On Thursday, Feb. 27, the annual King Lecture was held in the Bradbury Thompson Alumni Center from 7 p.m.-9 p.m. where Liz Bucar, professor of religion at Northeastern University, talked at the 2025 Thomas L. King Lecture in religious studies. 

The title of the lecture was “The Monsters Under Our Mats: Exploring the Ethical Implications of Yoga.” Bucar also discussed her new book, “Stealing My Religion Not Just Any Cultural Appropriation.”

The lecture started with the announcement of supporters of the event; Reverend Dick Dickinson, Barry Crawford and Bucar.

Bucar is a leading expert and prize-winning author. Her writing, teaching and public lectures cover a wide range of topics – from sexual reassignment surgery to the politics of religious clothing – but focus on how a deeper understanding of religious differences changes our sense of what is right and good. She has written for The Atlantic, Teen Vogue, The Los Angeles Times and Religion News Service, among others, and her work has been discussed in the New York Times, The Washington Post, The Huffington Post and Instyle Magazine.

 The Thomas L. King Lecture in religious studies was established in 1982 through a generous gift from the First Congregational Church in Topeka in memory of alumnus and Washburn benefactor Thomas L. King. This lecture series significantly enhances Washburn’s religious studies program by offering a platform each spring semester for students, faculty and community members to engage with the works of eminent scholars in the field.

Bucar differentiated between devotional and wellness yoga, highlighting the exploitation of labor.

“When I look at the world today as religious studies, I see two types: devotional and wellness yoga,” Bucar said. “Religious yoga requires fidelity to release, such as cosmologies and metaphysics. It can also involve adherence to rules and norms such as ethical guidance called the Yamas and Yama. This type of yoga is unapologetically religious.

 Wellness yoga has become so popular over the last 20 years in the US with postures and deep breaths. This type of yoga depends on the successful reinvention of yoga from religious devotional practice to oneself.”

Evelyn Spangler, Washburn University wellness coordinator, discussed her takeaways and shared her surprising moments from the lecture.

“I will say that when she was mentioning where basketball came from and the historical reference of some of our more western classic sports,” Spangler said. “I was surprised to hear that, like her specific discussion about yoga and religious appropriation. If I’m being honest, I’m very interested in the topic. 

“Yoga can be a tool for social change. There are a lot of changes that can be made, which would take a long time. Working together as a community that’s a good start. Community work and discussing, as she said, conversations that are uncomfortable to discuss is Eating Disorder Awareness, if you never talk about them, then we never figure out how to do better,” Bucar said.

Lauryn Grospitch, junior psychology major, attended the lecture and shared her takeaway.

“It taught me to be better educated and ask questions,” Grospitch said. “I learned how much history yoga has because I never really knew that history.”

“We want all the benefits of spiritual practices without having to engage with the religious communities and traditions. The former religious borrowing can be morally neutral and sometimes it becomes morally religious appropriation, [which] can cause far more offense. Yoga is religious for some people who practice it. The U.S. plays a very special role in establishing the popularity of all yoga.”

One of the audience members who attended the event, Tyler Thompson, discussed his experience at the event and shared his interest in the author’s book.

“I think the event was really enlightening in a lot of ways,” Thompson said. “Well, it brought an interesting perspective to me. I had done martial arts for many years and I was taught strategies to warm up. These were Yoga strategies. I unknowingly appropriated a South Asian religious practice without understanding. I am interested in learning more about what the author has in her book.”

The Thomas L. King Lecture in religious studies is always free and open to the public.

Edited by Stuti Khadka and Jeremy Ford.