SOAS and British Wheel of Yoga Summit Explores Yoga’s ‘Energy Body’ for Mental Wellbeing

Monday 21 September, 2026 SOAS Centre of Yoga Studies and the British Wheel of Yoga (BWY) are co-hosting a one-day summit on 31 October: The Energy Body: Yoga between Evidence and Experience. The event explores how yoga’s centuries-old energetic frameworks can deepen lived experience, and where they align with, or challenge, modern medical knowledge. Held at SOAS University of London and streamed online, the summit brings together internationally renowned yoga scholars, historians and practitioners to examine the subtle body system described across yoga traditions: chakras (energy centres along the spine), prāṇa (life force) and kuṇḍalinī (dormant spiritual energy). While modern practice remains centred on physical postures, the event asks how engaging with these subtler dimensions can transform the way yoga is experienced today. Professor Shaman Hatley of Boston University will deliver the keynote on the chakra system, tracing its historical origins and examining the tension between medical understanding, visionary practice and embodied experience. A panel with Dr Ruth Westoby and Dr Marleen Thaler will explore what happens when dormant energy in the body – kuṇḍalinī – begins to m