Customer Reviews

Eight Lectures on Yoga

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Crowley has a unique approach, a refreshing departure from most of the literature I've read on yoga. He is free of the empty bubbly optimism so often found associated with the subject, and yet he also manages to steer clear of the opposite extreme: being overly obsessed with the grave importance of the subject matter, and focusing on details (language, etc.) that are hard for beginners to absorb, thus obscuring the meaning behind those details. I think he clearly presents the basic tenets of yoga in a clear, modern voice. I enjoyed his insight, his humor, his practicality, and his human voice.

I have to disagree with one of the other reviewers: I don't think Crowley was at all condescending. I think the lectures are successfully aimed at a general audience. Remember that these are transcripts of lectures given to a small, private group. Although the audience was assumed to be unfamiliar with yoga (which makes the lectures good for someone new to the subject), they also shared some knowledge, and some of the references in the lectures are lost to readers who don't share that knowledge. I don't think this obscures any of the content, I don't think you're missing any vital information because you don't know what the "Equinox" is, and I don't think Crowley was doing it to "show off" or to appear superior. He was just addressing his audience. Any lectures that are truly "lectures" will have this drawback: they were meant for a specific group, most likely not the group that will be reading those same lectures in book form. If this is a major drawback for you, consider another text on yoga. I didn't think that it detracted from the book.

Another problem is the translation of oral humor and tone to the written word. It's easy to lose the sense of the spoken word when it's written down, and I think Crowley's dry sense of humor might easily be mistaken for condescension.

Crowley does introduce a lot of other subjects, such as astrology and physics. This is unusual, but I think it can lead to new insights. People approach yoga from many different backgrounds, and some analogies and connections work for some people, and won't work for other people. I was able to skim over the parts that didn't have meaning for me, and still take away the new aspects he revealed by other means.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. However, I bought it used, for a few dollar. It was definitely worth that.

I'd like to briefly respond to gsibbery's negative review.

Gsibbery seems to have little understanding of Crowley and the law of Thelema--"Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law." Yogaic Union and the Thelema are not contradictory in the slightest. "Do what thou wilt" does not mean do whatever your foolish human body desires; it means strive to discover and achieve your True Will, which can be likened to the "voice of god" within you (in religious terms). Yogaic Union with your body and with reality is essential for discovering your True Will and your holy purpose on this planet. No contradiction there.

Beware of people speaking hatefully of the "Great Beast"--it is all too likely that they are christians or narrowminded or both. Crowley was a genius--a flawed genius, sure, but a genius all the same. And besides that, he's entertaining as hell.

I would not recommend this book to anyone seeking an introduction to yoga. The way to learn yoga is to do it. Once you get comfortable doing it and youve read a few introductory books & would like to think more deeply about the philosophy behind yoga, then go ahead & read this book. But you might not enjoy it unless you are familiar with Crowley's works. I'd recommend "Cosmic Trigger" by Robert Anton Wilson as a good introduction to mad Uncle Aleister.

This book is an excellent example of Crowley's two main strengtss as a writer: to get to the heart of an apparently obscure subject, and the use of humor to disarm the audience and provoke insight. The latter of these can, if the reader takes it too seriously, detract from the former. The first half of the book, "Yoga for Yahoos", is the strongest by far. Here crowley explains the practical "limbs" of yoga that are nessecary preperations for practice. The exposition is lucid. The second, "Yoga for Yellowbellies", suffers from the inability of language to describe anything which is super rational. "Yellowbellies" tends to ramble a bit, especially when the Beast begins weaving in modern physics. You have to get to the end to come to the realization that, for the most part, this synthesis is a literary joke. Yoga is beyond science and reason. Again, for those with little sense of humor, this can be frustrating. However, the final stroke, the proof that Yoga dovetails with, and perfectly justifies, the Law of Thelema, is an ecstatic literary experince you shouldn't miss. The technique of progressive visualization is very useful as well.

Recomended.

Crowley's writing is witty and incisive. This is a good book to read for its first four chapters in which he explains the first four "limbs" of Yoga. The next four, in which he attempts to explain the remaining stages of Yoga has much reference to his Magick theory. So if you are unfamiliar with Magick (as I am), the material may lose you easily. All in all, it is not worth spending $9.95 for the book if you are looking only for its Yoga content. If you have access to a good library, I would suggest you borrow it and read it first before you decide to you want to own a copy of it.

Be very careful trying to buy it here. Although it very clearly states you are looking at the page for the hardback edition, at LEAST the first four or five sellers listed are selling the paperback edition at ridiculously inflated prices.

Buyer beware.

This book makes an excellent companion to "Book 4" (part I), which examines various stages required for yoga. The emphasis of both books is ultimately to use yoga as a means for developing the concentration and will power necessary for magic. Crowley considers magic/yoga to be the quest of an individual to discover their True Nature/ Higher Self/ Essential Being, in other words to reach heights of spiritual enlightenment and to know our true purpose and nature of existence.
I should add here that actually reading the works of Crowley has given me a very different impression than the stigma that surrounds him. My preconception about Crowley were based on things I had read/heard... after all, I first read Diary of a Drug Fiend at fifteen years old, because of Crowley's reputation as a drug addled black magician, which seemed extraordinarily cool at the time. Perhaps that is why most people read Crowley... because of the tales and lore of his wicked personality, as if he is a child sacrificing, blood drinking, Satan worshiping beast. Now, I am not about to wipe his slate clean... his life seems to have been full of contradictions, because he seems to have explored both heights of enlightenment and depths of depravity. However, after rereading more of Crowley's work, he seems to be less deserving of the stigma surrounding him, and more deserving to be seriously read for his insights into spirituality in all it's forms.

Anyways, in this book Crowley instructs students on steps needed to approach mysticism through Yoga, and he details the complications that arise along the path. A major intention of his in these lectures was to dispel "myths" about Yoga, demystifying it's status as "exotic and oriental"... he tried to bring it down to Earth and examine it without and aura of obscurity. At the time the lectures were written Yoga was apparently seen as a bizarre practice from the exotic East... not so much today the case today, in which Yoga seems to be been co-opted as a fitness craze. This brings it's own bag of problems- I feel nausea every time I see an advertisement using the lotus pose as a sign of "inner peace", and every yoga class seemed to have made it as stressful as possible in order to tone old ladies muscles, rather than calm people down for spiritual discipline.

The book was written as a lecture series Crowley gave on yoga. It really reads as if Crowley is speaking, it has an amazingly natural flow and is full of humour. The best parts of this book are that it is very enjoyable and to read, and there are some passages that are rather deep, which are worth coming back to for further contemplation. Aside from that, I would really recommend Book 4 instead of Yoga for Yahoos, it is a better source for information, but has more of a "text book" feel. Yoga for Yahoos makes a good companion piece because of it's natural flow, and it's forays into Qabalistic theory, the complexities of logic and of quantum physics, and how all many various things relate to Yoga in practice.

If you are actually looking to read about Yoga in order to learn about and practice Yoga, I would instead recommend "Kundalini Yoga" by Swami Sivananda Rhada... it is absolutely excellent, and so full of practical and theoretical information/exercises that it can keep you busy for years. Above all, just practice instead of reading about it! If I could I'd give "Yoga for Yahoos" a 3.5 (but can't so it gets 4)... quite simply, I don't imagine I will refer to it much in the future, except for a few thought provoking passages... instead I will go back to "Book 4". The book would be a good addition for Crowley collectors.

I find this book to be a clear exposition of yoga from someone who is one of the icons of 20th century occult mysticism. Unlike many approaches to Eastern spiritual disciplines, this book neither trivializes the subject, nor accepts every detail of Eastern nonsense. I find his explanations clear and I enjoy his humor. The type of yoga Crowley is discussing is quite different than the gymnastics we in the West associate with the subject, but I really think he gets closer to the heart of the matter than any other writer I've ever seen. If I were going to pick only 1 book on yoga, this would be it.

This book by Crowley is easy to understand. It is written for the beginning and intermediate student. Theres a chapter written for the beginner and another chapter for the intermediate. Aleister Crowley was a great yogi and magician. This book will tell you what yoga is really all about. This is a great book to start out with if you are interested in Yoga. Also Sir Crowley dismisses the misconceptions about yoga. Even if you only plann to learn the basics of yoga this is still a great book to get.

After some years of study of Crowley and his system of Magick I find that his writings on Yoga are indeed the first steps that one must take in order to progress in the proper direction in this particular discipline. It is even to be found in his writings on Yoga that Magick and Yoga are one and the same. Although I must say that his approach to Yoga is not one of say an orthodox practitioner, it nevertheless produces results that are just as tangible if one were to study under the tutelage of a traditional instructor who favored the ethical and moralistic aspect's that have been passed down over the ages. His detailed methods of Scientific Illuminism are structured in such a way so as to bring about the highest level of Yogic attainment in a shorter duration than was previously possible. I wholeheartedly recommend the Eight Limbs to anyone who is even remotely interested in the study of Yoga or Magick.

when you read a book of this caliber you must look up each and every word that you do not know the correct defination of. Aleister Crowley has a command over the english language. This book proves that beyond a shadow of a doubt.