Sensing Our Way

Abstract

ABSTRACTAs part of a wider research project on embodiment in a support center for vulnerable women in East London, we have adopted the teaching of yoga as a practice to enter the field and connect with these women. During the course of teaching yoga it has become clear that an attendance to the senses, both spatially and corporeally, provides us with important understandings of the lifeworlds of these women and our research relationship. In particular, we analyze how the haptic sense is crucial in developing trust and empathy within research settings. We argue that practicing yoga has enabled a sensuous, tactile dialogue between the researchers and research subjects offering a kinetic language that runs parallel and additional to verbal language. The article explores the potential of yoga to create a transformative tactile space.