Yoga as a cultural field
Symbols and culture are inseparable – they flow into each other. By focussing on the symbolic aspect of yoga we move from the individual plane to the socio-cultural plane. We then approach yoga as a cultural sub-system – a cultural field’ in the sociology of P. Bourdieu” (Wikipedia link)- that interacts with and is defined in relation to the rest of society. A cultural field’ is a social sphere from which cultural specialists can exchange their cultural knowledge (on law, linguistics, sport, history, art) with the rest of society, who perceive them as experts. This notion of a cultural field’ is central and crucial to this cultural sociological theory about yoga.
He had called his own ambulance from a pay phone.Ardha Chandrasana Pose Yoga I knew that something bad had happened when my mother came to our school unexpectedly in the middle of the day.Ardha Chandrasana Pose Yoga I remember seeing my dad, who was six foot three, in his hospital bed, looking frail for the very first time. It’s funny how hospitals shrink the people in them. Like Alice in Wonderland, you feel disproportionate as you’re standing over the sickbed or against a wall, trying to keep out of the nurses’ way.
It was nearly fifteen years later that my family and I found ourselves in similar circumstances. By this time, following the heart attack, we had moved back home to Northern California from Miami, where we’d &een living. My dad had wanted to be closer to his family, while still unable to return to his profession as an airline training captain for Pan American due to his health, which was being carefully monitored by the FAA.
