Yoga, mindfulness, and detox diets: religion for those who’d never be caught dead in a church?
“Not everyone who goes to yoga is a spiritual seeker, but there is a lot of it (in yoga). I think yoga can make you start thinking about things, but it’s not really enough to fill that hole.”
Brigid Delaney is a columnist with The Guardian and the author of Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness, in which she recounts her attempt to become clean, lean, and serene through an extreme detox diet, daily yoga practice, and meditation.
But Brigid also grew up Catholic. While she’s long been disenchanted with the church, that religious backstory gives her a unique take on wellness culture. She claims that for many young women, yoga is a form of ‘religion-lite’: a practice that addresses the spiritual yearning of those untethered from organised religion.
Brigid’s account of wellness culture is haunted by religion in other ways as well. At points in Wellmania, she seems to indirectly quote the Bible.
“Maybe I’ve been plagiarising, unintendedly plagiarising the Bible in my work. Or maybe I just listened to enough of it as a kid that it has seeped into some of my thinking.”
—
Brigid Delaney’s Diary
Losing my religion: after the Pell verdict, the conflict for Catholics
It’s not you, Bill, it’s the country: is this election Australia’s Trump or Brexit moment?
Buy Wellmania: Misadventures in the Search for Wellness
Guess Who’s Not Coming To Dinner
Gloves Off
Life Is But A Breath
An Astronomer’s Guide to the Galaxy
Jesus, Outside the Box
A Great Spirit
State of the Nation
In The Name Of Christ
In Sickness and in Health
REBROADCAST: The Long Shadow of Slavery
Belfast Cabbie
Dominus Illuminatio Mea
Hope is Violent
Mary of Magdala
Grain of Sand
Three Women
You Do You
REBROADCAST: The Ring of Truth
22 Million
Not Just A Game
Create your
podcast in
minutes
It is Free
Devoted To Prayer
Cast The Word
Let Me Be Frank | Bishop Frank Caggiano’s Podcast | Diocese of Bridgeport, CT
The Bible Recap
BardsFM