EVENT

24. BUILD YOUR BODY REALISE YOUR SELF: PHYSICAL CULTURE AS A SPIRITUAL PRACTICE

Friday, June 30, 2023

BOOK event

SPEAKER

Gaia Domenici

DATE & TIME

Friday, June 30, 2023

7:30 pm

-

9:30 pm

-

-

-

COST

£30

LOCATION

Online

RELATED EVENT

BOOK event

SUBJECTS COVERED

Post-Jungian Theory and Practice, Cultural Aspects of Analytical Psychology, Individuation

DESCRIPTION

Since the early 2000s, an increasing number of bodybuilders and strength athletes have adopted yogic practices and lifestyles, and referred to Jungian and post-Jungian vocabulary regularly. This seems to defy the conventional distinction between ʻbodyʼ, ʻmindʼ and ʻspiritʼ, which regards strength sports as more closely related to the former two than the latter one.

This presentation has a twofold aim: to reconstruct the history of Jungian and post-Jungian reception within physical culture (most notably through the ʻNew Ageʼ movement), and to investigate in what measure physical culture relates toʻself-actualisationʼ, by understanding what ʻself-actualisationʼ means in this context.

SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY

Gaia Domenici was awarded a PhD in Philosophy by the University of Pisa in 2015. However, she conducted her research at UCL,under the supervision of Sonu Shamdasani and Martin Liebscher. She is the author of Jung's Nietzsche: Zarathustra, The Red Book, and 'Visionary' Works (Palgrave 2019), a historical-philological analysis of Jung's interpretation of Nietzsche through the lens of the so-called 'visionary' works tradition and Liber Novus. Gaia is also a Certified Nutrition and Health Coach, Strength and Conditioning Coach, Personal Trainer, and the founder and CEO of Fitnosophy (www.fitnosophy.com): a holistic coaching business, focusing on restoring individual balance between body, mind and spirit. She is currently working on a monograph on spirituality in physical culture.

READING

Suggested Reading:

Hanegraaff, W. J, New Age Religion and Western Culture. Esotericismin the Mirror of Secular Thought, Albany (NY): SUNY (1997), ʻIntroductionʼ

Maslow, A. H., ʻA Theory of Human Motivationʼ, Psychological Review, 50 (1943):370-396

Moore, R. and D. Gillette, King Warrior Magician Lover: Rediscovering the Archetypes of the Mature Masculine,San Francisco: Harper Collins (1990).

Further Reading:

Campbell, J., The Hero with a Thousand Faces, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press ([1949]2004) (Bollingen Series)

Campbell, J., The Heroʼs Journey:The World of Joseph Campbell. Joseph Campbell on his Life and Work, Edited and with an Introduction by Phil Cousineau, Foreword by Stuart L. Brown, Executive Editor, San Francesco: Harper Collins ([1987]1990).

Campbell, J.with B. Moyers, The Power of Myth, New York: Anchor Books ([1988]1991)

Myss, C., Sacred Contracts. Awakening your Divine Potential, New York: Three Rivers Press (2002), Chapters: 1; 4; Appendix.

Myss, C., Archetypes: Who Are You?, Foreword by Cristina Carlino, Carlsbad (California): HayHouse (2013).