Understanding modern Yoga pedagogy and curriculum: exploring sense-making by senior Western Yoga teacher-trainers
July 9, 2026 Andy Davies 1 citation
Senior Western Yoga teacher-trainers still perceive and teach Modern Yoga as a spiritual practice centered on consciousness development and the union of perceived disconnections, despite shifts in cultural context and terminology from Premodern Yoga. The study, based on face-to-face interviews with seven teacher-trainers in Australia and the United States, found that pedagogical priorities include language considerations, oration, and physical demonstration, while curriculum priorities involve developing intention, facilitating reflexivity, and creating an embodied, self-discerning practice. The researcher constructed new Sanskrit-based ethical terms and a citta-kosha-narrative-restructuring model to disrupt East-West and Mind-Body binaries, contributing theoretical and methodological insights for future trans-philosophical research.