...one thing we’ve always tried to be clear about here at Yoga for Cynics is that this isn’t one of those
elitist blogs...aimed at “highbrow” “educated” types who, y’know, “read” “books”...and, certainly, we wouldn’t think about posting anything as snooty as a “book review”...at least, not for any book longer than 87 pages...including pictures...with some pages that don’t have a whole lotta words on them...and which can be downloaded for free...like our friend* Bob Weisenberg’s
Yoga Demystified...(which also has a sub-title, but, since Bob ignored our brilliant suggestion,
From Hot Buns to Bhakti, it won’t be mentioned here)...
...Bob’s goal in this book is to
demystify yoga........okay, that was lame...on the level of Britney Spears describing
I’m Not a Girl, Not Yet a Woman as about not being a girl but not being a woman, either.....I’ll start again...
...Bob’s book
unpacks yoga philosophy in a
non-dogmatic way...pointing out that what really counts is not esoteric language, mythical symbology, religious trappings, one armed handstands, perfect abs, those really expensive Lululemon pants your friends all wear to the Saturday morning vinyasa class, or going to India and getting all ecstatic when some old dude in a sheet steps on your head....(so...maybe
Beyond Hot Buns and Bhakti would be better...)...
... basically, Bob wants to get past the confounding and complicated details to the
heart of things...which I couldn’t agree with more....but what's with the commas outside quotation marks?...or periods inside parentheses?!....where was I?....oh yeah, it’s all about the
deeper essence....but
fantastical?...what, exactly, does the
al suffix add that we don’t already get from the word
fantastic?!....ahem...like I said,
essence...
...which is to be found as much in a paper clip as any sacred text...as much in sitting at your computer cringing at some blogger’s cheap attempts at humor as levitating in a cave in India five thousand years ago...though, at the same time, without romanticizing distant
theres and
thens,
Yoga Demystified does a nice job of pointing out the value of those sacred texts from ancient India in getting at the value of yoga in the
here and now...
...ultimately, Bob’s saying, with verve and humor, that what he's found in the yoga tradition has far more to do with opening to the wonder in everything than cramming one’s self and universe into some exotic set of definitions or beliefs...giving, along with its brevity and easy-going style, the crustiest of yoga cynics very little to get indignant about...(though, of course, any crusty yoga cynic worthy of the title can always find
something to get indignant about)....as well as providing a lot to tickle the chakras of the more seasoned yogi, regardless of ability to read Sanskrit or perform
hanumanasana****...
...what I particularly like about
Yoga Demystified, though,
is its openness and generosity of spirit...freely and refreshingly acknowledging that what’s provided isn’t the last word or one true version but
the branches of yoga that appeal to me*****...while playfully interweaving texts, techniques, jokes, science, music, poems, tennis, and hot dog vendors...emphasizing connections in a way that makes me think about just how much I could’ve used such a concise, good-humored introduction when first getting into the yoga thing.....thus, making it perfect for that friend or family member you think could benefit from yoga but who’s currently getting way too much enjoyment out of making fun of it...as if the two were mutually exclusive...
* Bob being our friend does not, of course, in any way shape or form, bias this review...nor has any money changed hands between him and the management, writing staff, or corporate partners of this blog****
which is not to say we’d turn down a tax-deductible*** contribution to Dr. Jay's Totally Legit Non-profit Foundation for Enlightened Yoga Cynicism
...just write out the check to Dr. Jay...he’ll make sure it gets to the right place...
*** okay, maybe not “tax deductible” in the “technical” sense of “the IRS considers it tax deductible”....at this blog, we’re poets...mystics...rebels...mavericks...and not about to let some materialistic government agency define our terms for us...
**** full disclosure: we at this blog couldn’t order lunch in Sanskrit, but we're doing our best to keep positive about managing something vaguely resembling hanumanasana at some point in the next decade or two...
***** unlike this blog post which, as it turns out, actually is
the final and absolute word on its subject...we'd chisel it into a stone if they weren't all covered in snow just now...
