Goals

The main interest of YoLA Project^® is the study of yogic practices and styles, in any of their modalities and temporalities, that have taken place throughout Latin America. Due to the international and Latin American character of the group, the first purpose is to promote the integration of the area and encourage well-articulated research among the scholars formerly from within the region. The researchers in this project also intend to undertake an in-depth study of the expressions of yoga developed in Latin America. Another goal of The YoLA Project^® is to incorporate Latin America into the dominant circuits of academic research on the history and development of the various kinds of yoga and contribute to a deeper understanding of the complex links that connect different regions of the world.

Since there is no research project in which the agency and the development of yoga in our region are systematically addressed so far, The YoLA Project^® considers a long and arduous work that will examine three fundamental aspects:

1. The ways by which different styles of yoga settled in Latin America in the past and the possible diplomatic agendas that currently contribute to spreading yogic tourism.
2. The reception mechanisms and the adaptation modes in the applicable situations.
3. Based on these adaptations, the current state of the practice will be inspected, placing special emphasis on manifestations that have a regional and/or Latin American character.