| An original synthesis joins yoga's cultural role from antiquity as a transformative path with the insights of ecofeminism, in order to re-ground our modern minds and bodies within nature's timeless web of life. This thesis addresses the following question: How might yoga's matristic roots and nature-based ethos, when combined with ecofeminist philosophy and ethics, contribute to personal and planetary healing? This thesis explores the ways in which yoga serves to advance ecofeminist theory and praxis, and also the ways in which spiritual ecofeminist ethics provide yoga with a context of engagement with the world, by reaffirming yoga's nature-based, matristic origins.; My thesis is that yoga practice supports and advances the ethics of ecofeminists who are concerned with healing nature and humans. Ecofeminism in turn, supports and advances a more profound understanding of the nature-embedded and matristic roots of yoga and its potential for today as a sacred life-affirming path. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
