When Yogis Become Warriors—The Embodied Spirituality of Kaḷaripayaṯṯu

This study examines the relationship between body and spirituality in kaḷaripayaṯṯu (kaḷarippayaṯṯu), a South Indian martial art that incorporates yogic techniques in its training regimen. The paper is based on ethnographic material gathered during my fieldwork in Kerala and interviews with practitioners of kaḷaripayaṯṯu and members of the Nāyar clans. The Nāyars of Kerala created their own martial arts that were further developed in their family gymnasia (kaḷari). These kaḷaris had their own training routines, initiations and patron deities. Kaḷaris were not only training grounds, but temples consecrated with daily rituals and spiritual exercises performed in the presence of masters of the art called gurukkals. For gurukkals, the term kaḷari has a broader spectrum of meaning—it denotes the threefold system of Nāyar education: Hindu doctrines, physical training, and yogico-meditative exercises. This short article investigates selected aspects of embodied spirituality in kaḷaripayaṯṯu and argues that body in kaḷari is not only trained but also textualized and ritualized.

HAVE-H: Five Attitudes for a Narratively Grounded and Embodied Spirituality

Western cultures are becoming increasingly cognitive. While this trend has produced many advances in science and related fields, it has also resulted in the neglect of human emotions and bodies in many domains. This article argues that spiritual care practitioners can counterbalance this trend through the embodiment of five specific attitudes summarized by the acronym HAVE-H ((a) honoring the origins of perception; (b) acknowledging the inevitability of projection; (c) validating experiential neutrality; (d) embodying a commitment to truth; and (e) holding space for metaphysics/transcendence/time).

Indigenous and Roman Catholic Canonizations of Nicholas Black Elk: Postcolonial Issues and Implications of Black Elk Speaks

This article explores questions surrounding the status and teachings of Nick Black Elk, in dialogue with certain postcolonial and decoloniality theorists, as well as with commentators on Black Elk’s spirituality. It highlights liberation spirituality and theology in analyzing the religious hybridity of Black Elk and his actions of decoloniality. It also shows how Black Elk’s recent nomination for Roman Catholic canonization might continue to support certain shifts in various areas of Christian spirituality in light of Lakota influences: to respectful approaches to visionary mysticism and dreams; to positive affirmations of embodied spirituality; to ecological connections, consciousness and responsibility; and to a transformed sense of spiritual intimacy with nature.

African, Latina, Feminist, and Decolonial

This essay proposes that Marta Moreno Vega’s 2004 memoir, When the Spirits Dance Mambo, is a Latina feminist narrative that foregrounds African diaspora worldviews, thought, forms, and practices as resources for cultivating a path toward decoloniality. In this memoir, Abuela’s spiritual leadership and her introduction of the young Cotito into the practice of Espiritismo become a central prism through which Cotito innovatively apprehends the links between sacred and secular realms in the burgeoning mambo and salsa music scene of New York. Even more importantly, her engagement with this diasporan worldview allows Cotito to critically apprehend prevailing gender norms and their limitations. This essay, therefore, argues that an Afro-Latina feminism emerges in this memoir from the practice of embodied spirituality that also has sonic, aesthetic, and social dimensions in everyday life.

Authentic Movement and the Relationship of Embodied Spirituality to Health and Wellbeing

This chapter explores the possibility of a relationship between spiritual practices and some of the many facets of wellbeing. It considers the distinction between religion and spirituality with reference to the literature. It discusses Authentic Movement, an inner-directed movement process rooted in the intersection of dance/movement therapy and Jungian depth psychology, and the concept of embodied spirituality in which the relationship between the mover and the witness is explored. In particular, it explores the relationship of this practice to health and the increased sense of wellbeing that stems from a direct experience of the sacred, which supports a deepening sense of connection to one’s true self.