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.
The 4th International Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana conference:
Authenticity, Authority and Adaptation
27-29 May 2026 – Paris, France
Call for papers
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 full details are on our YDYS Paris 2026 page.
Latest Reflection
Yoga Studies in Five Minutes
Yoga Studies in Five Minutes offers an accessible and comprehensive exploration of yoga through a collection of concise yet insightful entries from leading scholars. This interdisciplinary volume bridges the gap between academic scholarship and the broader public’s fascination with yoga.
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. Beatrix Hauser
Beatrix Hauser is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute for the Science of Religion and Related Didactics at the University of Bremen. She received her academic training in Social Anthropology (MA and PhD from the University of Hamburg) and holds a habilitation degree from the University of Halle (2009). Her main research interests lie in the anthropology of the body, ritual studies, Hinduism and gender. Her current research focuses on the mutual influence of health seeking behaviour and spiritual aspirations, taking modern postural yoga as a prime example and considering case studies from Germany and India. Institutional website: https://www.uni-bremen.de/religionswissenschaft/personen/pd-dr-beatrix-hauser Academia: https://uni-bremen.academia.edu/BeatrixHauser Selected publications relating to Modern Yoga Edited Book 2013 – Yoga Traveling: Bodily Practice in Transcultural Perspective. Cham: Springer. Book and Journal Chapters 2024 – Improving Moral Posture: Female Pioneers of Hatha Yoga in 1950s Germany. In: Religions of South Asia 18. 2021 – The Health Imaginary of Postural Yoga. In: Anthropology & Medicine, 1-23, DOI: 10.1080/13648470.2021.1949962. 2018 – Following the Transcultural Circulation of Bodily Practices: Modern Yoga and the Corporeality of Mantras. In: Yoga in Transformation. Historical and Contemporary Perspectives. Ed. by Karl Baier, Philipp A. Maas & Karin Preisendanz. Wien: V & R Unipress, 507-528, DOI: 10.14220/9783737008624.505. 2013 – Introduction: Transcultural Yoga(s): On Analyzing a Traveling Subject. In: Yoga Traveling: Bodily Practice in Transcultural Perspective. Ed. by Beatrix Hauser. Cham: Springer, 1–34. 2013 – Touching Limits, Assessing Pain: On Language Performativity, Health and Well-Being in Yoga Classes. In Yoga Traveling: Bodily Practice in Transcultural Perspective. Ed. by Beatrix Hauser. Cham: Springer, 109–134.