Subtle-body practices are found particularly in Indian, Indo-Tibetan and East Asian societies, but have become increasingly familiar in Western societies, especially through the various healing and yogic techniques and exercises associated with them. This book explores subtle-body practices from a variety of perspectives, and includes both studies of these practices in Asian and Western contexts.

General Introduction Part 1: Subtle Bodies in China and India Introduction to Part One 1. The Daoist Body of Qi. 2. The Subtle Body in India and Beyond 3. Subtle-Body Concepts in the Work of Indian Dais. Part 2: Subtle Bodies in Tibet Introduction to Part Two 4. Of Souls and Subtle Bodies: A Shamanic Perspective 5. On the 'subtle body' and 'circulation' in Tibetan medicine 6. Magical Movements: Ancient Yogic Practices in the Bon Religion and Contemporary Medical Perspectives Part 3: Subtle Bodies in Europe and Islam Introduction to Part Three 7. Sex, Athleticism and the Soul: Physical Philosophy in the Ancient Mediterranean and South Asia. 8. In the Light of the Sphere: The Vehicle of the Soul and Subtle Body Practices in Neoplatonism. 9. The Subtle Body in Sufism. Part 4: Subtle Bodies and Modernity Introduction to Part Four 10. Subtle Reality in Early Modernism and the Occult Revival. 11. Magical Consciousness: Relationships with the Natural World, Animals and Ancestors 12. Invisible, Dispersed and Connected: The Cultural Plausibility of Subtle Body Models in the Contemporary West 13. Subtle Subjects and Ethics: The Subtle Bodies of Western Post-Structuralist and Feminist Philosophy 14. Subtle-Body Processes: Towards a Non-Reductionist Understanding.