Carol A. Horton

I found this book to be a very interesting collection of essays on various aspects of yoga. Some of the authors addressed the marketing aspect, others the fact that yoga is equated in our society simply with poses (asanas). Reading about other aspects of yoga (as described in the 8 limbs) helped me think about my motivation for doing yoga, what it has done for me so far and how I can enhance its influence on my life. I was also very impressed by the essays that were more personal in nature. There was one from a person who had an eating disorder and yoga was part of a larger strategy to heal herself from that disease. Inherent in this discussion is a cautionary note that yoga can not fix everything that you perceive to be wrong with your life. Something I hadn't thought about very much was how yoga could be practiced and twisted to fit agendas that don't appear to have anything to do with its original intent. These people are holding yoga practitioners to a higher standard of behavior with regard to politics, economic theory etc.

Altogether an enlightening read on a variety of yoga-related topics. Highly recommended!… (meer)