The Truth of Yoga

Autorentext

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.

Klappentext

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.

Inhalt

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