Yoga na Laje: Gaṅgā deságua na Rocinha

Abstract

In this work I analyze how Yoga, based on Vedānta, forms a network that is born in India and flows to Brazil, traveling through spaces of the city of Rio de Janeiro, until arriving at Rocinha, in the project Yoga na Laje. I divide this analysis into a analytical look that comprises two movements: one distant, through which I analyze the state as performance, based on its public policies of safety and culture and its implications and correlations with the project. In another way, I observe how the media narratives articulate these two aspects by tailoring a discourse around the Yoga na Laje project, placing the body of the residents as a metaphor for the favela itself. With a close look, I intend to understand the motivations and meanings of the practice of Yoga for the residents of Rocinha. Paying attention to the crisscrosses elaborated from the limits of the body I observe the grammars and narratives that are constructed through Yoga that extrapolate the ritual moment of the practices.