Interesting yoga books – Bionicoldguy

I recently read two interesting books about Yoga by Alistair Shearer, an experienced translator of Sanskrit and historian of Yoga. The first is his translation and comment by Patanjalis Yoga Sutras. This is often used as justification for Hatha yoga, which has mainly developed in the West, which Shearly “Body Yoga” refers to, with the focus on stretching and other physical exercises. With the exception of a short meditation at the end of the lesson, there is little focus on “mind yoga”, usually when lying in the “”Corpse pose“That does not mean that this type of lesson is not valuable. I have taken many of them and found them for stress reduction and remain of Limber with increasing age. It is only that the type of poses used in Hatha -Yoga classes in the yoga cutras, are very mentioned.

The Sutras are a number of short sayings that essentially result in a meditation manual. Eight limbs yoga are taught. The first two refer to ethical behavior, a number of 5 “dos” and 5 “Dongen”. The third is about Asanas, where the confusion about Hatha Yoga arises. Asanas are poses or attitudes that are common in yoga classes. But in the Sutras it is quite clear that what is talked about is the right attitude for meditation, which is essentially upright with the upright spine, in a position that can be conveniently helpful for a longer period of time, but does not promote sleeping. The fourth member is PranayamaOr breathing exercises that should calm us down to prepare us for meditation. The rest of the eight limbs are consecutive stadiums in meditation, starting with the “withdrawal of the senses”, concentration, meditation and finally samadhi or association with our true natures. This association really refers to yoga and is the point of the entire endeavor.

In a second book The story of yogaShear parts together as possible the entire history of yoga to this day. He clearly differentiates between “spirit” and “body” in the book. The persecution of the story is difficult because it disappears into the fog of the time and are often inadequate written records. But it still makes a fascinating story. We are very lucky in the west that this great gift from several years of wisdom emigrated here from India.