University Honors

This paper will explore contemporary yoga in the United States, with a particular focus on theyogic teachings in the Jain diaspora. Recent decades have seen increased academic interest inJain religious traditions, including Jain yogic practices, contributing essential findings to thealready widely researched areas of Buddhist and Hindu yoga. Much of the work on Jain yoga hasbeen done in textual studies, tracing the historical development of yogic doctrines and practices.Research on contemporary Jain yogic systems, such as Preksha meditation, has centeredprimarily on India. However, there is scarce research on Jain yoga in diasporic communitiesdespite a growing number of studies on Jain communities outside India. This research projectaims to fill this gap by exploring contemporary Jain yogic teachings in the U.S. Jain diaspora.Combining textual and archival methodologies, it will specifically examine the system of yogathat was developed by Sushil Kumar (1926–1994), a unique Jain leader who traveled to theUnited States in 1975 and established a religious center in New Jersey in 1983.