…And Breathe! Wellness, the Nation, and Holistic Reproductive Practitioners in India

Vollständiger Abstract

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Abstract Garbh Sanskar (GS) is an Indian holistic reproductive programme that claims roots in ancient Ayurvedic and yogic traditions while drawing upon contemporary wellness practices and international health policy. GS centres offer breathwork, guided meditation, and counselling to expectant and hopeful couples. This article draws upon interviews with GS practitioners across nine Indian cities to examine how these practitioners use wellness discourses to articulate strategies of individual and national improvement. I argue that GS practitioners seek to interweave soteriological and wellness logics to produce enriched reproductive subjects for a therapeutic vision of nation-building. This project uses wellness to assuage the anxieties of modernity, suggest civilisational exceptionalism, and articulate aspirations for the nation. Together, GS illustrates the emergence of a bio-spiritual therapeutic politics where wellness is part of reproductive governance.