinent, new contexts include a case study of yoga and meditation in the contemporary Tibetan diaspora, and unique summaries of historical developments in Japan and Latin America as well as an introduction to the growing academic study of yoga in Korea. Underpinned by critical and theoretical engagement, the volume provides an in-depth guide to the history of yoga and meditation studies and combines the best of established research with attention to emerging directions for future investigation. This handbook will be of interest to multidisciplinary academic audiences from across the humanities, social sciences and sciences."


Biography

Suzanne Newcombe is a senior lecturer in Religious Studies at the Open University, UK, and Honorary Director of Inform, an independent charitable organisation which researches and provides information about minority religions and is based at the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College London, UK.

Karen O'Brien-Kop is a lecturer in Asian Religions and Ethics at the University of Roehampton, UK.


Table of Contents


PART I: INTRODUCTION TO YOGA AND MEDITATION STUDIES

Reframing Yoga and Meditation Studies – Karen O’Brien-Kop and Suzanne Newcombe

Decolonising Yoga – Shameem Black

Meditation in Contemporary Contexts: Current Discussions – Ville Husgafvel

The Scholar-Practitioner of Yoga in the Western Academy – Mark Singleton and Borayin Larios

Neoliberal Yoga – Andrea Jain


PART II: HISTORY OF YOGA AND MEDITATION IN SOUTH ASIA

How Yoga Became Yoga: Yoga and Meditation up to the Classical Period – Kengo Harimoto

Buddhist Meditation in South Asia: An Overview – Florin Deleanu

Tantric Transformations of Yoga: Kuṇḍalinī in the 9-10th century – Olga Serbaeva

Early Haṭhayoga – Mark Singleton

Yoga and Meditation in Modern Esoteric Traditions – Julian Strube

Hindu Ascetics and the Political in Contemporary India – Raphaël Voix

Yoga and Meditation as a Health Intervention – Suzanne Newcombe


PART III: DOCTRINAL PERSPECTIVES: TECHNIQUE AND PRAXIS

Yoga and Meditation in the Jain Tradition – Samani Pratibha Pragya

Daoist Meditation – Louis Komjathy

Islam, Yoga and Meditation – Patrick D’Silva

Sikhi(sm): Yoga and Meditation – Balbinder S. Bhopal

Christianity: Classical, Modern, and Post-Modern Forms of Contemplation – Michael Stoeber and Jaegil Lee

Secular Discourse as a Legitimating Strategy for Mindfulness Meditation – Masoumeh Rahmani


PART IV: GLOBAL AND REGIONAL TRANSMISSIONS

Yoga and Meditation Traditions in Insular Southeast Asia – Andrea Acri

Yoga in Tibet – Naomi Worth

The Political History of Meditation and Yoga in Japan – Kurita Hidehiko

Yoga and Meditation in Korea – Park Kwangsoo and Park Younggil

Yoga in Latin America: A Critical Overview – Adrián Muñoz

Anglophone Yoga and Meditation Outside of India – Suzanne Newcombe and Philip Deslippe

The Yogic Body in Global Transmission – Sravana Borkataky-Varma


PART V: DISCIPLINARY FRAMINGS

Philology and Digital Humanities – Charles Li

Observing Yoga: The Use of Ethnography to Develop Yoga Studies – Daniela Bevilacqua

Yoga and Philosophy: Ontology, Epistemology, Ethics – Mikel Burley

On ‘Meditational Art’ and Maṇḍalas as Objects of Meditation – Gudrun Bühnemann

The Psychophysiology of Yoga: Characteristics of the Main Components and Review of Research Studies – Laura Schmalzl, Pamela Jeter and Sat Bir Khalsa

Meditation and the Cognitive Sciences – Asaf Federman

Inclusive Identities – The Lens of Critical Theory – Karen-Ann Wong

Yoga: Between Meditation and Movement – Matylda Ciołkosz

Sound and Yoga – Finnian M.M. Gerety