Eastern Practices and Nordic Bodies

Eastern Practices and Nordic Bodies: Lived Religion, Spirituality and Healing in the Nordic Countries edited by Daniel Enstedt and Katarina Plank. Springer, 2023.

In recent decades, we have seen a growth in the Nordic countries of various religious or spiritual practices that at first glance seem to have an “Eastern” origin; It can be yoga, meditation, tantra, acupuncture, Ayurveda, mindfulness, and qigong – just to name a few.

Several of these methods have found their way into secular environments where explicit expressions of religion rarely occur, such as in health care, in schools, but also in municipal and state authorities, and in leadership training. They are then packaged as health-promoting, relaxing and stress-reducing methods, as part of a holistic practice.

The anthology Eastern Practices and Nordic Bodies explores how “Eastern practices” have been received, developed, and constructed in the Nordic countries. By formulating questions about how Eastern practices have been embodied, disseminated, and materialized, the anthology also aims to shed light on a cultural shift in Nordic societies in terms of religious, spiritual, and alternative health practices that sometimes contradicts the dominant medical discourse.

The book contains qualitative studies of Eastern practices in Finland (Kirtan, Aikdo, and Tibetan singing bowls), Norway (where movements such as Osho, TM and Acem are treated), Denmark (yoga), Sweden (Satsang and Advaita Vedanta, qigong, forest bathing, vegetarianism among theosophists, and new spiritual practices within the Church of Sweden).

Katarina Plank and Daniel Enstedt