How We Live Our Yoga: Teachers and Practitioners on How Yoga Enriches, Surprises, and Heals Us [Paperback]

Valerie Jeremijenko (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 13, 2001

How We Live Our Yoga collects fourteen frank, moving, and thoughtful personal essays by passionate yoga practitioners on why they began to practice, what it has brought to their lives, how their relationship to yoga changes and evolves, and more. Judith Lasater looks at the unexpected relationship between yoga and parenting. Award-winning poet Stanley Plumly ponders the connection between his Quaker upbringing, his writing, and his yoga practice. The well-known Sanskritist Vyaas Houston tells the story of his first guru and their difficult relationship. And philosopher and conceptual artist Adrian Piper comes out as a yogic celibate.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This captivating, fresh collection of personal stories provocatively explores the question of "what happens to a practice based on stillness and acceptance, in a world based on striving, distraction and insatiable appetites." More than a dozen yoga practitioners shine light on their own lives to reveal a great breadth of possibilities about the reach of yoga for Americans. Editor Jeremijenko has done fine work pulling together startlingly different lives that are revealed through superior, thoughtful writing. Not all the stories are glowing tributes by any means, which gives this compilation all the more credibility. Fulbright scholar Elizabeth Kadetsky's "Coming Apart in Pune" commences the collection with a less-than-flattering account of a stint in yoga guru B.K.S. Iyengar's studio in India. Indian-American poet Reetika Vazirani's poignant, ironic and hopeful "The Art of Breathing" crystallizes America's variant of yoga, detailing its strengths and weaknesses. For the estimated 15 million Americans who practice yoga, this book is a real boon. It isn't at all about how to do yoga, but it is about how to comprehend yoga in a very rich way. Lacking a glossary to explain some terms, this work is not for those with no familiarity with the world of asanas (poses). But for those with even a cursory knowledge of yoga practice, it proffers a highly interesting, refreshing and deeper gaze at an ancient gift.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Most yoga texts instruct readers on how to achieve postures, how to sit during meditation, and so forth. In contrast, the evocative essays assembled in this volume illustrate yoga "off the mat" that is, practicing yoga in daily life. The contributors are practitioner-writers who follow a variety of yoga paths and have published in periodicals and anthologies. They do not shy away from tough subjects: practicing celibacy as a spiritual discipline, the way we subsume cultures without according them their depth, what yoga can teach us about death, and the relationship of yoga to injury, illness, and depression. The voices are strong even when they are unsure, as in essays that question the deification of teachers and gurus. Editor Jeremijenko, a yoga teacher and professor of dance and choreography at Virginia Commonwealth University, presents vital, high-quality, writing that speaks directly. Highly recommended for all public libraries and academic libraries with movement therapy collections. Elizabeth C. Stewart, Portland, ME
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: Beacon Press (September 13, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0807062952
• ISBN-13: 978-0807062951
• Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 0.5 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #358,464 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding addition to the literature of yoga in English, March 9, 2002

By 

Dennis Littrell (SoCal) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: How We Live Our Yoga: Teachers and Practitioners on How Yoga Enriches, Surprises, and Heals Us (Paperback)

There is so much in this book that is wonderful and unique in the literature of yoga that I want to comment on, but for this review I want to concentrate on just one of the essays, the brilliant and penetrating, "The Meaning of Brahmacharya" by Adrian S. Piper.

This essay by Wellesley Professor of Philosophy Adrian Piper centers on two yogic practices, both much misunderstood, and worse, much misrepresented. The first is celibacy (brahmacharya). A lot of cant about how brahmacharya really means moderation or monogamy, sex within marriage only, or a non-lustful state of mind, etc., is given the ghost by Piper, who is a long practicing brahmacarin and expert on jnana yoga. Piper's first point is that brahmacharya means quite simply what it is purported to mean, that is, celibacy. Period. Of course this is hard to accept, and for young people well-nigh impossible, and so most "authorities" have cheapened the message, have compromised the intent, and have said, what is meant is "moderation," etc. Some cultist gurus have even exploited this "interpretation" by assuming this mentality as their mantra: "I make love to you and only you (at this time) because you are special. In this way I practice brahmacharya, I practice moderation and restraint."

Very appealing, but one might also slip through that eye of the needle and enter into the kingdom of heaven wearing a money belt. Piper has no such delusions. She's got it right. Celibacy is celibacy. That is why in the Hindu social philosophy one is first a student, and then a householder, then a mendicant and finally a renunciant. Householders are not celibate. In is only in the latter stages that one can be truly celibate. (There are exceptions of course, just as there are exceptional people.)

Having said this I must confess that I disagree with Professor Piper on one particular. She writes (p. 39): "...the policy governing self-stimulation for brahmacharins is: Hands above the sheets!" What this means, I imagine, is that one must, in so far as it is possible, not practice onanism. Instead one should realize that celibacy means, as Piper phrases it, "to walk with God." This reminds me of the Catholic tradition that has the nuns "married" to Jesus--although, of course the God that Piper is referring to, the God of the Vedas, is Ineffable, being beyond anything we can say or not say. I would differ with Piper by insisting that a complete understanding of celibacy includes this most important distinction of how one should practice sex, that is, quite simply, not with others. Instead one should make love to oneself. Indeed, this is part of self-study. To say that one should not practice sexuality at all is to remain ignorant. There are many reasons that the path of yoga includes brahmacharya, but the most important one is that the practice of celibacy is the best answer to the problem of sex. Sex leads to copious karmas created. It leads to distraction and worldly responsibility. Ultimately, it leads to birth and death, to the perpetuation of the wheel of karma, which is exactly what the yogi wants to get away from, what the yogi is working to transcend. One also acts through nonaction, the Gita teaches. A kind of non-touching of oneself only prolongs and exacerbates the excitement, the tension and leads further along the path to sensuality. That is why in tantra it is taught that the man should withhold...himself for as long as possible. This is not done to conserve his strength, as some strictures have it, but to prolong his and her enjoyment. Putting this minor disagreement aside, I have to say that Piper's delineation of brahmacharya demonstrates a profound understanding of the intent and practice of yoga.

Her essay is also about the somewhat infamous tantra of the left-handed path, which she calls "California Tantra," a felicitous phrase that captures the essence of the practice. Again, Piper's insight and expression reveals her deep understanding of the subject. As she writes (p. 56), "Variants on the general rule of thumb [for tantric yoga] might be: Party until you've gotten your yayas out; or until you've had enough partying for three lifetimes; or until you've learned the lessons from it you need to learn." This is tantric yoga in a nutshell: one finds liberation by giving into one's desires, it being believed that finally when the fires of youth are exhausted one will find samadhi (as Siddhartha does in Herman Hesse's celebrated novel). Piper acknowledges on page 55 that this liberation is "nothing to sneeze at." What she doesn't say in her essay is that tantra of the left-handed path is a torturous and very painful way of finding God, to be employed only when all else fails. It is the path of the junkie and the libertine; it is the roller coaster ride of exhaustive highs and lows; it is the path that will burn the aspirant out at an early age. It is dangerous.

Piper's final note is magnificent: "The point of <ascetic> practices is not what one gives up but rather what one gets." She adds, "One does not give up the good life, but rather maximizes its goodness."

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Yoga in the Real World, January 14, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: How We Live Our Yoga: Teachers and Practitioners on How Yoga Enriches, Surprises, and Heals Us (Paperback)

This book takes a refreshingly candid look at the way yoga fits into the world of a variety of different people. By allowing the reader to see that even experienced teachers struggle with their practice at different points in their lives, Jeremijenko de-mystifies some of our commonly held beliefs. This book is a very enjoyable read with something for everyone, no matter where they are in their practice or their lives.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful collection of essays, shedding light on yoga., April 20, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: How We Live Our Yoga: Teachers and Practitioners on How Yoga Enriches, Surprises, and Heals Us (Paperback)

This book has been a godsend. It is a collection of essays by various yogis, some of them teachers, some of them just folks trying to understand their lives. Over the past six months I have tried to start a yoga practice in order to gain some insight and bring some clarity into my life. In trying to deal with a lifetime of chronic depression and obesity I have found the holistic and non-striving philosophy of yoga very appealing. And yet I must admit that I am at times intimidated by the placid and flexible gurus who tend to write most of the books, appear in most of the videos, and teach most of the classes. How wonderful it is to encounter the doubts, insights, fears, and questions of the writers in this book. Personally the essays that I prefered were not the ones writen by yoga teachers, but rather the ones writen by people, like me, who have been touched by yoga, and who are just trying to find a "way." This book has opened a door and allowed me into the world of yoga, and I am very grateful.