The 4th International Yoga Darśana Yoga Sādhana conference took place in Paris from 27th–29th May 2026. This event was organized in collaboration with the Center for South Asian and Himalayan Studies (CESAH) at the School for Advanced Social Sciences (EHESS - École de hautes études en sciences sociales) in Paris. The SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies was delighted to support these proceedings by offering webinars, live from Paris, of the three keynote speakers.
The conference explored yoga’s popularity not only as a global practice, but also as an object of scholarly research, attested to by the exponentially increasing number of publications on yoga across a wide range of academic fields. It encouraged dialogue and collaboration between scholars of the social sciences and humanities, who are critically exploring traditions, beliefs and practices associated with ‘yoga’ both in the past and the present.
Dominic Goodall (EFEO) commenced the proceedings with a presentation of the earliest concepts of Kuṇḍalinī found in the seventh-century Śaivasiddhānta scriptures. Mark Singleton launched his latest book entitled, Yoga Machine: Technology, Transhumanism and Transcendence. On the final day of the conference, Sunila Kale and Christian Novetzke will elaborate on their yoga and power thesis with a talk entitled, Sovereignty, Boycott and Struggle: The Three Registers of Political Yoga.
The full conference programme is available here.
