Body-mind unity and the spiritual dimension of Modern Postural Yoga

Abstract

This article is concerned with the connection between body and mind that the practice of yoga is expected to develop and it aims specifically to examine the relationship between this body–mind connection and the spiritual dimension of yoga practice. The article particularly focuses on contemporary forms of yoga. Since these forms feature predominantly the practice of yoga postures or asanas, the term Modern Postural Yoga is employed.The phenomenological approach renders yoga ahistorical and ostensibly concentrates on the individual and her experience. The cultural materialist viewpoint cannot account for the ways in which yoga can act as a technique for empowerment and spiritual cultivation. More importantly, both currents seem to exist as possibilities within the same class,even within the same body.