Alternative Career Paths in Religious Studies: Roundtable Discussion with Scholar-Entrepreneurs in the Field of Yoga Studies

This moderated roundtable provides audience members an opportunity to explore successful career paths that are both independent of and yet related to and participating in traditional academia in the field of Religious Studies, through the prism of yoga studies and allied fields of inquiry. Each participant is doing this in various ways, and the roundtable presents their collective and individual experience to scholars, both junior and senior, who can benefit. Central to the experience of all roundtable participants, comprised of both women and men, is their wealth of experience working in online education on a number of well-known online educational platforms. Each presenter will spend several minutes describing their background, alternative career path, and tips for success for aspiring scholar entrepreneurs. The roundtable will be moderated and presided by a female PhD candidate in the field of yoga studies, who will moderate a conversation with the audience and between participants. Presenter #1 is a yoga teacher since 2007 and received her PhD in Religious Studies in 2021. The book to her PhD-thesis was published Open Access under the title "A Text in Motion" in 2022 and dives deep into the history of modern yoga and its increasing entanglement with embodiment in the 21st century. In her short presentation, she discusses how she brings both her main areas of interest, the history of yoga and embodiment into practice in her daily work life. As a founder of a yoga school in the center of Munich, Germany, she on the one hand is an experienced yoga teacher, working with people and their bodies. On the other hand, as a public speaker, she educates on the history of (modern) yoga as well as on embodiment in teacher trainings, education institutions, festivals and workshops all over Germany. She developed the first and successful German online course on the history of modern yoga and teaches it at the online education portal www.yogastudien.de, associated with the University of Hamburg, Germany. Presenter #2 is a self-employed scholar of Sanskrit narrative literature. His scholarly publications include The Goddess and the King in Indian Myth, The Goddess and the Sun in Indian Myth, a co-edited landmark volume Visions and Revisions in Sanskrit Narrative and numerous articles and book chapters. He discusses how to maintain robust scholarly output while remaining self-employed. This self-employment entails monetizing one’s expertise through public education. Presenter #2 will discuss his experiences teaching adult learners online at The Indian Wisdom School (a platform he founded), at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, and at various yoga teacher training settings. He will also draw on his new public book The Stories Behind the Poses (2022). Presenter #3 is a researcher in the fields of Yoga Studies and Jainism, and the founder of Yogastudien.de, an online learning platform focusing on the academic study of Yoga. She holds Master's degrees from SOAS, University of London in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation, and from Ghent University in Belgium in Oriental Languages and Cultures, with a specialization in Jainism. Currently, she is pursuing a PhD at Universität Hamburg, where her research centers on Yoga's integration within Jainism. She will discuss her capacity as the director of Yogastudien.de, where she oversees the management, program development, and administrative support of the platform. Her teaching contributions primarily encompass modules on the history of Yoga. Presenter #3's academic roles at Universität Hamburg include serving as a lecturer and program coordinator, where she contributes to the scholarly examination and dissemination of knowledge on Yoga and Jainism. Her work is dedicated to the scholarly exploration of Yoga and Jainism, aiming to advance academic understanding in these fields. Presenter #4 is the founder and director of Yogic Studies—a leading online educational platform in Yoga and South Asian Studies. He holds a PhD from Harvard University where he trained in Indian religions, Sanskrit, and yoga traditions. He will discuss the founding and evolution of Yogic Studies—from its origins in 2018 as an academic side-hustle, to its global success as a thriving online school with a community of thousands of students, dozens of expert faculty, and a growing team of employees. Presenter #4 will reflect on the unique challenges and opportunities facing the scholar-entrepreneur in the shifting-landscape of Alt-Ac online education. He will discuss Yogic Studies' various models of online pedagogy, podcasting, educational immersions in India, and more. Presenter #4 believes that Yogic Studies can provide a model for other scholar-entrepreneurs in the humanities to leverage the skills of their PhD training to create alternative, meaningful livelihoods and careers. Presenter #5, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Jain and Yoga Studies at Arihanta Institute (arihantainstitute.org), discusses how he co-founded Arihanta Institute in collaboration with members of the global Jain community. He also describes his concurrent research as Visiting Researcher at the University of Zürich’s Asien-Orient-Institut where he completed his recent book Embodying Transnational Yoga: Eating, Singing, and Breathing in Transformation (Routledge 2024) and where he is currently working on the co-edited volume Engaged Jainism: Critical and Constructive Approaches to the Study of Jain Social Engagement (SUNY Forthcoming). Finally, he will discuss his teaching role as Visiting Professor at Claremont School of Theology where he co-developed and co-runs a remotely available Masters Degree Program focusing on Engaged Jain Studies, Jain Yoga, and Modern Yoga Studies. Presenter #5 emphasizes how, from his own experience, a spirit of mutually-enhancing collaboration forms the cornerstone of an entrepreneurial academic career.