ABSTRACT
Yoga enables one to get into meaningful relationships and enjoy sex2 (I Love India Web site).
Attitudes to sex and sexuality within the milieu of contemporary yoga are both confused and confusing. A twisted skein of opinions and imagery obtains, wherein we find, for example, idealizations of chastity and asceticism, often couched in neo-Puritanical terminology, competing with eroticized depictions of the yogic body and advertisements for yoga’s capacity to enhance sexual performance and orgasmic ecstasy. The overall effect is a confusing melange of messages for the aspiring yoga student. In this chapter, I argue that this confusion is symptomatic of the blending of a rather superficial understanding of a diverse range of yogic traditions on the one hand, with certain cultural trends, such as commercialism, and the emphasis on desirable physicality, on the other. This blend constitutes the flavorful soup that is contemporary globalized yoga.
