Soviet Yogis – Who were they? Yoga and Degrowth, then and now.

The history of yoga’s metamorphoses from marginalized spiritual-militaristic tradition in India to commercialized mega-business associated with neoliberal notions of personal wellness has received a lot of scholarly attention in the West. But the 20 th century transformation of yoga into an exportable mind-body practice took a different route into the Soviet Union, where yoga was alternately banned, and officially embraced at the highest levels. In this talk, I use the framework of contemporary ecological economics and Degrowth theory to show how in the post-war period, Soviet authorities could accommodate yoga as technology of growth and expansion (for instance, to help the cosmonauts conquer space), but not as a rejection of the fundamental imperative of extraction-based growth and ‘progress’ pursued by both sides of the Cold War. In the time provided, I will try to highlight a few case studies, as well as encourage us to think about the connection between yoga as a practice to regulate individual metabolism and yoga as a commentary on the Marx-inspired notion of ‘metabolic rift.’

Yvonne Howell is Professor of Russian and Global Studies at the University of Richmond, and current President of the Southern Conference of Slavic Studies (SCSS). She is the author of Apocalyptic Realism: The Science Fiction of Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, as well as several other books, articles, and translations on the intersection between the biological sciences, literature, and culture in the Soviet and post-Soviet period. She began her career in Russian studies working with Soviet ornithologists on the impact of urban sprawl on bird migration patterns, and her concern with the human relationship to the environment remains the consistent underlying theme of all her teaching. And yes, she has also practiced yoga, at home and abroad, for over 20 years.