An introduction to yoga - annie besant

 


Pretty short (357 on my ipad vertical). Perhaps you would call it a guide instead of a book. So my yoga journey continues. I think there is a misperception that yoga is Indian and therefore Hindu. For the third time (and 3 of 3 books, and I have only ever read 3 books about yoga) there are references to Christianity and Jesus Christ in a good way. Comparisons (not every page but some) are again drawn between Christianity and yoga. The authors think that they reinforce one another (or this is my reading of the texts at least).  

I also think modern yoga is a bit of a gimmick. It seems to me that yoga is (used to be) about mediation and discipline. Props and rap music and getting fit and heat and sexy yoga outfits seem to be a gimmick to make money for the industry. And maybe the public wants these things, and getting in shape is important, but I do not think it is the true nature of yoga. Yoga seems to be about discipline, accepting pain, and finding yourself so you can realize that everyone else is also you and therefore not pass judgement on them.

This book was hard to read because a lot of the concepts are not tangible and therefore hard to understand (at least to me since I am a new yoga person). It also talks some about black magic and the left hand path which I am not sure exists but who knows. 

There is a good practical discussion of the goals of yoga in the last 60 pages (more or less). I say page that part, but otherwise shelf it unless you are an advanced yogi or yogini. It is a very niche book. I am not sure that I agree with the title. It should be called "an explanation of advanced yoga topics" (lol).  

I am a bit saddened that modern yoga is a gimmick. Even my own home studio I think is a bit of a gimmick. Apparently the world only cares about money (even in terms of yoga). To be fair, I like to sweat in hot yoga so I guess what I am saying is try to find a more traditional studio (in terms of yoga) that is high tech for administrative purposes. To me that is the right mix at least at this point in my young yogi journey. 

I will now read some more books about yoga to try to understand the more abstruse concepts and all of the concepts better jajajajaj.   

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