Yoga Studies

The MA Yoga Studies sets out to introduce the student to the roles of yoga and yoga practice in modern society.

Yoga practice has long ceased to be exclusively a spiritual technique of the religious elite. Today, yoga is often pursued for the physical benefits it confers, for its potential in well-being as well as for personal development. It is practiced in a wide variety of contexts, in different spaces and for different purposes and has thus become prominent in an array of public discourses. In doing so, yoga is no longer exclusively the domain of individual practice. Its practitioners today encounter yoga in settings often connected to wider issues in society, such as social justice, gender, abuse, race and commercial exploitation. The MA Yoga Studies explores these issues in depth. In order to confer a robust understanding of the issues that shape contemporary yoga practice, it maps first the historical roots of yoga and analysis its many links with the Buddhist and Jaina traditions with which is has always been in close conversation. The student is then guided through key themes that have come to define the roles of yoga in modern society, often viewed through a global lens.

Why study MA Yoga Studies at SOAS?

• SOAS is ranked top 30 in the UK for Arts and Humanities (QS World University Rankings 2025)
• SOAS is ranked 6th in the UK for Asian Studies (Complete University Guide 2025)
• Theology and Religious Studies scored above sector in the following categories: research culture, community, progression, research skills, and professional development (2023 Postgraduate Research Experience Survey)
• All of our Theology & Religious Studies impact case-studies were world-leading/internationally excellent (REF 2021)
• 85.4% of our Theology & Religious Studies research outputs were world-leading/internationally excellent – 56.3% of our submitted outputs were deemed world-leading (REF 2021)
• Our Theology & Religious Studies research environment score was 85% world-leading/internationally excellent