Anya Foxen
Associate Professor
Religious Studies Program Director
Religious Studies Minor Advisor
Contact Information
- Office: Bldg. 47, Rm 34M
- Phone: 805-756-1221
- Email: afoxen@calpoly.edu
- Webpage: http://anyafoxen.com/
Education
- Ph.D., University of California, Santa Barbara, Religious Studies
- M.A., University of California, Santa Barbara, Religious Studies
- B.A., Rutgers University, English and French Literature
Professional Interests
- American Metaphysical Religions
- Western Esotericism
- South Asian Yoga and Tantra
- Modern Postural Yoga
- Religion and Gender
- Religion and Science
Courses Taught
- RELS/WGQS 370: Religion, Gender, and Society
- RELS 301: Religions of Asia
- RELS 306: Hinduism
- RELS 201: Religion, Dialogue, and Society
- PHIL 361: Indian Philosophy
Selected Publications
- Is This Yoga?: Concepts, Histories, and the Complexities of Modern Practice (New York: Routledge, 2021).
- Inhaling Spirit: Harmonialism, Orientalism, and the Western Roots of Modern Yoga (New York: Oxford University Press, 2020).
- Biography of a Yogi: Paramahansa Yogananda and the Origins of Modern Yoga (New York: Oxford University Press, 2017).
- “Yogi Calisthenics: What the ‘non-Yoga’ Yogic Practice of Paramahansa Yogananda Can Tell Us About Religion.” Journal of the American Academy of Religion 85.3 (2017): 494-526.
- “Mind Within Matter: Science, the Occult, and the (Meta)physics of Ether and Akasha.” Zygon: Journal of Religion and Science 51.2 (2016): 318-346.