Interest in Eastern Thought and Practices in the Lublin Community From 1954 onwards, for over half a century, Lublin became one of Poland’s principal centers of interest in Indian thought and Eastern spiritual practices (including yoga and Zen). This article outlines the antecedents of this development and traces the evolution of this center to the present day, taking into account factors such as the open admission policy of the Catholic University of Lublin following the events of 1968, connections with alternative theatre, the Esperanto movement, and the bioelectronics theory of Rev. Prof. W. Sedlak. The article also discusses key theorists and practitioners. Keywords: Indian philosophy, Buddhism, yoga, KUL, UMCS, Franciszek Tokarz, Leon Cyboran, Tadeusz Margul
Yoga and New Age Therapeutic Practices in the Final Decade of the Polish People’s Republic: The Case of the Academy of Life This article examines the entanglement of yoga with New Age practices in the final years of the Polish People’s Republic, focusing on the Academy of Life (AŻ). In the 1980s, yoga was incorporated into therapeutic processes. Alongside rebirthing, polarity, Touch for Healing, prosperity consciousness, and related practices, it played a significant role in self-help groups oriented toward self-care and self-development. The new lifestyle promoted by the AŻ, which also seeped into the mainstream, contained the seeds of neoliberalism. One need only recall the words of Lucyna Winnicka on the body: “Take better care of it than of your own car... It possesses an extraordinary capacity for self-regulation and self-improvement – if you let it.” The methodological framework for this analysis draws on studies of the so-called psycho-boom and soma-boom of the 1970s. The source material comprises both published and unpublished statements by individuals associated with the AŻ circle. Keywords: yoga, rebirthing, New Age, therapeutisation, psychosomatics, the People’s Republic of Poland, Lucyna Winnicka, Academy of Life
The Commercialization of Yoga: Trends in the Polish Publishing Market The authors examine, within a bibliological and sociological framework, how yoga as a physical and spiritual practice has been transformed into a market commodity. Particular attention is paid to the role of the publishing market in the dissemination and commercialization of yoga, with a focus on books published in Poland in recent years. Using bibliological methods and bibliometric tools, the study seeks to answer the following questions: What appears on the covers of books popularizing yoga? Which types of publications dominate the Polish market? From a sociological perspective, the article also explores broader trends associated with the adaptation of yoga to contemporary Western models of consumption. Keywords: commercialization of yoga in Poland, sociology of yoga, publishing market, bibliology, book cover, mass culture, popularization of yoga
Swimming, Freestyle: Lessons from Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ Undrowned This article offers a multifaceted discussion of Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ Undrowned: Black Feminist Lessons from Marine Mammals, with particular attention to animal studies and the procedures and descriptive categories that dominate the field, which the author treats with considerable nonchalance. A critical reading of this (intentionally subversive) essay raises questions about the need to rethink established frameworks within post-anthropocentric discourse, highlighting three key insights that may serve as a starting point for a critical engagement with her proposal. Keywords: animal studies, colonialism, essay, feminism, embodied knowledge
Yoga Between Science and Practice: The History of a Pioneering Partnership in 1970s Poland The first attempt in Poland to systematically describe yoga practices from a psychophysiological perspective was the book Teoria i metodyka ćwiczeń relaksowo-koncentrujących (Theory and Methodology of Relaxation and Concentration Exercises, 1973). It emerged from the collaboration between Wiesław Romanowski and Tadeusz Pasek, and from their two distinct modes of engaging with yoga: a laboratory-based approach, in which the “lens” of instrumentation and the “eye” of the researcher were meant to capture its effects, and a personal approach, developed through sustained bodily practice. This relationship produced a unique synthesis of knowledge and experience. The article examines the nature of this collaboration and its impact on the book, which systematized approaches to relaxation and concentration exercises, contributed to bringing yoga into the sphere of scientific research, and supported its popularization and gradual integration into educational and rehabilitation contexts. Keywords: Tadeusz Pasek, Wiesław Romanowski, relaxation exercises, oral history, physiology
