IYNAUS STOre NeWS
bOOK reVIeW
We’re looking forward to seeing many of our certified Iyengar teachers at the upcoming “Reflection” convention in Portland, Oregon. We’ll be showcasing products from India including books, DVDs, and props identical to those used at RIMYI, the Institute in Pune.
YOGA, KArMA AND rebIrTh: A brIeF hISTOrY AND phILOSOphY Written by Stephen Phillips. New York: Columbia University Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-231-14485-8. 368 pages. $22.95.
Our entire line of products, including many books from senior Iyengar teachers, can be viewed on our website: http://www.iynaus.org/store/. We offer wholesale pricing for teachers and qualified yoga centers. Please inquire by e-mail to storemanager@iynaus.org or by phone to (206) 623-3562 for further information regarding wholesale pricing.
reviewed by peggy Kelley Although not a large book, Stephen Phillips’ Yoga, Karma and Rebirth bears the stamp of a broad mind, a generous heart, and long years of studying yoga philosophy in the original Sanskrit. His intention in writing it was dual: “to help yoga teachers and practitioners appreciate the breadth and depth of yoga… [and] to chart common and uncommon suppositions of the central manuals of the more prominent types.” In the process of actualizing these purposes, Dr. Phillips literally has brought himself into the stream of yoga philosophers, offering his own very learned and high-minded interpretation of seminal texts. In fact, he explains that the book grew out of his teaching of an upper-level course in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has been a professor for many years, entitled “Yoga as Philosophy and Practice.” In addition, the book is informed by his own yoga practice.
A few of the many new items we are stocking include Iyengar Yoga for Motherhood by Geeta Iyengar, the DVD Addiction, Recovery and Yoga produced by Senior Teacher Lindsey Clennell, and The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation and Commentary by scholar and longtime Iyengar practitioner Edwin Bryant. Please visit the store webpage for full details on these and other new products.
Five chapters form the heart of the book: “Theory and Practice,” “Yoga and Metaphysics,” “Karma,” “Rebirth,” and “Powers.” Five appendices offer Dr. Phillips’ readable and yoga-practice–informed translations of passages from a handful of Upanishads (the Taittiriya, the Katha, the Mundaka, and the Shvetashvatara), the Bhagavad Gita, Kashmiri Shaivite texts, the Hatha Yoga Pradipika, and a complete translation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali.
Because of the teachers’ convention, the store will not be shipping orders during the week of May 10–14. Orders will be accepted online; however, they will not ship until May 17.
The first chapter, “Theory and Practice,” gives very useful historical background outlining the course of what we call “yoga philosophy.” Indeed, the question of exactly what yoga philosophy might comprise is also a central one of the book, because India historically has been looked to as the home of consciousness studies. Although he does not dwell on far-flung correspondences, Phillips does note that some scholars have analyzed links between the yoga tradition of India and Sufism, and even between the yoga tradition and Christianity. Recognizing that yoga practice in the West has led to the phenomenon of group yoga classes, most of which focus on asana practice, Dr. Phillips gives an outline of a typical class. Then he proceeds to offer his historical outline of the literature from the earliest Vedas to the early modern exponents of yoga, including Vivekenanda, Krishnamacharya, and Aurobindo. His discussion and scholarly historical review will be a boon to any contemporary yoga teacher wishing to deepen her understanding and to communicate that deeper understanding of the tradition to her students.
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The second chapter, “Yoga and Metaphysics,” gives a refreshing critical view of Patanjali’s rendering of yoga philosophy. Phillips gives full credit to the Yoga Sutras for their lasting contribution to the yogic understanding of the workings of the mind in contemplation and meditation, yet he has his differences with Patanjali as a philosopher. I will save details of the critique for the reader to discover on her own. Suffice it to say that Phillips emphasizes that he is not alone in seeing a type of what he calls “selfYoga Samachar Spring / Summer 2010
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