Few words about the book: Since the birth of modern psychology a little over a hundred years ago, views regarding the nature of the human being have followed a certain progressive trend which maybe conceived as a dimensional development. Psychology began with a lateral view of the human being as an essentially animal organism capable of certain superior psychological functions which have generally been labeled as mind. To this surface view was added a new dimension by the depth psychologies which discovered the unconscious, ascribing to it a greater role than the conscious mind in determining behavior. During the past few decades, yet another dimension that of height has been discovered through experiences of higher states of consciousness which have been termed transpersonal. With this dimensional progression of views about the human constitution, psychology has been drawing increasingly closer to the many dimensional concept of the human being found in Yoga. Since notions of mental health stem from theories regarding on personality structure, the emerging convergence of psychology and yoga is reflected also in the field of mental health. The purpose of this book is to present some salient features of psychological thought and its implications for mental health in order to bring out some points of convergence, as also of divergence, between psychology and mental health on the one hand and yoga on the other.

Harold Coward explores how the psychological aspects of Yoga philosophy have been important to intellectual developments both East and West. Foundational for Hindu, Jaina, and Buddhist thought and spiritual practice, Patañjali's Yoga Sutras, the classical statement of Eastern Yoga, are unique in their emphasis on the nature and importance of psychological processes. Yoga's influence is explored in the work of both the seminal Indian thinker Bhartrhari (c. 600 C.E.) and among key figures in Western psychology: founders Freud and Jung, as well as contemporary transpersonalists such as Washburn, Tart, and Ornstein.. Coward shows how the yogic notion of psychological processes makes Bhartrhari's philosophy of language and his theology of revelation possible. He goes on to explore how Western psychology has been influenced by incorporating or rejecting Patañjali's Yoga. The implications of these trends in Western thought for mysticism and memory are examined as well. This analysis results in a notable insight, namely, that there is a crucial difference between Eastern and Western thought with regard to how limited or perfectible human nature is—the West maintaining that we as humans are psychologically, philosophically, and spiritually limited or flawed in nature and thus not perfectible, while Patañjali's Yoga and Eastern thought generally maintain the opposite. Different Western responses to the Eastern position are noted, from complete rejection by Freud, Jung, and Hick, to varying degrees of acceptance by transpersonal thinkers.

How the mind works according to the ancient yogic traditions, compared and contrasted to the approaches of Western psychology—by one of the greatest yoga scholars of our time. Georg Feuerstein begins the book by establishing the historical context of modern Western psychology and its gradual encounter with Indian thought, then follows this introduction with twenty-three chapters, each of which presents a topic--generally a point of correspondence or distinction--between Western and Eastern paradigms. These are grouped into three general sections: Foundations, Mind and Beyond, and Mind In Transition. The book concludes with a brief epilogue as well as three appendices, adding depth to the discussion of the ancient yoga traditions as well as an informative survey of yoga psychology literature. The Psychology of Yoga is a feast of wisdom and lore, assembled from a perspective possible only for one whose monumental scholarship has been tempered and leavened by practice.

Jung's illuminating lectures on the psychology of Eastern spirituality Between 1933 and 1941, C. G. Jung delivered a series of public lectures at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich. Intended for a general audience, these lectures addressed a broad range of topics, from dream analysis to the psychology of alchemy. Here for the first time are Jung's illuminating lectures on the psychology of yoga and meditation, delivered between 1938 and 1940. In these lectures, Jung discusses the psychological technique of active imagination, seeking to find parallels with the meditative practices of different yogic and Buddhist traditions. He draws on three texts to introduce his audience to Eastern meditation: Patañjali's Yoga Sûtra, the Amitâyur-dhyâna-sûtra from Chinese Pure Land Buddhism, and the Shrî-chakra-sambhâra Tantra, a scripture related to tantric yoga. The lectures offer a unique opportunity to encounter Jung as he shares his ideas with the general public, providing a rare window on the application of his comparative method while also shedding light on his personal history and psychological development. Featuring an incisive introduction by Martin Liebscher as well as explanations of Jungian concepts and psychological terminology, Psychology of Yoga and Meditation provides invaluable insights into the evolution of Jung's thought and a vital key to understanding his later work.

Clearly explains and evaluates fundamental concepts of Hindu thought; development of Hindu religious philosophy; detailed descriptions of the psychology and psychoanalysis of yoga, its postures and varieties of breathing, much more.

First published in 1975 The Spirit of Indian Philosophy provides a systematic overview of Indian philosophy. The book is divided into four major parts dealing with Indian epistemology, Indian metaphysics, Indian ethics, and Indian philosophy of religion. It makes a departure from usual method of investigating Indian philosophy by dealing with its different schools individually and separately. It discusses themes like sources of cognition; nature and criterion of true cognition; problem of error; materialism; realism; dualism; Indian theories of causation; reflective morality; the ethics of non-violence; Indian atheism and Indian religion of God, to argue that the usual conception of Indian philosophy in general as religious, spiritualistic and pessimistic is contrary to the fact, that the doctrine of Karma, transmigration and rebirth, strictly speaking is incompatible with the Indian ways of thinking and in deed is an imposition upon them ab extra. This is an essential read for scholars and students of Indian philosophy.

This book, first published in 1962, is an analysis of the history of the philosophy of a country that has never distinguished philosophy from religion. Indian philosophy is not merely metaphysical speculation, but has its foundation in immediate perception. This insistence upon immediate perception rather than abstract reasoning is what distinguishes the Indian philosophy of religion from philosophy as Western nations know it.

Are you ready to begin the process of making yourself a new etheric body and individuality? In the last century, Rudolf Steiner issued a challenge for practitioners of western spiritual science. Would it be possible to develop a new form of cognitive, or Michaelic, yoga? In contrast to the eastern yogis of old – who practiced the spiritualization of inhalation and exhalation – such contemporary yogic practice would involve a spiritualization of thinking as well as a transformation of perceptions and sensations. In Cognitive Yoga, Dr Ben-Aharon responds to that call, developing the entire modern yogic process and describing it in remarkable detail. Through the methods presented, committed practitioners of anthroposophy can create a living framework for spiritual research through a fully spiritualized thinking accompanied by a complete renewal of the experiences of perception and sensation as well as of the human body itself. Included in the contents of this extraordinary book is a comprehensive guide to the spiritualization of the senses and how this leads to a transmutation of the deepest and most unconscious bodily processes and functions. Cognitive Yoga culminates in a pioneering description of a completely individualized meeting with the etheric Christ in the etheric world – the most important spiritual and human experience that people can have in our time and over the millennia to come. This seminal work, built on decades of first-hand research, provides tangible evidence that western spiritual schooling is not only alive and well, but also full of potential for future development. Ben-Aharon offers a fully formulated and practical guide to a knowledge of the present revelations of the spiritual world.

This Encyclopedia of theory and practice in psychotherapy and counseling provides a full overview of the field, traditional and current humanistic practices, and the fundamental analytical theories needed to get a foothold in the field.

Samkhya and Yoga are two of the oldest and most influential systems of classical Indian philosophy. Filling a gap in current scholarship, this stimulating book provides a thorough analysis of the systems in order to fully understand Indian philosophy.