A1 Refereed original research article in a scientific journal

The spiritual forest: an ethnographic exploration of Finnish forest yoga and the forest landscape




AuthorsMäkelä Heidi Henriikka, Leiwo Lotta, Linkola Hannu, Rinne Jenni

PublisherRoutledge, Taylor & Francis Group

Publication year2023

JournalLandscape Research

Journal name in sourceLANDSCAPE RESEARCH

ISSN0142-6397

eISSN1469-9710

DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1080/01426397.2023.2268550

Web address http://dx.doi.org/10.1080%2F01426397.2023.2268550

Self-archived copy’s web addresshttps://research.utu.fi/converis/portal/detail/Publication/181806020


Abstract

This article discusses the Finnish forest yoga phenomenon, which incorporates contemporary spiritual discourses on nature, landscape, ‘the self’ and gender. We scrutinise ethnographic fieldwork materials, autoethnographic writings and other materials related to forest yoga. By using the methods of collaborative ethnography, we assert that forest yoga practices partially question and fragment, and partially reconstruct, previous forest-related discourses, practices and imageries in Finland. This results in new interpretations of forest landscapes, in which the local, global and national scales are intertwined and mediated through the body and the experiences of the yogi in the forest space. In these processes, the forest becomes gendered as a feminine and ‘safe’ space for the female body, but it is also experienced as a place for negotiating metaphorical and physical ‘roots’. Thus, previous national discourses on forests as ‘sacred places of Finns’ are brought forth, but also reinterpreted in the transnational spiritual frame.


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Last updated on 2024-26-11 at 21:55