What if yoga meant technology, jihad or sex with multiple partners? 😳

That’s just a sample of the thought-provoking papers presented in Paris at the Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana conference last week. This podcast shares a few reflections on what was discussed, plus my own presentation on misleading books that manipulate readers to generate sales (slides available here).

Expanding on a range of conversations across other panels, I also outline some possible responses to broader concerns about misinformation. In the process, I consider ways to bridge gaps between scholars, yoga teachers and practitioners, journalists, activists and the general public.

Recordings of some keynote presentations will be uploaded here via the YouTube channel of the SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies. I also referenced a talk about fascist yogis by Emily Ward, which is available here. Meanwhile, my critical reviews of Shyam Ranganathan’s and Stewart Home’s books are here and here.

The next YDYS conference will be held in Finland in 2028. To stay informed about plans, join the mailing list here at yogaresearch.org, where you can also find resources from scholars. And for more thoughts from me, see this earlier episode.

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How might we be inspired by a worldwide community of Yiddish-speaking Jews, whose cultural identity was broadly internationalist?

David Mazower is the author of Yiddish: A Global Culture, which accompanies an exhibit he curated at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Our conversation explores the heritage and influence of Yiddish – the everyday language of East European Jews, which became a diaspora lingua franca and the medium for bold creativity, from avant-garde art and subversive writing to radical politics that shaped socialist and anarchist movements.

David’s great-grandfather, Sholem Asch, was a pioneering Yiddishist writer and another of his ancestors – his father’s father Max – was a revolutionary in tsarist Russia, becoming involved with a socialist party called the Bund, whose deeply humanistic perspective has since been marginalised.

As David observes, the impact of the Bund is now the focus of a book by Molly Crabapple (titled Here Where We Live is Our Country). And an outing of London Bundists from the early 1900s features on the cover of David’s book.

Before joining the Yiddish Book Center as its research bibliographer and editorial director, David was a senior journalist with BBC World News and deputy curator of the Jewish Museum London. He writes for a range of publications on topics from Yiddish theatre and popular culture to British Jewish history.

Selected highlights from the exhibit that accompanies his book are available here. There’s also a digital guide via the Bloomberg Connects app (see here for details).

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What defines the right thing to do, and how helpful is yoga in doing it? 🤔

Yogic traditions present different frameworks for ethical conduct, with varying degrees of engagement in worldly affairs. If their aim is to promote liberation, can they also support human rights? Might ideas about the highest good, or a self in all beings, provide orientation? If so, which philosophy seems the best fit?

Brett Parris explored these themes – among many others – for a doctorate from Oxford. A book based on his thesis, which was titled Yogic Metaethics: Comparing Patañjali’s Yoga, Nondual Śaivism, and Vedānta, is now in the works, and he recently presented his findings here.

Together, we discuss how key teachings relate to modern challenges. At one point, I quote this line by the sceptical scholar Agehananda Bharati (from his book The Light at the Center): “You don’t learn ethical behavior through yoga and meditation any more than you learn loving your neighbors by playing poker or cello.”

🎙️ Thanks to Gerard Harris for help with the audio. Gerard also wrote the podcast music – more of his productions are uploaded here.

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