ABSTRACT
Many religious movements-NRMs, as well as movements within ‘old’ or ‘official’ religions-encourage specific religious practices that address adherents’ material bodies-their health, gender and sexuality (see Barker 1993; Palmer 1994; Puttick 1997). Such body practices are important ways by which adherents come to experience and literally ‘embody’ their spiritual lives. This essay focuses on religious movements that emphasise beliefs and practices linking the gendered self with the spiritual self.
