Tracing the Path of Yoga

Tracing the Path of Yoga
Author: Stuart Ray Sarbacker
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 308
Release: 2021-01-01
Genre: Philosophy
ISBN: 1438481233

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.

Gurus of Modern Yoga

Gurus of Modern Yoga
Author: Mark Singleton
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 401
Release: 2014
Genre: Biography & Autobiography
ISBN: 0199938725

Gurus of Modern Yoga explores the contributions that individual gurus have made to the formation of the practices and discourses of yoga in today's world.

Tracing Back the Radiance

Tracing Back the Radiance
Author: Robert E. Buswell, Jr.
Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
Total Pages: 248
Release: 1991-11-01
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0824843673

Chinul (1158–1210) was the founder of the Korean tradition of Zen. He provides one of the most lucid and accessible accounts of Zen practice and meditation to be found anywhere in East Asian literature. Tracing Back the Radiance, an abridgment of Buswell’s Korean Approach to Zen: The Collected Works of Chinul, combines an extensive introduction to Chinul’s life and thought with translations of three of his most representative works.

Is This Yoga?

Is This Yoga?
Author: Anya Foxen
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 254
Release: 2021-05-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0429750587

This book provides a rigorously researched, critically comparative introduction to yoga. Is This Yoga? Concepts, Histories, and the Complexities of Contemporary Practice recognizes the importance of contemporary understandings of yoga and, at the same time, provides historical context and complexity to modern and pre-modern definitions of yogic ideas and practices. Approaching yoga as a vast web of concepts, traditions, social interests, and embodied practices, it raises questions of knowledge, identity, and power across time and space, including the dynamics of "East" and "West." The text is divided into three main sections: thematic concepts; histories; and topics in modern practice. This accessible guide is essential reading for undergraduate students approaching the topic for the first time, as well as yoga teachers, teacher training programs, casual and devoted practitioners, and interested non-practitioners.

Yoga and Tantra: History, Philosophy & Mythology

Yoga and Tantra: History, Philosophy & Mythology
Author: Tova Olsson
Publisher: Motilal Banarsidass
Total Pages: 107
Release: 2023-01-01
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 8120843150

The stories about how old yoga is as a practice, where it originated from and who it belongs to are as many as they are conflicting. Yoga practitioners often have to navigate through a jungle of information in order to seek answers to their questions. What exactly is the goal of yoga? Is it relevant for contemporary yoga practitioners to study the Yoga Sutra? What do the various Indian gods and goddesses really symbolise? And what do yogic and tantric traditions have in common? This book offers its readers a clear overview of the origin and historical development of yoga and tantra and an in-depth understanding of the various philosophical systems and concepts used under the name "yoga philosophy". The book also provides insight into how the classical literature often referenced in yoga can be understood contextually, i.e., how it relates to and reflects the time and place it originated in. As well as how yogic mythology and its many deities can be used to put words on an inner experience or shed light on aspects of ourselves. The book is a must-read for yoga teachers, curious practitioners, as well as knowledge seekers. About The Author: TOVA OLSSON is a yoga teacher, religious scholar and writer. She has been published in scientific journals and lectures internationally on the history, philosophy and mythology of yoga and tantra. She holds an MA in history of religions from Gothenburg University and is currently working on her PhD at Umeà University.

Sensing Health

Sensing Health
Author: Mikki Kressbach
Publisher: University of Michigan Press
Total Pages: 303
Release: 2024-02-28
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0472904019

In the age of Apple Watches and Fitbits, the concept of “health” emerges through an embodied experience of a digital health device or platform, not simply through the biomedical data it provides. Sensing Health: Bodies, Data, and Digital Health Technologies analyzes popular digital health technologies as aesthetic experiences to understand how these devices and platforms have impacted the way individuals perceive their bodies, behaviors, health, and well-being. By tracing design alongside embodied experiences of digital health, Kressbach shows how these technologies aim to quantify, track and regulate the body, while at the same time producing moments that bring the body’s affordances and relationship to the fore. This mediated experience of “health” may offer an alternative to biomedical definitions that define health against illness. To capture and analyze digital health experiences, Kressbach develops a method that combines descriptive practices from Film and Media Studies and Phenomenology. After examining the design and feedback structures of digital health platforms and devices, the author uses her own first-person accounts to analyze the impact of the technology on her body, behaviors, and perception of health. Across five chapters focused on different categories of digital health—menstrual trackers, sexual wellness technologies, fitness trackers, meditation and breathing technologies, and posture and running wearables—Sensing Health demonstrates a method of analysis that acknowledges and critiques the biomedical structures of digital health technology while remaining attentive to the lived experiences of users. Through a focus on the intersection of technological design and experience, this method can be used by researchers, scholars, designers, and developers alike.

The Power of Practice

The Power of Practice
Author: Kristin Wendland
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Total Pages: 134
Release: 2024-01-01
Genre: Music
ISBN: 1438496052

The Power of Practice showcases the pioneering achievements of renowned violinist Yehudi Menuhin (1916-99) and how both disciplines transformed his life and practice. Menuhin's contributions as a performer, teacher, and humanitarian are celebrated around the world. Less well known, however, is Menuhin's devotion to the practice of yoga and his close friendship with the renowned yogi B. K. S. Iyengar (1918–2014), whose guidance profoundly influenced Menuhin as both a musician and a philanthropist. Menuhin applied his understanding of Iyengar's teachings to his philosophy of musical practice, creating new ways to approach the teaching of violin technique. He also took broader lessons from yoga to inform his approach to interacting with the larger world as a cultural ambassador and influential artist. Through the lens of the life and work of the celebrated violinist and devoted yogi, this book uncovers deep connections between music and yoga. It shows how the practice of both disciplines can profoundly transform our world into a better place.

The Truth of Yoga

The Truth of Yoga
Author: Daniel Simpson
Publisher: North Point Press
Total Pages: 169
Release: 2021-01-05
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 0374722684

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.

Inner Tantric Yoga

Inner Tantric Yoga
Author: David Frawley
Publisher: Lotus Press
Total Pages: 280
Release: 2008
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 0940676508

This extraordinary new book shows us how to connect with the Devatas, the Divine powers of the universe to develop our deeper Yoga practice. It features special chapters on the Shiva Linga, meditations on Shakti in nature and in the human body, Shakti in the practice of Yoga, special knowledge of the chakras (including the spiritual heart and the crown chakra), the four internal energy centers of Fire (Agni), Sun (Surya), Moon (Soma) and Lightning (Vidyut), the practice of Drishti Yoga (Yoga of perception), Shambhavi Mudra, and important mantras to Shiva, Kali, Bhairavi and Sundari. It contains a wealth of deep yogic knowledge not easily available today and based upon traditional Sanskrit sources.

Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali

Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
Author: B. K. S. Iyengar
Publisher: HarperCollins UK
Total Pages: 388
Release: 2012-06-28
Genre: Body, Mind & Spirit
ISBN: 000738162X

Note that due to the limitations of some ereading devices not all diacritical marks can be shown. BKS Iyengar’s translation and commentary on these ancient yoga sutras has been described as the “bible” of yoga. This edition contains an introduction by BKS Iyengar, as well as a foreword by Godfrey Devereux, author of Dynamic Yoga.