Review: Yoga Body – Mark Singleton

Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice – Mark Singleton
Oxford Press. 2010. 262pp. 9780195395341.

When most people think of yoga they get an image of people stretching, and posing, and breathing deeply. If you mention that yoga is a religious tradition most are confused, and some know that and either think that the religion has been stripped out of it, or that the Gods care how flexible you are. If you mention that the idea of yoga as being this physically focused system of stretching is less than a hundred years old then suddenly people get irate. People have a surprisingly vested interest in the historical authenticity of posture yoga, even when they’re doing it strictly for physical purposes.

This book challenges all of that, by examining medieval yoga texts, and modern yoga and fitness texts from the last century and a half Singleton manages to illustrate the best and most comprehensive history of modern Western yoga. He starts with the bold assertion that “there is little or no evidence that āsana (excepting certain seated postures of meditation) has even been the primary aspect of any Indian yoga practice tradition – including the medieval, body-oriented haṭha yoga.” ((3)) He then moves on to show that not only was this posture-based focus not included in traditional yoga, but it was considered backward and superstitious.

The book follows the complex dialectical history of yoga to the modern portrayal. Initially there is focus on the lack of focus (or mention) of physical postures in the traditional yoga texts -including the ones that are often sweepingly claimed to validate posture yoga like Patañjali’s yoga. Then slowly he builds an intricate picture that set the stage for posture-based yoga to arise. He moves into the confusion between fakirs and yogins to the Europeans (largely the British) and how that started a feedback loop. Around the turn of the 20th century there was an international obsession with fitness, various schools of acrobatics, gymnastics, and bodybuilding appeared at that time, and as India was under British rule it was caught up in this craze.

Singleton shows how the name yoga was appropriated or co-opted into this physical culture, starting off as more of a body-building system, and then into gymnastics and stretching, all the while moving farther away from the traditional yoga. I should clarify that Singleton doesn’t consider modern yoga as wrong, false, disconnected, or anything like that -though he may criticize the bad history involved- instead he states that modern yoga is just a natural progression of the system. While I completely agree with all his research and his analysis, I can’t agree with the conclusion. What yoga has become was not shaped by spiritual or cultural progression, but cultural oppression and colonization. What is thought of as yoga was created by an interaction between British laws outlawing yoga, European contortionism, and Swiss gymnastics. I cannot agree with the premise that it is a natural progression or part of the same continuum, I feel it is more of a deviation than a development. This is not to say I have no use for modern yoga, only that I recognize it as a modern system with no basis in historical yoga, and a physical practice. That being said this book is extremely well researched, well documented, and deeply analyzed (a nerd’s dream) and if you’re interested in yoga one way or another, I recommend you pick it up, and draw your conclusions from the research.

Review: Tantra Yoga Secrets – Mukunda Stiles

Tantra Yoga Secrets: Eighteen Transformational Lessons to Serenity, Radiance, and Bliss. – Mukunda Stiles
Weiser, 2011, 361pp., 9781578635030

“Tantra has been greatly misunderstood, particularly in the West, where it is perceived primarily as sacred sexuality. This view is what I seek to transform with this book, so that the reader will not only understand but experience the wholeness of this path to communion” (4).

This opening line had me greatly reassured about this book. Tantra is horribly misrepresented, so honestly I was a bit apprehensive to read this book, but I quickly realized that Mukunda Stiles understood the nature of tantra and was not writing another crappy book on sex pretending to be ancient spirituality.

Now, too be clear, there can be sex involved in tantra, and this book has sexual exercises in it, but sex is just a small part of the system. “Tantra is not better sex. Tantra is sadhana to be free of karma” (271). Stiles also touches on how the system’s sexual aspects can be used if one is celibate/asexual, or if one is in a same-sex relationship, which might seem like a minor point, but is wonderful to see included.

So if tantra is more than just sex, what is this book about? “Sharing and being with Chinnamasta is to me the living experience of the mysterious delight of Tantra, that is continuously arising and expanding as the sacred tremor of the tantric spanda” (xi). Tantra is a religious path, considered a rapid path to enlightenment. The focus of tantra is about overcoming your restrictions, and self-transformation, through prana (energy) work, meditation, and mental development.

“These eighteen lessons are specifically designed to reveal your limitations” (xiv) and cover everything from sensing the flow of prana in your body, to healing with prana, learning how to use mantras, physical conditioning, and prayer. The book moves along at a quick pace, recommend no more than two weeks per lesson. If you’re looking for a system to work with and develop through that has clear exercises and timelines this is a great book to start with. Each chapter ends with a Question and Answer section with questions that Stiles has collected from internet correspondences and personal communication and classes, more than once a question that hit me throughout the chapter was clarified in this section.

What impressed me most was the seriousness and understanding of Stiles in regards to tantra and the limitations of the medium of text. “These Tantrik teachings rest on a cornerstone of experiential knowledge gained over the ages by the men and women of this lineage. That knowledge can only be summarized and pointed to in book form” (xiv). Also that “Chaitanya mantras are the most popular mantras given and yet, without empowerment from the teacher, they don’t produce the desired result. It is like having a lamp, but not plugging it into a circuit” (107). It is a pleasant surprise to see a book that explains it is not, and cannot be, the substitute for a properly qualified teacher, that some techniques are offered hypothetically and will only become alive with person-to-person transmissions.

While this book has a few problems, including referencing important exercises that are included in other books, but not explained here, for the most part it is quite excellent. It may not cover the academic scope, or the theoretical cosmology that some people look for in tantra, when it comes to experiential work and self-development this book is amazing. To anyone with interest in a tantric path, or beginning self-work to overcome limitations, this is most definitely the book I would recommend for that.

Wednesday Webshares: Music, Monks, Mayans, and More

(Yes, I know I have an alliteration problem. I tried attending Alliteraters Anonymous, but that just made things worse)

In my review on Geomancy by Hartmann, I expressed some confusion about some assignments. Polyphanes came to the rescue with a killer comment, which then led into a great post on the planets orderings and their connections, days, nights, hours, and metals?

For the more musically inclined on the Ceremonial spectrum Alex Sumner has written a set of posts on Music in Theory and Practice. Putting the different ways of transforming Hebrew letters into musical notation. This is the first one, I recommend reading them. Of course, I disagree with his suggestion that you could just grab any instrument and play the names on it…he obviously doesn’t play a theremin, just saying.

Debating the Mayan Nonpocalypse? Here is a handy infographic comparing believers and sceptics.

I adore Carl Sagan. Cosmos was a huge influence on my spiritual path. I celebrate his birthday, and call him a Saint. Lupa writes up a great reflection on watching the series, and the importance of its message, and I couldn’t agree more.

Want an interesting bar experience in Tokyo? There is no shortage of bizarre places to go, but how about a bar staffed by Buddhist monks? It’s not just a silly gimmick, it’s an attempt to break out of the monastic tradition and return to engaging with the community, and helping others. I’m assuming they had a lot of discussions if this counts are right livelihood or not.

Looking for a good New Years Tarot spread? Check out Naya’s 26 card spread. It’s a lot to work through but after giving it a try I like the format a lot.

For more 2012 forecasting pop over to Peter Stockinger’s Traditional Astrology Weblog where he lists out the retrogrades we have coming this year, as well as Out of Bounds, Ingresses, Eclipses, and more.

Going back two months Aghor Pit wrote up a nine part series on the Navagraha, the Nine Planets. Each entry talks about the Planet/God represents or rules, some explanation on the symbolism, Yantras, associations, mantras and more. This link is to Chandra (the Moon) the first in the series, but I really recommend reading them all. Even though it is different from the Western traditions, there is a lot to learn there.

I know it’s an easy horse to beat, and I’ll try to leave it with this, but a video on why 2012 is silly. Best quote “The History Channel: What happened to you guys?”

Also in a hitting myself over the head because it’s so clever and I didn’t think of it post Naya links the theory of Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences to different types of magick. Now, when I teach people magick I always try to play into their strengths initially, and in my non-magickal life I’ve had Gardner’s MI beaten into me regularly for a long time, but I never linked them. Lots to think on, both what fits where, and one of the important questions with MI, how to modify something that doesn’t fall into someone’s stronger Intelligences so that it does, without having to abandon everything.

Review: Bardo Teachings – Venerable Lama Lodo

Bardo Teachings: The Way of Death and Rebirth – Venerable Lama Lödo
Snow Lion. 1982. 73pp. 0937938602.

I believe no religion has put as much thought and study into death, dying, and rebirth as Tibetan Buddhism has. The Bardo Thodol, or The Great Liberation through Hearing in the Between is the well-known (if poorly understood) Tibetan text on the process of dying, what is seen after death, and what happens to the consciousness. This book represents an expansion of the thoughts from the Bardo Thodol from an oral lineage granted by the Very Venerable Kalu Rinpoche.

While there are six Bardos, or Between States, only three of them relate to death; the Chikai Bardo, the Chonyi Bardo, and the Sipai Bardo. The Chonyi Bardo is the Bardo after death, and receives most of the focus in the Bardo Thodol, and as such is glazed over in this text. The Chikai Bardo, the Bardo of dying, and the Sipai Bardo, the Bardo of preparing and searching for the next rebirth, on the other hand are the main focus of the text. This book is not for people without a grounding in Tibetan Buddhism, it assumes a basic understanding exists of Buddhist principles, the Bardo Thodol and of the esoteric Buddhist symbolism used in Tibetan Buddhism.

There is little about the core of the teachings that can be easily explained, it is simply a detailed look at the process of dying and the state of the mind during death, and then an exploration of the experiences and processes that lead to rebirth. For those interested in the tradition, it is definitely an intriguing and insightful read. Lama Lödo finishes each chapter with a Question-Answer section, which contain many interesting points. The ones I found most interesting included that being under medication while dying is detrimental to rebirth because of the confusion it creates (16) which as someone with my medical history has often been a concern of mine, and that the experiences of the Bardos will be different without the religious background of Tibetan Buddhism (17). He says simply that the figures, deities, and images of the Bardo will be just colours and forms that will frighten and confuse people who aren’t Buddhist, where as I feel, considering the system, that without the background it would still be a relevant religious experience, instead of just a confusing light show.

Either way this is an interesting text, if you’ve read the Bardo Thodol and would like to see some aspects explained clearly and discussed this is probably a good place to start.

Review: The Sorcerer’s Secrets – Jason Miller

The Sorcerer’s Secrets: Strategies in Practical Magick – Jason Miller
New Page Books. 2009. 224pp. 9781601630599.

With his second book Jason Miller sets out to “provide a field guide for working with magick, not just a massive collection of every ceremony, spell, and trick that I know” (187) specifically regarding what he often phrases as real magick, and practical magick. I’d say he does a pretty good job of this, he doesn’t discount magick as a tool for growth and insight as spiritual beings, in fact he encourages it, but he also stresses it can cause real affects here and now (9). The style of magick he synthesizes is largely drawn from Ceremonial Magick (pre-Golden Dawn mainly), Tantra and Bön; so not surprisingly it is a system I took to it quite well and enjoyed.

In some ways the book contains what you see in a lot of introductory magickal books, breathing exercises, gazing exercises, theories about how our reality is divided/shaped, basic meditations. While a few exercises were interesting, nothing in this part is really that new to a magickal practitioner, after that though he starts getting into more uncommon stuff. An example is a meditation ritual combining a Tibetan Elemental system within the body and a Ceremonial Magick Godname, the ritual I found interesting not just because of the combination, but the elemental order is different than what I’ve learnt in both systems, though he explains quite interestingly why this order of the elements works.

He deals with the practical use of divination in order to help you plan your magickal acts. The chapters in the second section of the book all contain good information drawing on the systems I mentioned along with hoodoo, European folk magick and other things. The chapters aren’t just instructions on magick, but contain sets of questions for the sorcerers to consider in order to help them with their work, basic yet critical topics of thought for the sorcerer to use to be successful. Miller emphasizes “success in magick depends upon working the magickal and the mundane aspects of every situation” (92). He balances magick with life planning, of course this division is a touch artificial, and he concludes with a similar thought. “Though there is certainly a lot of classical magick in the book there is also a lot of information that isn’t typically thought of as magick. I want my readers to stop thinking in terms of what is magick and what is not, and instead start thinking in terms of what is successful and what is not” (207).

The book is written in an order I think would be conducive to someone just getting into magick, and is structured that new or seasoned with magick we can easily find what we need to work with. His style of writing is easy to follow, his tone is rational and humorous and I challenge anyone to read about his binding and expelling of people without laughing at his method (in a good way). An aspect I found enjoyable was his use of references, and encouraging people to research more into the topics. He provides a very simplified method of dealing with a Goetic Demon, but then suggests to the reader that if they like the system and the results to look into how it is traditionally done. There is also a section on working professionally as a sorcerer/magickian. This is a topic too few authors (or even practitioners) are willing to broach so it was refreshing to see it. As someone who has worked doing the “magickal odd job” it was nice to see it addressed and get another outlook.

Miller walks a fine line between tradition and innovation which is hard to do. He encourages creativity and personal creations, but stresses the necessity of research, experience and results. While I don’t know under what category I’d recommend this book to people, I definitely see myself recommending it. Also for those interested Jason Miller runs The Strategic Sorcery Blog which I’ve found a provoking and enjoyable read.