Peace Love Yoga Peace Love Yoga The Politics of Global Spirituality ANDREA R. JAIN 1 3 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2020 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-i n- Publication Data Names: Jain, Andrea R., author. Title: Peace love yoga : the politics of global spirituality / Andrea R. Jain. Description: New York, NY, United States of America : Oxford University Press, 2020. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2020008381 (print) | LCCN 2020008382 (ebook) | ISBN 9780190888626 (hardback) | ISBN 9780190888633 (paperback) | ISBN 9780190888657 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Spirituality. Classification: LCC BL624 .J55 2020 (print) | LCC BL624 (ebook) | DDC 204.09/051—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008381 LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020008382 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Paperback printed by LSC Communications, United States of America Hardback printed by Bridgeport National Bindery, Inc., United States of America For my dear friends. Connections are everything. If solutions within the system are so impossible to find, maybe we should change the system itself. — Greta Thunberg, addressing the COP24 climate talks in Katowice, Poland, December 12, 2018 Contents no bad vibes: An Introduction 1 1. breathe practice repeat: Theorizing Neoliberal Spirituality, or, Religion under Neoliberal Capitalism 17 2. good karma: Debating Authenticity in the Study of Neoliberal Spirituality 47 3. namaste all day: Appropriating and Commodifying the Ancient, Exotic, and Evocative 71 4. self love club: Neoliberal Feminism and the Call to Heal the Self, Not the System 101 5. made in bharat: Yoga as Political Ritual 131 an inside job: Concluding Remarks 157 Acknowledgments 175 Bibliography 179 Index 203 Peace Love Yoga