Interrogating Yoga’s Binaries through Ayurveda, Feminism, and Queer Theory (a draft of some ideas I hope to get lots of help with)

 

 

of five things and two things

I often find myself teaching the five vāyus of Ayurvedic theory. There’s prāṇa, the downward inhalatory and gustatory wind that ends at the solar plexus. Udāna, the upward exhalatory and vocal wind that exits through the mouth, nose, and, in esoteric thought, the crown of the head. Samāna, the centripetal wind that moves to the navel centre to digest. Vyāna, the centrifugal circulatory wind that moves out from the heart. And apāna, the wind that moves downward with urine, stool, and the waves of orgasm and birthing. Continue reading “Interrogating Yoga’s Binaries through Ayurveda, Feminism, and Queer Theory (a draft of some ideas I hope to get lots of help with)”