Wellbeing for sale: Representations of yoga in commercial media

Authors

  • Liina Puustinen Department of Political and Economic Studies, University of Helsinki. Visiting Fellow, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science.
  • Matti Rautaniemi

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.40878

Keywords:

yoga, spirituality, consumer culture, media representations

Abstract

This article focuses on how spirituality and commercialism are intertwined in the representations of yoga in the media. For this study, articles on yoga were collected from seven Finnish popular magazines, and analyzed using qualitative close reading guided by sensitizing concepts of subjective wellbeing spirituality and prosumerism. The results show that looks, wellbeing and health are found to be the main selling points of yoga, whereas spirituality is used as a distinguishing device and a tool for constructing a consumer identity associated with ‘spiritual’ values. The material also raises questions on the possibility of anti-consumerist trends within contemporary yoga.

Author Biography

Liina Puustinen, Department of Political and Economic Studies, University of Helsinki. Visiting Fellow, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science.

Dr. Visiting Fellow, Department of Media and Communications, London School of Economics and Political Science.

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Published

2015-06-08

How to Cite

Puustinen, L., & Rautaniemi, M. (2015). Wellbeing for sale: Representations of yoga in commercial media. Temenos - Nordic Journal for the Study of Religion, 51(1), 45–70. https://doi.org/10.33356/temenos.40878

Issue

Vol. 51 No. 1 (2015)

Section

Articles

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Copyright (c) 2015 Temenos - Nordic Journal of Comparative Religion

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