The Body in Classical Hathayoga, with Ruth Westoby

New Books in Religion

In this episode Dr Pierce Salguero sits down with Ruth Westoby a scholar, teacher, and practitioner of yoga. We discuss Ruth’s work on the body in early hatha yoga texts. We talk about the broad diversity of approaches to the material body in these sources, including their ideas about gender, the cultivation of powers, and approaches to liberation. Along the way, we touch on yogic sex, practices to stop menstruating, and the courageous work that modern practitioners have been doing to expose abuse by yoga gurus.

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Resources mentioned in the episode:

• Preliminary published results from Ruth’s research
• Mallinson and Szántó, The Amṛtasiddhi and Amṛtasiddhimūla (2021).
• Jason Birch, The Amaraugha and Amaraughaprabodha of Gorakṣanātha(2023).
• Elena Valussi, “The Physiology of Transcendence for Women” (2009)
• BBP episode with Dominic Steavu
• Hatha Yoga Project
• Articles on guru abuse by Pattabhi Jois: Anneke Lucas, Karen Rain, Amanda Lucia
• Inform Project
• Video footage of Ruth doing historical āsanas
• Ruth’s website and email newsletter, Facebook page, Instagram

Pierce Salguero is a transdisciplinary scholar of health humanities who is fascinated by historical and contemporary intersections between Buddhism, medicine, and crosscultural exchange. He has a Ph.D. in History of Medicine from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine (2010), and teaches Asian history, medicine, and religion at Penn State University’s Abington College, located near Philadelphia. www.piercesalguero.com.

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