Speaker
Description
In this paper, I will introduce my practice-led research Acoustemologies of Breath: Sounding and Listening in Contemporary Yoga, undertaken in collaboration with Professor Isabel Nogueira at UFRGS in Porto Alegre, Brazil. I take inspiration from Steven Feld’s (1992) concept of ‘acoustemology’ to theorise ‘sounding’ and ‘listening’ as a way of knowing in contemporary yoga practice. I foreground the sonic sensibilities of breathing-moving bodies doing practice and the relationality of knowledge production. I explore the ways in which the sound of breathing mediates relations between practitioners and meditates the relation with one’s body when listening to one’s own breath. I ask what kinds of ‘knowing’ breath can reveal and consider the affective-empathetic import of listening to breath. I locate my relational inquiry in the situational encounters of practice in different contemporary yoga contexts, and I critically reflect on the socio-political significance of sounding and listening in relation to place, space, and time. In sum, I will present a sonic and theoretical contribution to contemporary yoga scholarship, and exhibit creative possibilities for future interdisciplinary research.
