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MOVING and FEELING - Yoga, Emotion, Values and Motivation Sigrid Steen Haugen

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MOVING and FEELING - Yoga, Emotion, Values and Motivation Sigrid Steen Haugen Sigrid Steen Haugen Sigrid Steen Haugen Sigrid Steen MOVING AND FEELING An exploration of the play between motion, emotion and motivation in yoga practitioners in Norway. Master's thesis in Religious Studies Master's thesis Master's Supervisor: Gabriel Levy & Sven Bretfeld Trondheim, September 2016 MOVING AND FEELING - yoga, emotion, values and motivation emotion, values AND FEELING - yoga, MOVING NTNU Faculty of Humanities Faculty Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies Department of Philosophy Norwegian University of Science and Technology of Science University Norwegian Sigrid Steen Haugen MOVING AND FEELING An exploration of the play between motion, emotion and motivation in yoga practitioners in Norway. Master's thesis in Religious Studies Supervisor: Gabriel Levy & Sven Bretfeld Trondheim, September 2016 Norwegian University of Science and Technology Faculty of Humanities Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies TABLE OF CONTENTS 1 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................. 5 1.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................. 5 1.1.1 Reflexivity .............................................................................................................................. 8 1.1.2 Methods approach ................................................................................................................. 8 1.2 EXPLAINING THE TERMS .................................................................................................... 9 1.2.1 Embodied ............................................................................................................................... 9 1.2.2 Practice ................................................................................................................................ 10 1.2.3 Ritual and Ritualization ...................................................................................................... 10 1.2.4 Experience ........................................................................................................................... 10 1.2.5 Spirituality / Something set apart as special ....................................................................... 12 1.2.6 Emotion ................................................................................................................................ 13 1.2.7 Yoga & Modern Postural Yoga ........................................................................................... 14 1.2.8 The yoga milieu ................................................................................................................... 16 1.3 STRUCTURE ..................................................................................................................... 17 2 FIELD OF RESEARCH ..................................................................................................... 19 2.1 THE FIELDS AND THE RESEARCHERS ............................................................................... 19 2.1.1 Yoga...................................................................................................................................... 19 2.1.2 Embodied cognitive science & phenomenology of experience .......................................... 20 2.1.3 Emotions .............................................................................................................................. 21 2.1.4 Ritual theory ........................................................................................................................ 22 3 METHODS .......................................................................................................................... 25 3.1 CHOICE OF METHODS ...................................................................................................... 25 3.1.1 Sample survey with phenomenological aspects .................................................................. 25 3.1.2 Framework for gathering data ............................................................................................ 26 3.2.2 Analysis & data management .............................................................................................. 27 3.2 DEMOGRAPHICS .............................................................................................................. 28 3.2.1 Reaching out ........................................................................................................................ 28 3.2.2 Survey situation ................................................................................................................... 28 3.2.3 Informants ........................................................................................................................... 28 3.2.4 Representativity and anonymity .......................................................................................... 29 3.3 METHODOLOGICAL REFLECTIONS ................................................................................... 31 3.3.1 Approach .............................................................................................................................. 31 3.3.2 Methodological challenges .................................................................................................. 32 3.3.3 The role of the researcher ................................................................................................... 35 4 THE YOGA CONTEXT ..................................................................................................... 37 4.1 IDENTIFYING THE PRACTITIONERS .................................................................................. 37 4.1.1 Social class and economy .................................................................................................... 37 4.1.2 Gender .................................................................................................................................. 38 1 4.1.3 Age........................................................................................................................................ 38 4.1.4 ‘Types’ of practitioners ........................................................................................................ 38 4.1.5 Reasons for practicing yoga ................................................................................................ 39 4.2 LOCATING YOGA IN THE MODERN CONTEXT .................................................................... 41 4.2.1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 41 4.2.2 The health paradigm ........................................................................................................... 42 4.2.3 The consumer-based lifestyle .............................................................................................. 44 4.2.4 The alternative milieu and individualism ........................................................................... 45 4.2.5 Mainstreaming ..................................................................................................................... 47 4.4 MAPPING HISTORICAL INFLUENCE .................................................................................. 48 4.4.1 Pre-modern history of asana ............................................................................................... 48 5 THE BODY .......................................................................................................................... 51 5.1 BODILY KNOWLEDGE ....................................................................................................... 51 5.1.1 Body knowledge and approach to the body ........................................................................ 51 5.1.2 Body schemas and body image ............................................................................................ 54 5.2 THE BODY IN YOGA .......................................................................................................... 55 5.2.1 How yoga affects body schemas and body image ............................................................... 55 5.3 THE RITUAL BODY ............................................................................................................ 57 5.3.1 Defining an embodied ritual ............................................................................................... 57 5.3.2 The ritualized social body .................................................................................................... 58 5.3.3 Identifying yoga as ritual .................................................................................................... 59 5.3.4 Meaning through movements ............................................................................................. 60 6 SOMETHING SET APART AS SPECIAL ...................................................................... 63 6.1 EXPERIENCE DEEMED RELIGIOUS ................................................................................... 63 6.1.1 Awareness ............................................................................................................................ 63 6.1.2 Something set apart as special and value-laden ................................................................. 65 6.2 EMOTIONS ......................................................................................................................
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