Yoga; spiritual balance of contemporary consumers
MeaningYogaSpiritualismWesternized spiritualityConsumerismContemporary consumer societySelfMaterialismQuality of lifeManagement of enterprisesFöretagsledningManagementBusiness and Economics
This research study constitutes a critical stand, which departure from the increase in welfare, and decrease in quality of life, and is further directed to the sphere of consumption. Contemporary consumers appear to seek for components to construct their self with through consumption, consumerism has become a sphere of life, and has consequently also become a victimizing force steering the identity and self construction of consumers. The alarm bells however are echoing in Western society, and consumers are experiencing dilemmas such as fragmentation, powerlessness, uncertainty and meaninglessness.In this respect we have presented spiritualism as an applicable path of escape or alternative to the scheme of the material oriented consumption sphere. We intend to broaden the scope of the interplay between spiritualism and consumerism in the act of yoga, and we have therefore been researching: what yoga is doing to consumers, and what consumers are doing to yoga. The study is based on an existential epistemology paradigm, which emphasis on the meaning of the yoga experience attained from the subjects of research; the yoga practitioners, and therefore we have carried out three focus group discussions. The empirical work was conducted in San Francisco due to its applicable nature, as being the Western city with probably the broadest representation of yoga and westernized spirituality, as well as a Californian hot spot of capital and business transactions constituting an extensive level of consumption.