Reframing Yoga and Meditation Studies

This chapter offers analytical meta-reflection on the process of identifying, surveying and examining the current field of academic yoga and meditation studies. It discusses significant and ongoing shifts in this field of study, as well as the scholarly choices that contributors to this volume have faced collectively in what they have classified under the categories of ‘yoga’ and ‘meditation’ and in the terms they have used. We review the theoretical and practical challenges of one of the first attempts to bring into direct dialogue two closely related areas of academic research: meditation and yoga. The conclusion highlights emergent themes, foci and issues in the field, as well as current gaps for future research.