The Truth of Yoga: A Comprehensive Guide to Yoga's History, Texts, Philosophy, and Practices
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.

"1136963153"
The Truth of Yoga: A Comprehensive Guide to Yoga's History, Texts, Philosophy, and Practices
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.

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The Truth of Yoga: A Comprehensive Guide to Yoga's History, Texts, Philosophy, and Practices

The Truth of Yoga: A Comprehensive Guide to Yoga's History, Texts, Philosophy, and Practices

by Daniel Simpson
The Truth of Yoga: A Comprehensive Guide to Yoga's History, Texts, Philosophy, and Practices

The Truth of Yoga: A Comprehensive Guide to Yoga's History, Texts, Philosophy, and Practices

by Daniel Simpson

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Overview

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.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780865477810
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Publication date: 01/05/2021
Pages: 256
Sales rank: 486,307
Product dimensions: 5.30(w) x 8.20(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Daniel Simpson teaches at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies, in teacher trainings around the UK, and at Triyoga in London. He is a graduate of Cambridge University and has a master's degree from SOAS University of London.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Seeking Truth

About this Book

What is Yoga?

Note on Sanskrit

1. Early Yoga

Ancient Roots

Ascetics and Tapas

Seers and Soma

Restraint and Ritual

Mystic Mantras

Saluting the Sun

Vedas and Brahmins

Is this Hinduism?

Cyclical Time

Karma, Rebirth and Liberation

Renunciation

The End of the Vedas

Early Upanishads

Self-Realization

Not This, Not That...

Lead Me to the Real!

Internalized Focus

Rewinding Creation

Breath and Consciousness

Om and Oneness

Seeds of Yoga

2. Classical Yoga

Embodied Liberation?

Epic Methods

Devotional Chanting

Gods and Yogis

The Meaning of Life

War and Peace

Acting Wisely

Seeing Clearly

Meditative Insight

The Power of Love

Practical Bhakti

Trippy Visions

Fate and Free Will

Finding our Way

The Seer and the Seen

Nature's Web

Sister Systems

Patanjali's Yoga

Whose Sutras?

Reducing Suffering

Changing Patterns

First Do No Harm

Ashtanga and Asana

One-Pointed Focus

Seeing the Light

Divine Awareness

Magic Powers

Splendid Isolation?

Rival Theories

3. Hatha Yoga

Transformation

What is Tantra?

Gurus and Gods

Tantric Mantras

Mystical Images

Six-Part Yoga

The Yogic Body

Invisible Nadis

Imaginary Chakras

Raising Kundalini

Sacred Geography

Uniting Opposites

What is Hatha?

Yoga for All

King of Yogas

A Body of Knowledge

Practice, Practice...

Complex Postures

Bodily Remedies

Cleansing Actions

Breathing and Bandhas

Potent Mudras

Sex and Yoga

Sounds of Silence

4. Modern Yoga

Proliferating Postures

Expanded Manuals

Copy-Paste Primers

Missing Links

Hidden Inventions

Reviving Tradition

National Pride

Gymnastic Aspects

Holistic Health

Relax and Revive

Indigenous Arts

Postural Focus

Adjustments and Props

Alternative Methods

Authenticity vs. Utility

What's Appropriate?

Power Yoga

Yoga Therapy

New Directions

Conclusion

Adaptation

Integration

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