Between Patañjali and Psychology: Acem’s ‘classical, meditative yoga’

(Publisert i anologien Embodied Reception: South Asian Spiritualities in Contemporary Contexts, Sheffield: Equinox)

This chapter examines Acem’s philosophy and practice of yoga as taught by Acem School of Yoga (Norsk Yoga-skole). It argues that Acem represents a selective understanding of yoga that is typical of bodily practices on the move from their original context to a Western setting. Acem claims to transmit a “classical” version of yoga in line with Patañjali’s Yogasūtra , but free from the religious frames of reference found in the Indian tradition. At the same time, the organization implicitly builds upon other forms of modern postural yoga. There is a strong emphasis on personal growth and existential acknowledgment in Acem, which can be traced back to the existential philosophy and humanistic psychology of the 1970s, and which reflects “the therapeutic culture” that permeates contemporary Western societies. The result is an invented tradition labelled as “classical, meditative yoga,” which can be used as a point of departure for a secularized and individual-oriented spirituality.