The history of yoga has seen the transference of much of its practice and theory between different traditions in India and beyond. In this talk James Mallinson will examine four such cultural flows, between practitioners and theorists from Śaiva, tantric Buddhist, Islamic and transnational schools of yoga, and show how these exchanges have been key factors in yoga’s development.

Dr James Mallinson is Principal Investigator and Senior Lecturer in Sanskrit and Classical Indian Studies at SOAS. His primary research method is philology, in particular the study of manuscripts of Sanskrit texts on yoga, which he complements with ethnographic data drawn from extensive fieldwork with Indian ascetics and the study of art historical sources.