Hello subscribers. It’s been a while! I am now six months into my PhD on the relationship between meditation and inner speech and working on a literature review of this very disparate subject, which is a challenge. Anyway, I am writing with some news of my favourite yoga studies event, which remarkably, is free to attend!

Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana: Paris conference now open for bookings

Not only is the wonderful YDYS International yoga studies conference back for the 4th time, but it is in Paris, and it is free for attendees. All the details on the link above. It runs from the 27th May to the 29th May (next month) and they have packed so many amazing scholars and fascinating subjects into the programme.

As they say: “The conference will explore yoga’s popularity not only as a global practice, but also as an object of scholarly research, attested to by the exponentially increasing number of publications on yoga across a wide range of academic fields. We encourage dialogue and collaboration between scholars of the social sciences and humanities, who are critically exploring traditions, beliefs and practices associated with ‘yoga’ both in the past and the present.”

If you are eagle-eyed and read the whole programme, you will see that I am on a round table on Products and Pedagogies in very good company on Thursday morning. Ruth McNeil and I will be talking about the research I covered in my previous newsletter.

Unfortunately, given the early stage nature of much of the research, it will not be recorded or shown live online. However, I understand that the keynote talks will be watchable remotely. You can probably find out more and follow along to some extent on Instagram.

Happy studies! Don’t forget you can read the archives here. And there have been a few new SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies events since the last email so worth checking out their YouTube Channel.

As ever, please do encourage others to subscribe if you think they would be interested in the world of yoga scholarship. And if you are keen to be part of a workshop on any aspect of this subject, let me know and I will see if it is something I can arrange (especially on the Isle of Wight).

Best wishes, Martha @ IntoYoga