SOAS and British Wheel of Yoga to Examine Yoga’s Energy Traditions and Modern Evidence

The SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies and the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) are joining hands to organise a one-day summit examining some of the less visible and less frequently discussed dimensions of yoga. Scheduled for 31 October at SOAS University of London, the event will bring together scholars, historians and experienced practitioners to examine traditional ideas about the body's energy systems and their relationship with contemporary knowledge. The programme will also be available online.

Titled The Energy Body: Yoga between Evidence and Experience, the summit will focus on concepts including chakras, prāṇa and kuṇḍalinī. Organisers said the discussions will consider how these ideas have developed within different yoga traditions and how they are understood in present-day practice.

Professor Shaman Hatley of Boston University is scheduled to deliver the keynote address on the chakra system. His presentation will explore the historical development of the concept and the relationship between traditional yogic experiences, medical interpretations and broader understandings of the body.

Other sessions will examine the traditions surrounding kuṇḍalinī and the feminine divine, as well as practices involving breath, sound and movement. The programme will also include discussions on how breath-based practices may influence experiences of wellbeing and altered states.

The organisers have included practical experiences alongside academic discussions. Participants will have the opportunity to take part in a chakra meditation and an energy-healing session. A Tsa Lung practice, associated with Tibetan Buddhist traditions and focused on vital energy, will also be presented.

The summit is intended to create dialogue between historical scholarship, contemporary research and practitioners' experiences. Rather than considering yoga solely through physical postures, the programme seeks to examine the wider philosophical and experiential traditions that have shaped yoga over centuries.

21-09-2026