Interesting Yoga Books – BionicOldGuy

I recently read two interesting books on Yoga by Alistair Shearer, an expert translator of Sanskrit and historian of Yoga. The first is his translation and commentary of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. This is often used as a justification for Hatha Yoga, which in the West has evolved mostly into what Shearer calls “body yoga” with emphasis on stretching and other physical exercises. There is little emphasis on “mind yoga”, with the exception of a short guided meditation at the end of classes, usually while lying down in the “corpse pose“. This is not to say this type of class is not valuable, I have taken many of them and found them very useful for stress relief and staying limber as we age. It is just that there is pretty much no mention of the type of poses used in Hatha Yoga classes in the Yoga Sutras.

The Sutras are a series of short sayings which add up to essentially a meditation manual. Eight limbs of yoga are taught. The first two refer to ethical behavior, a series of 5 “Dos” and 5 “Don’ts”. The third is about asanas, which is where the confusion about Hatha Yoga arises. Asanas are poses or postures, which are common in Yoga classes. But in the Sutras it is pretty clear that what is being talked about is the correct posture for meditation, essentially sitting upright with the spine erect, in a position that can be help comfortably for an extended period, but is not conducive to falling to sleep. The fourth limb is pranayama, or breathing exercises, intended to calm us down to prepare for meditation. The remainder of the eight limbs are successive stages in meditation, starting with “withdrawal of the senses”, then concentration, meditation, and finally Samadhi or union with our true natures. This union is what Yoga really refers to and is the point of the whole endeavor.

In a second book The Story of Yoga, Shearer pieces together as well as possible the entire history of Yoga up to the present day. He makes a clear distinction in the evolution of “mind” and “body” Yoga in the book. Tracing the history is difficult because it disappears back into the mists of time and often written records are inadequate. But it still makes for a fascinating story. We are very fortunate in the West that this great gift of perennial wisdom has migrated here from India.