Thinking in Āsana - Movement and Philosophy in Viniyoga, Iyengar Yoga, and Ashtanga Yoga - Matylda Ciołkosz
3. Enaction and Language
Thinking in Āsana - Movement and Philosophy in Viniyoga, Iyengar Yoga, and Ashtanga Yoga - Matylda Ciołkosz
Matylda Ciołkosz [+]
Jagiellonian University, Kraków
Matylda Ciołkosz is scholar of religions and an Assistant Professor at the Institute for the Study of Religions, Jagiellonian University in Kraków. In her research, she explores how religious concepts and doctrines are formed under the influence of different biological and sociocultural factors. As a longtime yoga practitioner, rock climber, and musician, she is especially interested in the significance of movement practices as one of these factors. In her studies- so far focused mainly on modern yoga- she applies the methodologies of cognitive science and lingustics.
Description
The chapter focuses on the notion of meaning and the emergence of language. I discuss the social origins of language and its role as a means to regulate and modulate social interactions. I elaborate on the post-kinetic nature of language (described so by Maxine Sheets-Johnstone), i.e. the significance of early-life kinaesthetic experience for the development of abstract thinking and linguistic expression. Finally, I explain the basic concepts from cognitive linguistics (drawing from the work of George Lakoff, Mark Johnson, and Ronald Langacker) that I later apply in the analytical part of the study.