Reddit mentions of The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice

Interesting the raising of yoga in the sub the last few days..

Jung had a complex view on it, he applied some form of it (I don't know the form he used or where he learned it) in his personal life, particularly when going through the process that generated the Red Book (and I can't recall right now where I've read this, but possibly via Sonu Shamdasani speaking in the Red Book footnotes or elsewhere, or, as others have mentioned it is recorded in MDR).

He didn't, afaik, recommend it to his patients though (correct me if I'm wrong), was cautious about its application in a Western context or for Westerners.

Here is a snippet (there's more) of what he says about it, as Sonu Shamdasani writes in the intro to The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga:

>Throughout his writings on Eastern thought, while Jung promoted and endorsed their study he cautioned against their practice by Westerners: “There are many different kinds of yoga and Europeans often become hypnotized by it, but it is essentially Eastern, no European has the necessary patience and it is not right for him. . . . The more we study yoga, the more we realize how far it is from us; a European can only imitate it and what he acquires by this is of no real interest.” For Jung the danger was one of mimetic madness: “The European who practices yoga does not know what he is doing. It has a bad effect upon him, sooner or later he gets afraid and sometimes it even leads him over the edge of madness.” This led him to conclude that “in the course of the centuries the West will produce its own yoga, and it will be on the basis laid down by Christianity.”

C.G. Jung, The Psychology of Kundalini Yoga., xxix-xxx. (Sonu Shamdasani)

But the world en masse, in terms of cross cultural infusion of philosophies, traditions and methods, has exploded since Jung's time and when he delivered the seminars from which the book transcription is taken (the early 1930's), so, and perhaps more significantly, the collective psyche of the world has shifted. In what ways and how is too densely complex to unpack easily or clearly in this moment, but maybe the issues that informed Jung's caution are different now?

It is a helpful discipline, is immensely powerful in reuniting disconnects of mindbody, emotion and spirit. But, if you've got a lot of 'stuff', brokenness and trauma rattling around inside it really needs to be coupled with therapy, imo. Integrating complexes and dealing with what the unconscious can bring up is precarious and delicate.

In terms of a recommendation, and to provide some context to my pov;

I was a "yogi" - I was called this by my teacher - for six disciplined and studious years under a single and singular teacher when a younger man, this guy (Edit: worth a watch OP, though long. Mark discusses some of the history of how yoga came to the West in the context of his own journey and learning it, and speaks of the opposites - albeit not through a Jungian frame. Near the end he recommends people picking up a practice on their own out of their bedrooms or lounges..).
For various reasons I don't practice it any longer.

So, after that preamble, the key text recommended when I was engaged in this practice and way was The Heart of Yoga. It's very good, and includes a translation of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. You can also use it to develop a deep personal practice, there are diagrams and discussion in it that elaborate on this.

Nothing beats learning one on one with a teacher, classes give you something to start with, and so does a good comprehensive book, as the above is, but its like working with Jung's psychology and model; he conducted and developed his method out of a relational dialogical context. Yoga is the same.

Ultimately we have to take up the injunction and do this stuff ourselves. Sometimes that is best alone, dedicated, sweating it out, day in day out, literally stretching and pushing ourselves to grow, to breathe into and form roots and links. At other points it requires the/an other 🙏

The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice by T. K. V. Desikachar

LINKS FOR CONVENIENCE

• The Heart of Yoga; developing a personal practice by T.K.V. Desikachar.
  
  
• The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga: A Practical Guide to Healing Body, Mind, and Spirit by Deepak Chopra
  
  and in case you meant this too (but I don't think so)
  
  
• The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success: A Practical Guide to the Fulfillment of Your Dreams by Deepak Chopra

We're talking about Western teachers, right? I mean I haven't gone to the East to learn yoga, but I'd be surprised if they approached it in the same way we do in the West. I think the "bizarre guru cultism and Hollywood style glitz," sensationalizes yoga in unnecessary New Age glitter, which has been the primary lack of attraction I've had in paying for or even attending many classes. My brother bought me an introductory book to yoga which addressed the practice in a totally different light than it has been illuminated to me in the States. Some classes seem to ignore what I interpret as rather essential to good yoga practice.

Some teachers are great. Some are horrible. On this side of the world, I think you're more likely to find great variation in the quality and type, but perhaps it is the same over seas?

Also, I love skepticism and an outside scientific look, but it's even better if they're able to approach this from both sides; sometimes people are too much one thing.

I recommend this book: The Heart of Yoga By T. K. V. Desikachar

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It covers what you're after and teaches Yoga as a spiritual practice. It also includes a copy of the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, which I would say is essential if you wish to understand the purpose of Yoga.

I second The Heart of Yoga, but the author is not T. Krishnamacharya (one of the greatest yogis of the modern era, who lived to be over 100 years old) but one of his sons, who is still alive.

I would also recommend the books by Ramaswami, who studied with Krishnamacharya for 30+ years:

• The Complete Book of Vinyasa Yoga
  
• Yoga for the Three Stages of Life