Yoga for every(Body)? a critical analysis of the evolution of yoga representation across four decades in yoga journal

Nandini Bhalla, Leigh Moscowitz

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

8 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper examines forty-one covers of Yoga Journal magazine from 1975 to 2016. Using qualitative visual and linguist frame analysis of magazine covers, this project critically examines how yoga representations have evolved from a mental discipline to a commercialized form of exercise. Themes of religion, art, exercise, spiritual connection, and (male Indian) expertise were prominent cover displays from the 1970s through the 1990s. However, in the 2000s, thin young white female bodies came to signify the practice of yoga, anchored to hegemonic notions of femininity displayed on the covers in objectified and commercialized forms. Implications for public-health messaging, political-economic pressures on magazines, and mainstream perceptions of yoga are discussed.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)75-103
Number of pages29
JournalJournal of Magazine Media
Volume19
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 1 2019

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2019, University of Nebraska Press. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Body image
  • Feminist theory
  • Intersectionality
  • Magazine covers
  • Textual analysis
  • Visual framing
  • Yoga

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Cultural Studies
  • Communication
  • History
  • Social Sciences (miscellaneous)

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