21ST CENTURY YOGA:
CULTURE, POLITICS, AND
PRACTICE /BOOK
EDITED BY CAROL HORTON AND
ROSEANNE HARVEY
Kleio Books
21st Century Yoga: Culture, Politics, and
Practice is a delicious compilation of essays regarding the current state of yoga in
the US and Canada. All of the writers are
accomplished, erudite, gifted and passionate. Some of the essays are deeply personal,
others are profoundly political.
Julian Walker argues that Tantric Yoga
philosophy is a better fit for the American spirit than Classical Yoga philosophy.
Melanie Klein believes that corporations
have corrupted yoga to sell it for weight
loss while Frank Jude Boccio concurs that
the American emphasis on asana “often
leads to a misuse of the practice.” Matthew
Remski writes a searing critical analysis on
how yoga studios are failing to build communities. Be Scofield argues that yoga has
sometimes been used in the name of violence, and Michael Stone paints a stunning
portrait of the Occupy movement and how
the ideals of yoga could be used to reframe
our society. Tommy Rosen, Chelsea Roff,
and Angela Jamison contribute poignant
insights into the personal healing that yoga
can provide.
Hopefully these monologues will become
dialogues and this wonderful book will become a series that enables critical thinkers
to honestly discuss the astonishing transformation of an ancient Hindu religious
practice into the widely variegated physical and spiritual practice it has recently become in North America.
Reviewed by Ira Israel, Licensed Psychotherapist (LPCC
& LMFT) and Workshop Facilitator.
