Liz McKibben

PhD in Health: The Pratyahara Paradox; Sense Withdrawal and an Aesthetic of Wellbeing in Contemporary Yoga

Profile

Liz is a full-time doctoral candidate within the School of Health. Her doctoral research examines the various contradictions of the yoga industry and how they perpetuate healthism. Liz wants to better understand the paradoxical relationships between wellbeing, aesthetic, and sense withdrawal in contemporary yoga practice and research.

Qualifications

• Master of Behavioral Health (University of Hong Kong)
• Postgraduate Diploma in Health Psychology (VUW)
• Bachelor of Science in Psychology (University of Massachusetts Amherst)
• Bachelor of Arts in Chinese Language and Literature (University of Massachusetts Amherst)

Research interests

Posthuman theory, new materialisms, yoga, autoethnography, creative methods, bodies in space, wellbeing, aesthetics

Publication

Confronting Notions of Institutional Success. Writing Lab Newsletter, 39 (2014): 3-4. Print.

English A, McKibben E, Sivaramakrishnan D, Hart N, Richards J, Kelly P. A Rapid Review Exploring the Role of Yoga in Healing Psychological Trauma. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2022; 19(23):16180. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19231618

McKibben, E., & Breheny, M. (2023). Making Sense of Making Sense of Time: Longitudinal Narrative Research. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 22. https://doi.org/10.1177/16094069231160928

McKibben, E. C., & Nan, K. M. J. (2017). Enhancing Holistic Identity through Yoga: Investigating Body- Mind-Spirit Interventions on Mental Illness Stigma across Culture–A Case Study. Open Journal of Nursing, 7(04), 481.

Contact

liz.mckibben@vuw.ac.nz

Supervisors