Resources for a better understanding.
With more and more academic research about yoga being published, finding good sources of information online is increasingly important. A group of scholars looking at yoga and based in the social sciences and humanities have therefore got together to develop a web-based resource for those interested in this field.
This initiative is run by a group of established scholars who conduct research on yoga which formed at the Yoga Darśana, Yoga Sādhana international yoga conference in Kraków, Poland in May 2022. Their aim is to develop a website that offers information about the best quality yoga-related research in the humanities and social sciences.
Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana:
authenticity, authority and adaptation
27-29 May 2026 – Save the Date
Paris, France
The 4th International Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana conference will take place from Wednesday 27th midday to the evening of Friday 29th of May 2026 in collaboration with the Center for South Asian and Himalayan Studies (CESAH) at the School for Higher Social Sciences (EHESS) in Paris. The theme will be “authenticity, authority and adaptation.”
Call for papers and further details to follow in due course.
Early Career Research in Yoga Studies
SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies is hosting a gathering of Early Career Scholars in Yoga Studies, all of whom are Graduates of the SOAS MA in Yoga Studies or South Asia Studies.
The aim of this gathering is to forge a collegial network that will provide a supportive environment to sharpen your thinking, challenge your ideas, and share your journey as you undertake research. Additionally, a keynote speaker will offer both inspiration and advice on advancing in the academy.
Latest Reflection
A Scholar’s Balancing Act: Myths, Misconceptions, and Textual Evidence in Yoga History. An interview with Dr Jason Birch.
In this interview, renowned yoga historian Jason Birch discusses common myths surrounding yoga’s history, arguing for increased philological study of Sanskrit and vernacular sources to reconstruct multifaceted developments empirically.
Yoga Research Mailing List
list@yogaresearch.org is a new email discussion group providing a forum for academic discussion among professional scholars of Yoga Studies.
Membership of the list is mainly open to scholars with an advanced degree and whose primary field is yoga studies. Sending a short academic CV is a requirement for approval.
Featured Researcher Profile
Dr Borayin Larios
Dr Borayin Larios is head of the Indology Department at the French Institute of Pondicherry and EFEO fellow. He holds an MA in Religious Studies from Fribourg and Lausanne (Switzerland) universities and a PhD in Classical Indology from Heidelberg University (Germany) and served as an assistant professor at the Department of South Asian, Tibetan and Buddhist Studies at the University of Vienna. Dr. Larios uses an interdisciplinary methodological approach, combining cultural anthropology, religious studies, and historical philology to understand the religious traditions of contemporary India. His main regional focus is Maharashtra. He is the author of Embodying the Vedas: Traditional Vedic Schools of Contemporary Maharashtra, published by DeGruyter Open Access in 2017. He is also a member of the Centre for Yoga Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS), University of London and also a core member of the Yoga in Latin America Project (YoLA Project) led by Adrián Muñoz. He is co-editor with Muñoz on the first publication dedicated to Yoga in Latinamerica entitled: “Latināsana: The Avatars of Yoga in Latin America”, which is forthcoming with HASP.