The Politics and Practices of Yoga

Discovery Core Experience: VLPA Course

BCORE 104

60-Second Syllabus: The Politics & Practices of Yoga

About This Course:

According to market research, 28% of all US Americans have “practiced” yoga at one point or another. This is due, in no small part, to the many and varying reasons that it is prescribed and recommended from building strength and flexibility, to calming down and managing stress, to treating chronic pain and illness, yoga seems to be the modern cure-all. In this class, we will critically examine the roles, meanings, and values of yoga in contemporary US society. Through our analyses and experiences of contemporary yoga, we will mark the process of “discovering” ourselves as college students on this campus. Assignments will lead you to engage with campus resources such as the library, the Writing & Communication Center, and the Qualitative Skills Center, among others.

Our work in Interdisciplinary Writing will extend and add depth to our discussions on yoga.By taking these two courses together, we are able to develop a profounder and more nuanced understanding of the texts and issues that we discuss in B CORE 104. By using rhetorical analysis and setting texts “into conversation,” we will deepen our engagement with the material and cultivate our own writerly voices in order to add to the conversation.

Why Should I Take This Course?

This class is like no other – it connects two required courses (DC and BWRIT 134) into one mega-class. While studying the history, industry, and politics of yoga, we’ll also be thinking about how to craft writing across genres and for different audiences in order to build our skills and confidence as writers. This unique linked strcuture gives us the gift of both time and space to really sink into our conversations, take the lessons a little deeper, and also get to know each other as a cohort. Plus, we’ll do yoga!

What Will I Study?

According to market research, 28% of all US Americans have “practiced” yoga at one point or another. This is due to the many and varying reasons that it is prescribed and recommended – from building strength and flexibility, to calming down and managing stress, to treating chronic pain and illness, yoga seems to be the modern cure-all. In this class, we will critically examine the roles, meanings, and values of yoga in contemporary US society. Topics will include the arrival of yoga in the US and its acculturation as a primarily non-spiritual practice, the flourishing of the yoga industry, research on neuroscience and the mind, and issues of cultural appropriation, equity, and access.

Selected Texts & Films:

  • Jessamyn Stanley, Every Body Yoga
  • James Nestor, Breath
  • Edward Said, Orientalism

Selected Projects & Activities

On a typical class day, you can expect a short lecture, collaborative small group work time, in-class writing, and engaging all-class activities, like theater sports or debates. And, because this is a class about yoga, I will also offer opportunities for stretching and mindful breathing.

In the second half of the quarter, you will work with a small group to research one aspect of yoga in the US – options range from neuroscience to the legality of teaching yoga in public school – and lead our class in discussion and activities to share your knowledge. That project will connect us with the UW Library, Writing & Communication Center, and Qualitative Skills Center!

Professor Pedersen (She/Her/Hers)

School of Interdisciplinary Arts & Sciences

About Professor Pedersen:

  • B.A. English and Hispanic Studies, Macalester College
  • M.A. English, University of Washington
  • Ph.D. English, University of Washington

Contact:

“I emphasize safety, not comfort, in the classroom, and incorporate elements of performance and yoga studies and public scholarship to create new possibilities for encounters with the text, society, and self.” – Professor Pedersen