A comparative statement of the various religious dogmas concerning the soul and its destiny, and of Akkadian, Hindu, Taoist, Egyptian, Hebrew, Greek, Christian, Mohammedan, Japanese and other magic. Chapter I - Modern Spiritualism On The Soul Chapter Ii - Hindu Souls Chapter Iii - Egyptian Souls Chapter Iv - Chaldean Souls Chapter V - Greek And Roman Souls Chapter Vi - Neoplatonism On The Soul Chapter Vii - Christian Souls Chapter Viii - Relic Worship Chapter Ix - Chinese Souls Chapter X - Japanese Souls Chapter Xi - The Possibility Of A Spiritual World Considered Chapter Xii - The Possibility Of A Spiritual World Further Considered Chapter Xiii - The Possibility Of A Spiritual World Further Considered Chapter Xiv - The Possibility Of A Spiritual World Further Considered Chapter Xv - Religion In General Chapter Xvi - The Evolution Of Social Virtue Chapter Xvii - Hindu Yoga Chapter Xviii - Chinese Yoga Chapter Xix - Egyptian Yoga Chapter Xx - Akkadian Yoga Chapter Xxi - Mohammedan Yoga Chapter Xxii - Hebrew Yoga Chapter Xxiii - Yoga Of The Essenes Chapter Xxiv - The Roman Stoics As Yogis Chapter Xxv - Christian Yoga Chapter Xxvi - Yoga In General Chapter Xxvii - Results Of Practice And Indications Of Progress Chapter Xxviii - Earthly Immortality Chapter Xxix - Yoga As A Process Of Evolution Chapter Xxx - Conclusion

How did an ancient Indian spiritual discipline turn into a $20+ billion-a-year mainstay of the global wellness industry? What happened along yoga's winding path from the caves and forests of the sages to the gyms, hospitals and village halls of the modern West? This comprehensive history sets yoga in its global cultural context for the first time. It leads us on a fascinating journey across the world, from arcane religious rituals and medieval body-magic, through muscular Christianity and the British Raj, to the Indian nationalist movement and the arrival of yoga in the twentieth-century West. We discover how the practice reached its present-day ubiquity and how it became embedded in powerful social currents shaping the world's future, such as feminism, digital media, celebrity culture, the stress pandemic and the quest for an authentic identity in the face of unprecedented change. Shearer's revealing history boasts a colorful cast of characters past and present, who tell an engaging tale of scholars and scandal, science and spirit, wisdom and waywardness. This is the untold story of yoga, warts and all.

Teaching Contemporary Yoga provides a novel look at how modern yoga is understood, practiced, and taught globally. Utilising perspectives from several academic disciplines, the authors offer an analysis of the current state of modern yoga and the possibilities for future experimentation and innovation. The authors draw on anthropological, performance, and embodiment theories to understand yoga practice as a potentially powerful ritual of transformation as well as a cultural product steeped in the process of meaning making. They craft a unique analysis that contrasts asana with the largely unexamined philosophy underlying the practice of vinyasa, while imagining a vibrant future for the evolution of yoga through excellence in teaching. Unlike other writings about yoga, the authors offer a critique of the current practice of yoga as both diminished and utilitarian, while providing a path to reinvigorating the discipline based on current scientific knowledge and methods for teaching and practice. Along with these theoretical perspectives and the analysis of contemporary yoga in the West, the authors offer practical applications to address the challenges of teaching yoga in a society where individualism and materialism are core values. Open-ended exercises in reflection and experimentation offer opportunities for readers to apply what they have learned to their teaching and personal practice. This is a vital guide for any yoga-oriented scholar, teacher, or practitioner and is an essential companion for contemporary teacher training.

Obtaining the funding to maintain and grow library services and resources has always been a challenge. Successful Library Fundraising: Best Practices brings together a wealth of information from public, academic, special, and school libraries who share their successful approaches to raising funds through a variety of traditional and “outside-the-box” methods: Library development (cultivating donors) Endowments Corporate financing Special events Friends’ groups and volunteers Grants, and more Fundraising is critical in today’s economic climate. Tips and ideas from this volume will help library professionals gain confidence to begin a fundraising program or improve their current fundraising activities.

"Published by the Freer Gallery of Art and the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery on the occasion of the exhibition Yoga: The Art of Transformation, October 19, 2013 - January 26, 2014. Organized by the Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, the exhibition travels to the Asian Art Museum of San Francisco, February 22-May 18, 2014, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, June 22-September 7, 2014."

This book offers a social–scientific interpretation of the Hindu and Buddhist traditions of Tantra dating back 15 centuries. It is a self-reflexive study approached with an insider’s empathy and the perspective of an Indologist, anthropologist, mystic and practitioner of the cult. The work includes a discussion of non-modern Indic themes: mandala as a trope and its manifestations in South Asian regions such as Nepal; yoga and Indic individuality; the concept of bhoga; disciplined wellbeing; gender; and Indic axiology. Using personal praxis to inform his research, the author examines three core themes within Tantra — a ‘holonic’/mandalic individuality that conduces to mystical experience; a positive valorisation of pleasure and play; and cultural attitudes of gender-mutuality and complementarity, as neatly encapsulated in the icon of Shiva as Ardhanariswara. This analysis, as captured by the Tantric mandalas of deities in intimate union, leads to his compelling metathesis that Tantra serves as a permanent counterculture within the Indic civilization. This second edition, with a new Afterword, will greatly interest those in anthropology, South Asian studies, religious studies, gender studies, psychology and philosophy, as also the general reader.

Your heartbeat is an experimental poetical symphony mixtape. Your own heart and life process is a felt experience of what the transformative force and tool of yoga can and could be(come) for you and others. This book is connecting threads of yoga’s creative sparks to encourage everyone to follow their heartbeats and visions. It is encouraging you to live your life aligned to your heartbeat and as a creative experiment. It is dedicated to the art of creating something from nothing, dedicated to music and and all art forms. It is dedicated to your truth. May you be supported on your path, while you keep listening to and following your heartbeats.

'An indispensable companion for all interested in yoga, both scholars and practitioners' Professor Alexis G. J. S. Sanderson Despite yoga's huge global popularity, relatively little of its roots is known among practitioners. This compendium includes a wide range of texts from different schools of yoga, languages and eras: among others, key passages from the early Upanisads and the Mahabharata, and from the Tantric, Buddhist and Jaina traditions, with many pieces in scholarly translation for the first time. Covering yoga's varying definitions, its most important practices, such as posture, breath control, sensory withdrawal and meditation, as well as models of the esoteric and physical bodies, Roots of Yoga is a unique and essential source of knowledge. Translated and Edited with an Introduction by James Mallinson and Mark Singleton

Contemplative experience is central to Hindu yoga traditions, Buddhist meditation practices, and Catholic mystical theology, and, despite doctrinal differences, it expresses itself in suggestively similar meditative landmarks in each of these three meditative systems. In Yoga, Meditation and Mysticism, Kenneth Rose shifts the dominant focus of contemporary religious studies away from tradition-specific studies of individual religious traditions, communities, and practices to examine the 'contemplative universals' that arise globally in meditative experience. Through a comparative exploration of the itineraries detailed in the contemplative manuals of Theravada Buddhism, Patañjalian Yoga, and Catholic mystical theology, Rose identifies in each tradition a moment of sharply focused awareness that marks the threshold between immersion in mundane consciousness and contemplative insight. As concentration deepens, the meditator steps through this threshold onto a globally shared contemplative itinerary, which leads through a series of virtually identical stages to mental stillness and insight. Rose argues that these contemplative universals, familiar to experienced contemplatives in multiple traditions, point to a common spiritual, mental, and biological heritage. Pioneering the exploration of contemplative practice and experience with a comparative perspective that ranges over multiple religious traditions, religious studies, philosophy, neuroscience, and the cognitive science of religion, this book is a landmark contribution to the fields of contemplative practice and religious studies.