Product Description

Yoga is over 5,500 years old, making it the oldest known spiritual practice. Millions of people around the world now practice it, often to lose weight or tone their bodies. Although yoga is effective at this, it is in fact a spiritual discipline of which the 'exercises' are only one part; its ultimate goal is to unify body and mind and bring us to a state of ultimate peace. This book explains the philosophy and teachings behind yoga in a fresh and accessible way, and also includes clear and poetic translations of the key yoga scriptures: the Yoga Sutras, the Bhagavad Gita and the Upanishads. These ancient texts contain instructions for the philosophy, method and practice of yoga and are guides to inner wisdom. Whether you are a beginner at Yoga, an experienced practitioner, a teacher or in teacher training, this book will enable you to add new depth and meaning to your current practice, accessing the full potential and power of Yoga to transform your life.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #301180 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-15
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 301 pages

Review
"Either book of CD provide an excellent guide to yoga but I would strongly recommend buying both, particularly if you are about to embark on the Foundation Course." -- Spectrum Magazine. 2008

From the Author
One reason we wrote this book was to counterbalance the emphasis of the West in looking on yoga as a body and fitness regime. We wanted to make it clear that yoga traditionally was designed to work on the mind and its aim was to achieve liberation, or freedom.

Another motivation in writing this book was to create a clear and accessible introduction to the philosophy of classical yoga. When my co-author (and wife) Jo Manuel did her yoga teacher training, she found it difficult to find a book that explained the theory of yoga in a way that would interest non-specialists. She also noted that in order to read the key yoga texts – the Yoga Sutras, Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita, it was necessary to buy 3 separate books. So we decided to write a book that not only explained the theory of yoga but also included readable versions of these texts. In this way we hoped that yoga teachers, their students, and anyone interested in learning more about yoga could find sufficient information in one volume.

About the Author
Mark Forstater is a producer of films and television documentaries. His most famous production is Monty Python and The Holy Grail. An American, he lives and works in London. He is married with three daughters.

Customer Reviews

Informative and inspirational
As a practitioner to the physical side of yoga, I chose this book as one to guide me to the spiritual side, and to get to know more about yoga as a whole, I found this book a great help and enlightening read.
The book its self is in two parts, the philosophy and the sacred scriptures.
It is put together to promote understanding in and uncomplicated way; great for every one at all stages, and give advice to those who want to achieve in yoga and gain knowledge of its benefits, I found it fascinating and full of information and a good book for learning.

Simple Teachings
This book is a must if you are at all interested in learning what yoga is really all about. It puts you weekly yoga class in context and then some! It's easy to read and follow - even some of the more complicated ideas that are part of this science of life are explained beautifully and simply by the authors.

A Book of Two Halves
I found this book at first rather interesting as it reinforced the very reason why I took up Yoga. Half way through it changes to an explanation of Yoga scriptures. This spiritual insight was for me rambling, vague, mystical and really put me off the spiritual side of Yoga. If you like vague conumdrums this might well be for you Grasshopper.