Yoga and Meditation

This chapter examines theoretical debates about yoga and meditation in prisons, highlighting both the dangers of co-optation by oppressive power structures and the potential for emancipation. It reviews historical and contemporary commentaries showing how these practices can have insidious effects when taught to people targeted by unequal power. However, the chapter also points to newer, activist versions of yoga and meditation that foster individual self-cultivation that is critically thoughtful and politically challenging, suggesting that emancipatory possibilities coexist with risks.

Study at a glance

Abstract

This chapter speaks to the theoretical concerns that animate this project. It addresses a number of debates—both historical and contemporary—that set the stage for what follows in the rest of this book. It shows us why we should care about yoga and meditation in prisons, walking the reader through the broad sweep of commentaries that reveal the darker, more insidious possibilities that lurk within yogic and meditative practices, particularly when they are taught to those routinely targeted by unequal or oppressive forms of power. Here, we find that the dangers of co-optation are very real; but so are the emancipatory possibilities. The chapter points to the emergence of newer, more activist versions of yoga and meditation, which produce a kind of individual self-cultivation that is thoughtfully critical and politically challenging.