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Older women, embodiment and yoga practice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 March 2014

BARBARA HUMBERSTONE  and
CAROL CUTLER-RIDDICK
BARBARA HUMBERSTONE*
Affiliation:
Sport Management Department, Buckinghamshire New University, High Wycombe, UK.
CAROL CUTLER-RIDDICK
Affiliation:
Physical Education and Recreation, Gallaudet University, Washington, DC, USA.
*
Address for correspondence: Barbara Humberstone, Buckinghamshire New University, Queen Alexandra Road, High Wycombe HP11 2JZ, UK. E-mail: barbara.humberstone@bucks.ac.uk
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Abstract

In this paper, we consider the ageing body and the ‘body techniques’ practised by older women within their yoga classes. The paper emphasises the importance of exploring alternative definitions of the human condition, how these are shaped and assembled through particular embodied practices which are realised personally and socially. Taking a contextualised phenomenological approach, older women's experiences are made visible through interview and participant observation. Unlike much sporting practice, the body techniques managed by the women did not emphasise sporting prowess but provided for an integration of body and mind. In the process, biological ageing was accepted yet the women maintained control over the process, troubling prevailing narratives of ageing, declining control and increasing weakness that are taken for granted in much of Western society. The paper highlights the significance of socially rooted ontological embodiment in understanding the ageing body and particular bodily practices.

Keywords

physical activity and ageingembodiment and ageingwomenmask of ageing
Type
Articles
Information
Ageing & Society , Volume 35 , Issue 6 , July 2015 , pp. 1221 - 1241
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2014 

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