Roots of Yoga
Roots of Yoga

Author: James Mallinson

Publisher: Penguin UK

Published: 2017-01-26

Total Pages: 647

ISBN-13: 0141978244

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'An indispensable companion for all interested in yoga, both scholars and practitioners' Professor Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson Despite yoga's huge global popularity, relatively little of its roots is known among practitioners. This compendium includes a wide range of texts from different schools of yoga, languages and eras: among others, key passages from the early Upanisads and the Mahabharata, and from the Tantric, Buddhist and Jaina traditions, with many pieces in scholarly translation for the first time. Covering yoga's varying definitions, its most important practices, such as posture, breath control, sensory withdrawal and meditation, as well as models of the esoteric and physical bodies, Roots of Yoga is a unique and essential source of knowledge. Translated and Edited with an Introduction by James Mallinson and Mark Singleton

Vedic Yoga
Vedic Yoga

Author: David Frawley

Publisher: Lotus Press

Published: 2014-10-07

Total Pages: 364

ISBN-13: 0940676257

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The Path of the Rishi is one of the first and most detailed books published in the West on the ancient Vedic origins of Yoga, including all aspects of its philosophy and practice. The book reveals secrets of the Vedic Yoga from the teachings of Sri Aurobindo, Ganapati Muni, Brahmarshi Daivarat, and Swami Veda Bharati as well as Vamadevas own insights. It challenges popular ideas of the meaning of Yoga and brings Yoga back to the vision of the ancient Himalayan Rights.

A History of Modern Yoga
A History of Modern Yoga

Author: Elizabeth De Michelis

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2005-12-08

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0826487726

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Please note: We can't take UK web orders at this time, but further information can be obtained by emailing [email protected]. US web orders are available now.

Yogi Heroes and Poets
Yogi Heroes and Poets

Author: David N. Lorenzen

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2011-11-01

Total Pages: 249

ISBN-13: 1438438923

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This book provides a remarkable range of information on the history, religion, and folklore of the Nāth Yogis. A Hindu lineage prominent in North India since the eleventh century, Nāths are well-known as adepts of Hatha yoga and alchemical practices said to increase longevity. Long a heterogeneous group, some Nāths are ascetics and some are householders; some are dedicated to personified forms of Shiva, others to a formless god, still others to Vishnu. The essays in the first part of the book deal with the history and historiography of the Nāths, their literature, and their relationships with other religious movements in India. Essays in the second part discuss the legends and folklore of the Nāths and provide an exploration of their religious ideas. Contributors to the volume depict a variety of local areas where this lineage is prominent and highlight how the Nāths have been a link between religious, metaphysical, and even medical traditions in India.

A Brief History of Yoga
A Brief History of Yoga

Author: Ramesh Bjonnes

Publisher:

Published: 2018-06-25

Total Pages: 152

ISBN-13: 9781881717638

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Yoga is growing in popularity all over the world today, yet misconceptions about its original purpose and ancient roots abound. In this refreshing tale of the history of yoga, the author unveils the true heart of the tradition. A Brief History of Yoga is essential reading for all those who care about the past and future evolution of yoga.

The Oxford Handbook of Meditation
The Oxford Handbook of Meditation

Author: Miguel Farias

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2021-10-21

Total Pages: 1038

ISBN-13: 0192536389

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Meditation techniques, including mindfulness, have become popular wellbeing practices and the scientific study of their effects has recently turned 50 years old. But how much do we know about them: what were they developed for and by whom? How similar or different are they, how effective can they be in changing our minds and biology, what are their social and ethical implications? The Oxford Handbook of Meditation is the most comprehensive volume published on meditation, written in accessible language by world-leading experts on the science and history of these techniques. It covers the development of meditation across the world and the varieties of its practices and experiences. It includes approaches from various disciplines, including psychology, neuroscience, history, anthropology, and sociology and it explores its potential for therapeutic and social change, as well as unusual or negative effects. Edited by practitioner-researchers, this book is the ultimate guide for all interested in meditation, including teachers, clinicians, therapists, researchers, or anyone who would like to learn more about this topic.

The Truth of Yoga
The Truth of Yoga

Author: Daniel Simpson

Publisher: North Point Press

Published: 2021-01-05

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0374722684

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A succinct, approachable guide to the origins, development, key texts, concepts, and practices of yoga. Yoga is practiced by many millions of people worldwide and is celebrated for its mental, physical, and spiritual benefits. And yet, as Daniel Simpson reveals in The Truth of Yoga, much of what is said about yoga is misleading. For example, the word “yoga” does not always mean union. In fact, in perhaps the discipline’s most famous text—the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali—its aim is described as separation: isolating consciousness from everything else. And yoga is not five thousand years old, as is commonly claimed; the earliest evidence of practice dates back about twenty-five hundred years. (Yoga may well be older, but no one can prove it.) The Truth of Yoga is a clear, concise, and accessible handbook for the lay reader that draws upon abundant recent scholarship. It outlines these new findings with practitioners in mind, highlighting ways to keep traditions alive in the twenty-first century.

Tracing the Path of Yoga
Tracing the Path of Yoga

Author: Stuart Ray Sarbacker

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2021-01-01

Total Pages: 308

ISBN-13: 1438481233

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Clear, accessible, and meticulously annotated, Tracing the Path of Yoga offers a comprehensive survey of the history and philosophy of yoga that will be invaluable to both specialists and to nonspecialists seeking a deeper understanding of this fascinating subject. Stuart Ray Sarbacker argues that yoga can be understood first and foremost as a discipline of mind and body that is represented in its narrative and philosophical literature as resulting in both numinous and cessative accomplishments that correspond, respectively, to the attainment of this-worldly power and otherworldly liberation. Sarbacker demonstrates how the yogic quest for perfection as such is situated within the concrete realities of human life, intersecting with issues of politics, economics, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as reflecting larger Indic religious and philosophical ideals.

The Heart of Yoga
The Heart of Yoga

Author: T. K. V. Desikachar

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 1999-03-01

Total Pages: 329

ISBN-13: 1594778922

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The first yoga text to outline a step-by-step sequence for developing a complete practice according to viniyoga--yoga adapted to the needs of the individual. • A contemporary classic by a world-renowned teacher. • This new edition adds thirty-two poems by Krishnamacharya that capture the essence of his teachings. Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who lived to be over 100 years old, was one of the greatest yogis of the modern era. Elements of Krishnamacharya's teaching have become well known around the world through the work of B. K. S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, and Indra Devi, who all studied with Krishnamacharya. Krishnamacharya's son T. K. V. Desikachar lived and studied with his father all his life and now teaches the full spectrum of Krishnamacharya's yoga. Desikachar has based his method on Krishnamacharya's fundamental concept of viniyoga, which maintains that practices must be continually adapted to the individual's changing needs to achieve the maximum therapeutic value. In The Heart of Yoga Desikachar offers a distillation of his father's system as well as his own practical approach, which he describes as "a program for the spine at every level--physical, mental, and spiritual." This is the first yoga text to outline a step-by-step sequence for developing a complete practice according to the age-old principles of yoga. Desikachar discusses all the elements of yoga--poses and counterposes, conscious breathing, meditation, and philosophy--and shows how the yoga student may develop a practice tailored to his or her current state of health, age, occupation, and lifestyle. This is a revised edition of The Heart of Yoga.

Samādhi
Samādhi

Author: Stuart Ray Sarbacker

Publisher: State University of New York Press

Published: 2012-02-01

Total Pages: 203

ISBN-13: 0791482812

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A historical and comparative study grounded in close readings of important works, this book explores the dynamics of the theory and practice of yoga in Hindu and Buddhist contexts. Author Stuart Ray Sarbacker explores the fascinating, contrasting perceptions that meditation leads to the attainment of divine, or numinous, power, and to complete escape from worldly existence, or cessation. Sarbacker demonstrates that these two dimensions of spiritual experience have affected the doctrine and cultural significance of yoga from its origins to its contemporary practice. He also integrates sociological and psychological perspectives on religious experience into a larger phenomenological model to address the multifaceted nature of religious experience. Speaking to a broad range of methodological and contextual issues, Samadhi provides numerous insights into the theory and practice of yoga that are relevant to both scholars of religious studies and practitioners of contemporary yoga and meditation traditions.