Hatha Yoga Project Finalé
This panel, hosted by SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies, was the finalé of the five year ERC funded Hatha Yoga Project. Chaired by Dr Suzanne Newcombe, Open University and Inform, team members Dr James Mallinson, Dr Jason Birch, Dr Daniela Bevilacqua, and Dr Mark Singleton discuss their findings in turn. We hear a summary from each speaker of their research as well as the impact assessment by Jacqueline Hargreaves of The Luminescent, who collaborated to produce the "Embodied Liberation" exhibition at the Brunei Gallery, before opening up to questions.
Silenced Voices
This panel, hosted by Brighton Yoga Foundation, is an unprecedented event that spotlights the voices of writer and activist Karen Rain and yoga teacher Jubilee Cooke, PhD, as they speak about how Pattabhi Jois sexually assaulted them and numerous other students, and how many in the Ashtanga Yoga community enabled the abuse and profited from silencing victims. Researcher and yoga teacher Theo Wildcroft, human rights activist and psychotherapist Josna Pankhania, and scholar Jacqueline Hargreaves also contributed to the dialogue.
Untangling Traditions: Yoga, Ayurveda and Alchemy
These video conversations between Jacqueline Hargreaves and the AyurYog project team, aim to introduce some of the project's research findings, outputs, and showcase collaborations with other research projects, scholars, and practitioners. The research reveals how past encounters and cross-fertilizations have informed and shaped these bodies of knowledge over time.
Manuscript Hunting and the History of Medieval Yogas
In this podcast, Dr. Jason Birch speaks with host Seth Powell about his early training in yoga and Indology, the late 90's and early 2000s yoga scene in Rishikesh, Sanskrit manuscript hunting in India, and more.
What is Yoga?
Scholar Symposium with panelists Jason Birch, James Mallinson, Suzanne Newcombe, Richard Rosen, and Mark Singleton.
What is Haṭhayoga?
The Hatha Yoga Project present their evolving understandings of the term haṭhayoga. On the surface, this appears to be a fairly straight forward and simple topic to discuss, because haṭhayoga is a familiar phrase which is commonly used to categorize many of the popular forms of transnational yoga practised around the world. However, when scrutinised historically through the lens of philology and when the ethnographical data from contemporary ascetic practitioners is considered, its varied meanings and the subtle nuances of understanding quickly form a very complex debate.
Revisiting Yoga Philosophy
A discussion between Dr. Jason Birch and host Adrian Baker, which was recorded during a brief visit to Japan, 2018. The discussion covers topics such as: the āsana practice in the eighteenth-century Haṭhābhyāsapaddhati and its link to Kṛṣṇamācārya; Is modern yoga modern?; The Buddhist and Śaiva influence on early Haṭhayoga; the emergence of Haṭha and Rājayoga from older Tantric and ascetic traditions, and much more.
Cultural Appropriation in Yoga
This Teachers' Symposium offered a lively discussion on the difficult to navigate topic of Cultural Appropriation in Yoga. The panelists include: Sally Kempton, Max Strom, Dr. Jason Birch, Satish K Sharma, and Stacie CC Graham.
Sanskrit Texts on Yoga
This workshop was organised by James Mallinson and Jason Birch of the Hatha Yoga Project, particularly on the reading of Sanskrit manuscripts on Yoga. It features Prof. Alexis Sanderson and other luminaries in the field of Yoga, Śaivism, and Sanskrit Philology. This is a very rich offering with a film taster, photos, audio recordings, handouts.... in fact, too much to highlight. The full programme of presentations are available online.
Yogabīja: A Robust Defence of Yoga
Dr. Jason Birch reads his critical edition of the Yogabīja with the Sanskrit Reading Room at SOAS University of London.
Zen 2.0: Feel your body. Know your mind.
Zen 2.0 is a mindfulness conference held annually in Kamakura, Japan, which aims to address progressive themes. Amongst many esteemed monastics, scholars and practitioners, Jacqueline Hargreaves contributed to Zen 2.0 in 2018 on the theme of 'Feel your body. Know your Mind.' This brief video captures very well the authentic joy that arose at the Second Annual Global Mindfulness Forum, 2018.
Recipes for Immortality: The Intoxicating Alchemy of Inner and South Asia
This two-day workshop was convened by the AyurYog Project to explore the historically linked South and Inner Asian practices of rasāyana, kāyakalpa and bcud len. These are practices, treatment techniques and formulations aimed at a variety of goals that range from prolonging life, restoring youthfulness, and promoting physical health, to accessing special powers, achieving enlightenment, and attaining immortality.
All presentations are available on the AyurYog YouTube channel.
Yoga: Austerity, Passion and Peace
In 2016, the British Museum hosted an interdisciplinary panel of experts examined yoga from ancient Indic times to the present, with reference to the modern quest for authentic spiritual communion with the divine, both from an Indian perspective and a global one.
Chaired by independent scholar and founding director of Calm Energy Yoga, Hilary Lewis Ruttley, panellists included Dr. Jason Birch of The Hatha Yoga Project, novelist, journalist and award-winning BBC broadcaster Jameela Siddiqi, and Sunil Khilnani, Avantha Professor and Director, King’s India Institute.
Send an email: info@TheLuminescent.org
