The paper will present and analyse some examples of Swedish yoga and meditation practitioners’ conceptualisation and experiences of subtle energy and anatomy. Although the informant’s subtle energy experiences (collected through interviews) were mainly depicted as concrete sensory perceptions, metaphors were regularly used to illustrate them. Fitger’s analysis of the informants’ experiences has its theoretical roots in the linguists George Lakoff and Mark Johnson’s research, whose Conceptual Metaphor Theory demonstrates that language and cognition are structured by metaphors grounded in sensory and motor interaction with the environment. Together with Gilles Fauconnier and Mark Turner’s Conceptual Integration Theory, it has paved the way for novel and promising research within the broader umbrella of the Cognitive Science of Religion. Fitger integrates their metaphor research with the theories of anthropologist Thomas Csordas and philosopher Shaun Gallagher on embodied cognition. She proposes that her informants’ conception of subtle energy should be understood as more than just cognitive representations. The concept of subtle energy primarily serves as an embodied tool through which the practitioners map, diagnose, verbalise, and, to some extent, control and creatively generate meaningful experiences.

Alternative treatments in the borderland between spirituality and therapy are more popular than ever. They often use ideas and terms from Asian traditions, interpreted in the light of esoteric systems such as Theosophy and New Thought. There is also a tangible narrative about emotional and bodily energy and its role in human self-development, with its roots in the Human Potential movement. The following paper will examine the Swedish doctor and Human Potential guru Bengt Stern (1930–2002) and his alternative therapeutic activities at the Swedish training facility Mullingstorp during the 80s and 90s. Stern's methods and ideas exemplify a narrative of healing and self-realization through bodily and emotional release of subtle energy, which greatly characterize the Swedish holistic environment. Psychodynamic concepts such as libido are linked with yogic terms such as prana and kundalini. Chakras are identified with Sigmund Freud’s developmental phases and humanistic psychologist Abraham Maslow’s “Hierarchy of Needs.” Furthermore, psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich’s ideas of body armour are used to explain spiritual, psychological and physical suffering as well as ways to be healed. After leaving his practice as a medical doctor, Stern was trained in Esalen - the Mecca of the Human Potential movement - where the Indian guru Osho (1931–1990) was popular. As Osho’s, Stern's Encounter Therapy focused on the body and movement and often used music. The following paper aims to portray Stern's ideas and activities as an example of secularization and psychologization of spiritual and Esoteric concepts and techniques found in large parts of Sweden's contemporary holistic milieu. Despite strong criticism, Stern presented his activities as scientifically based, and he is thus also an example of attempts to rationalize and legitimize Esoteric ideas about "life energy" in one of the world's most secularized countries.

Contemporary forms of yoga and meditation, New Age-inspired practices, and alternative medicine are, in many instances, inspired by concepts originating in esoteric contexts. Yoga and meditation are also pivotal parts of many modern forms of esoteric practice. The paper will present results from a survey with 811 respondents and 20 semistructured interviews with a heterogeneous group of Swedish yoga and meditation practitioners conducted in 2017–2019. (Some interviewees practised in an esoteric context, some worked with holistic treatments, some practised Buddhist zen meditation, and some were into different forms of modern yoga.) The paper will centre on the informant’s shared conception of the body and mind as composed of ‘energy,’ arguing that this idea serves as a unifying link through which practitioners of different holistic practices can relate various traditions and doctrines under a common umbrella. The paper will also share some new perspectives on how Metaphor Theory can be applied in analyzing the interviewee’s embodied conception of subtle energy and anatomy. It will exemplify how these concepts can serve as embodied tools through which yoga and meditation practitioners can map, diagnose, verbalize, and, to some extent, control and creatively generate meaningful experiences. Lastly, the paper will discuss the meaning-making aspects of these ideas in the interviews' common narrative themes. 

Samtida former av yoga och meditation, New Age-inspirerade metoder och alternativ medicin delar en uppfattning om kropp och själ som sammansatta av "energi". De skildrar själen, anden eller medvetandet som en form, vilken den utövande kan lära sig att ”se” och ”känna”. Den "subtila kroppen" (eller kropparna) betraktas som genomsyrad av subtil energi – vanligtvis refererad till med indiska termer som prana eller kundalini, alternativt med den kinesiska termen ch'i eller den japanska ki. Ibland används teosofiska begrepp som "aura" och "astralkropp", och ibland refererar utövare bara till "energin". Konferensbidraget sammanfattar några av resultaten av en avhandling om historiska influenser bakom samtida svenska tolkningar av sådana begrepp (vanligtvis kallade "subtilkroppsliga") samt upplevelser relaterade till dem. 

Genom en onlineundersökning med 811 svenska yoga- och meditationsutövare (genomförd 2017–2019) undersöktes bland annat kännedomen och erfarenheten av "subtilkroppsliga begrepp" (dvs. prana, kundalini, ki, chakran, nadier och aura). Den visade att 99,5 % av respondenterna var bekanta med minst ett av begreppen och att 61,7 % ansåg sig ha haft en personlig upplevelse av subtil energi eller subtil anatomi. Vidare genomfördes 20 intervjuer med utövare som rekryterats genom undersökningen. Genom att integrera religionshistoria, religionsvetenskap, förkroppsligad kognition och metaforanalys visar intervjuanalysen hur subtilkroppsliga begrepp (och relaterade kognitiva scheman) är kopplade till speciella upplevelser i samband med yoga-/meditationspraktiker. Den undersöker också vilken roll metaforer och bildscheman spelar i förkroppsligad kognition av subtil energi och subtil anatomi. 

Slutsatsen är att subtilkroppsliga scheman har tre avgörande funktioner för yoga- och meditationsutövare i Sverige: 1) de utgör ett ”diagnostiskt instrument” eller ”språk” genom vilket utövare kan dechiffrera, förstå och förmedla personliga upplevelser; 2) de fungerar som ”förkroppsligade verktyg” genom vilket upplevelser kan genereras för att fördjupa sin kunskap om världen och jaget – eller i ett sökande efter nya typer av upplevelser, och 3) de används som ett ”konceptuellt ankare” genom vilket förkroppsligade upplevelser ges en bredare innebörd i en livsberättelse.

The notion that man, besides his physical body, also possesses a subtle anatomy is central to Western esotericism, contemporary New Age spirituality, alternative medicine, and modern yoga. Concepts related to subtle anatomy have historically been found in religious traditions worldwide. However, the contemporary "western" subtle anatomy has a relatively standardised structure, typically linked to seven chakras or subtle energy centres in the human body. This model was to a large extent developed one century ago by the Theosophical Society and the influential works of the English orientalist John Woodroffe. The paper will centre on the experiential dimension of contemporary yoga and meditation practices in Sweden. Records of personal experiences, along with qualitative and quantitative data from an ongoing dissertation project, will be discussed. The informants’ cognitive schemas for subtle anatomy and their use of terminology will be analysed in relation to their background in Eastern concepts and Western esotericism. Theories regarding the role of pre-cognitive as well as cognitive frameworks in religious experiences will be examined and approached from 1) a historical, 2) a cognitive, 3) a phenomenological and 4) an embodiment-perspective. How can contemporary conceptions of the subtle anatomy be understood in the light of its historical Western reception, that is, how Eastern terminology was popularised, interpreted and appropriated by significant key figures in the late 19th and early 20th-century Western esotericism? Is it possible to find an interdisciplinary terminology for the study of spiritual experiences and altered states of consciousness so that researchers will be better equipped to compare data and theories from a broader field of disciplines? Further, the questions of which function the concept of the subtle anatomy occupies in the secular West and how we can analyse it in relation to personal meaning-making and psychological health will be highlighted.

Inom europeisk och amerikansk yoga, nyandlighet samt alternativ och komplementär medicin är föreställningen om att människan utöver sin fysiska kropp även besitter en subtil anatomi (en eller flera ”själskroppar”) mycket central. Den subtila anatomin är en viktig del i bilden av människan, vilken andra nyandliga och alternativmedicinska föreställningar och läror på olika vis kopplas samman med. Föreställningen om en subtil anatomi har djupa rötter i många av världens kulturer – i såväl öst som väst. Inom samtida västerländsk nyandlighet är det dock främst indiska och kinesiska subtilkorporala begrepp som brukas. Här antas den subtila kroppen ha en form, färg eller struktur som man genom andliga övningar kan lära sig att känna och se. Den genomströmmas av en "andlig energi" – oftast benämnd som ”prana”, ”kundalini" eller ”ki”. Denna relativt standardiserade form av subtil anatomi har sina rötter i sent 1800- och tidigt 1900-tal, då den spreds och populariserades i väst med hjälp av det teosofiska samfundet samt John Woodroffes inflytelserika böcker om tantra. Läran i Helena Blavatskys (det teosofiska samfundets förmodligen kändaste förgrundsgestalt) bok The Secret Doctrine (1888) är en mix av såväl österländska som västerländska koncept och idéer från vitt spridda traditioner, med inspiration från det sena 1800-talets vetenskapliga teorier och kulturella intressen. Föreläsningen kommer att behandla detta viktiga skede i den subtila anatomins receptionshistoria. Tidigare forskning har beskrivit hur teosofin ”beslagtog” indiska begrepp medan den i praktiken främst influerades av västerländska källor. På senare tid har dock flera forskare velat nyansera bilden av den teosofiska orientalismen en aning genom att visa på ömsesidigheten i påverkan mellan indiska, europeiska och amerikanska teosofer samt hur utbytet av idéer och koncept ibland gör det komplicerat att överhuvudtaget tala om ”öst” och ”väst” som separata kultursfärer.