Will Yoga & Meditation Really Change My Life: Personal Stories from 25 of North America's Leading Teachers [Hardcover]

Stephen Cope (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 22, 2003

Stephen Cope asked 25 yoga and meditation teachers to share their "tales from the path"--their thoughts on how the long-term practice of yoga and meditation has changed their lives. The result is a unique collection of stories offering insight and inspiration for everyone seeking a more satisfying life.

 

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Cope, a scholar-in-residence and teacher at the Kripalu Center, examines the widespread growth of Eastern spiritual practices in America through personal interviews with 25 prominent teachers of Buddhism, yoga, and meditation responsible, in part, for this proliferation, including Sylvia Boorstein, Lama Surya Das, Judith Lasater, Larry Rosenberg, and Patricia Walden. Cope asked contributors to write about what they have experienced while conducting their contemplative practice, what fruit the practice has borne in their life, and what the source is of their deepest inspiration. While some spent significant time in traditional Indian ashrams or Zen monasteries, most developed a long-standing contemplative practice in the midst of ordinary American life, and one surprising common thread is how solitary practices positively transformed relationships within the individual's family. Stories of dramatic mystical experiences are few, rather most teachers note that contemplative practice gradually helped them to become kinder, less fearful, and more authentic. Jane Tuma
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Inside Flap

Over the course of thousands of years, yogis discovered and refined astonishingly practical techniques for living fully. They developed sophisticated forms of mediation -- and a remarkable science of physical culture that led to refined states of well-being.

In the span of a mere 30 years, these ancient practices have been transplanted into the mainstream of American culture, and we now face an interesting historical crossroads. We have, for the first time, a whole generation of Americans who have spent much of their adult lives influenced by the regular practice of yoga and meditation. An intriguing question emerges: So what? Have these practices really changed our lives? What are their real long-term benefits? Do they really make us happier? More productive? More authentic? And do these practices just change individual lives, or do they transform societies as well?

In this volume of essays, well-known yoga teacher and author Stephen Cope poses these questions to 24 of the most prominent teachers of yoga and meditation in America today. Their answers, collected here in both essay and interview form, reveal an astonishing portrait of one generation's struggle with both the promises and the pitfalls of contemplative practice. Their stories are remarkably moving, real, and human -- and they take us beyond the idealized images we may have of spiritual practice into a realm of authentic personal and social transformation that has the potential to make a profound and lasting impact on our culture.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Storey Publishing, LLC (September 22, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580175090
• ISBN-13: 978-1580175098
• Product Dimensions: 0.4 x 0.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #477,681 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fairly Good Collection of Personal Essays and Interviews, November 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Will Yoga & Meditation Really Change My Life: Personal Stories from 25 of North America's Leading Teachers (Hardcover)

To answer the question the title poses: yes, yoga and/or meditation will change your life, but maybe not in the ways you hope or expect.

This is a fairly good collection. Each person's stories is only a few pages long, so reading a story a night in bed is a nice way to relax. This book is probably best for neophytes with an interest in and general knowledge of yoga, meditation, or Buddhism who want to know about people with the same interests. There are a few people who made me roll my eyes and think, "this is why people think yoga is weird," but most of the people seem like real, down to earth people who know what it means to live in the real world and make thoughtful choices about how they're going to live. The good stories reminded you that life after yoga isn't perfect, you won't magically become infalliable, holy, strong, wise, or immune to disease. Your feelings won't disappear, things in your life can still hurt you and you will still be a human being. Don't expect answers from this book: this is light reading at its best (like I said, bedside reading), but it might provoke a few questions if you read thoughtfully. Do read this if you're thinking of going deeper into your study of yoga, if you wonder if yoga is a yuppie fad that you've mistakenly bought into, or if you don't yet feel a sense of community with those who you practice with. Note: this book does not offer any advice about yoga postures or how to meditate.

There were one or two stories that made me sad because it seems like yoga is segregated between races. How come people of color get their own teachers and retreats? Doesn't yoga come from the word yoke? If yoga can't unify people here in the US, nothing in the world will ever be able to. I greive that we can't all practice together as a unified community, honoring differences while celebrating what we share as human beings. I hope this changes within my lifetime and I hope I make a difference in bringing people together.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful And Inspiring Collection Of Spiritual Insights, August 17, 2004

By 

CPTScott - See all my reviews

This review is from: Will Yoga & Meditation Really Change My Life: Personal Stories from 25 of North America's Leading Teachers (Hardcover)

I really enjoy books like this, where you get to hear personal reflections from seekers deeply on their path.

I think it's helpful to be able to see how others have been affected by their practice and how they integrate it into their lives.

I am a practicing "Suburban Yogi" who has been on a spiritual path for as long as I can remember, but being a person who is very much a householder with a family, job, mortgage and other responsibilities it can be very difficult to stay grounded on the path. I don't live in solitude in a cave in the himalayas but in Suburban Tennessee (originally from Suburban New York) so I'm very much in the "real world".

I found this book is very helpful because the chapters which feature various spiritual seekers are short enough to be able to read in a short sitting and yet deep enough to help give me inspiration in my own life.

I feel that those folks who are featured in the book really opened themselves up honestly and shared from their hearts their own struggles and growth as they have lived and continue to live their practice the best that they can.

If you like this sort of book then I think you'll love this one by Stephen Cope.

Another book of Interviews that I would also recommend is "Yogi Bare" by Philip Self which contains interviews with many well known Yoga Teachers in the west.

Still other books that are different in format but are still wonderful books that deal with living your yoga and not just the asana/pranayama part (but still related to those things as well) , are: "Meditations from the Mat" by Rolf Gates."Yoga and the Quest for the True Self" by Stephen Cope (the author of the above book), "Yoga and The Path of The Urban Mystic" by Darren John Main (see also his "Spritual Journeys Along The Yellow Brick Road"), "Bringing Yoga To Life" by Donna Farhi, "The Tree Of Yoga" by BKS Iyengar to name other books that I found excellent.

Namaste

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Its already OK, December 19, 2003

By 

Chris Parker (Westminster West, VT) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Will Yoga & Meditation Really Change My Life: Personal Stories from 25 of North America's Leading Teachers (Hardcover)

There is incredible value in hearing other people's stories. I find it easy to worry if I'm good enough. And sometimes I see where other people are and know it isn't what I want.

Besides the value in other's stories, I just find them interesting! These are stories from names I recognize as stars in the yoga and Buddhist world. It's good to see them as human. I get a feeling I know them better, which changes my relationship to them when I see them walking around at a Yoga Journal conference or catch their name in print.

The question the book poses is "Will yoga and meditation really change my life?" In my own life, I've already answered this question (it will), but what this book does is help me not worry so much about needing to think my life needs changing.