Paper short abstract:

This paper addresses the social and philosophical construct of the "yoga body" as a potential locus for critiquing the dichotomous mind-body hierarchy dominant in academia, and works towards developing an embodied methodology for thoughtful and sustainable scholarship.

Paper long abstract:

In this paper I address the paralleled dualities of the "yoga body" and the oft-invisible "academic" body. While the institution of the higher learning so often touts the privilege of living the "life of the mind," a growing body of literature addresses realities of embodied cognition, and the potential for deeper, more creative learning achieved through the engagement of physicality of the body. (Claxton, 2015; Berila, 2015) I began my exploration of this idea based on my own challenging, and physically injurious, experience in the high-pressure last stages of dissertation writing, and my subsequent recovery through a dedicated yoga practice. This transition laid bare the lived mind-body dichotomy that had governed my educational experience, even as my art historical research focussed on representations of the traumatized body. While yoga is promulgated as a mode of self-realization and empowerment more broadly within health and wellness spheres, the marketability of the "yoga body" is often rooted aesthetic prescriptions — a dichotomy that mimics the disjointed nature of a conception academic work as residing solely in the realm of the intellect. I work towards the potential the mutual reframing of the "academic body" and the "yoga body" as a way to reveal the structured binaries that often govern both, and ultimately argue for a pedagogical approach that works towards the deconstruction of the passively embraced mind-body dichotomy of the academe in order to lay the ground for more empathetic and resilient intellectual practice.