Discussions of the Understanding and Development of Classical & Modern Yoga

While yoga is universal and can be practiced by people of any or no religious tradition, CPY believes it is vital for practitioners to have an understanding of the foundational texts of yoga and the culture in which they were developed. These modern commentaries are suggested in addition to the foundational texts.

Cope, Stephan, Yoga and the Quest for the True Self. Bantam Books, 1999.

One of America’s leading scholars of yoga psychology describes the philosophy, psychology, and practice of yoga that urges us not to transcend the self but rather to encounter it more deeply. Cope shows how yoga can heal the suffering of self-estrangement leading one to a new sense of purpose and to a deeper, more satisfying life. 

Cope, Stephan, The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker’s Guide to Extraordinary Living. Bantam Books, 2006. 

Using dramatic personal stories of fellow seekers, as well as insights from modern psychology, neuroscience, religion and philosophy, Cope demonstrates how we can apply this ancient spiritual science of awakening called “yoga” to radically enlighten every aspect of our lives.

Feuerstein, Georg, The Deeper Dimension of Yoga. Shambhala Publications, 2003. 

A comprehensive survey of the full breadth and depth of the 5,000 year-old yoga tradition, emphasizing its potent philosophy and spiritual vision. Feuerstein demonstrates that yoga is much more than a system of physical exercises—it is a profound path of self-transformation that emcompasses a range of teachings, practices, and sacred texts that can help us cultivate wisdom, balance, and inner freedom, as well as physical health. 

Goldberg, Elliott, The Path of Modern Yoga. The History of an Embodied Spiritual Practice. Rochester, VT and Toronto: Inner Traditions, 2016. 

A sophisticated and wide-ranging study of the transformation of a classical practice for spiritual transformation into its contemporary form as a means towards health and fitness. Goldberg focuses his history through the lives and work of some eleven key figures, both Indian and Western. Goldberg is sympathetic to this transformation, showing that this evolution and adaptation provides an embodied spiritual practice for today. 

Horton, Carol A. Yoga Ph.D. Integrating the Life of the Mind and the Wisdom of the Body. Chicago: Kleio Books, 2012.  

The author received her doctorate in political science from the University of Chicago. She brings her social science formation to her experience as a yoga teacher in order to examine the multi-faceted character of modern postural yoga. Despite the title, the book is written in a popular, easily accessible style

Jain, Andrea, Selling Yoga: From Counterculture to Pop Culture. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

In this book, Jain examines postural yoga’s evolution as a transnational economic product. Jain argues that yoga adapts to its context, which is how it is practiced so differently by so many different kinds of people. What is also notable about this study is Jain’s consideration of the religious aspects of yoga, including objections from Hindus and Christians. She ends the discussion by illustrating the impossibility of defining “the essence of yoga.” This book is a must-read for the Christian scholar of yoga.

Mallison, James Sir (translator & introduction) and Mark Singleton (translator & introduction), Roots of Yoga. New York: Penguin Classics, 2017.

A collection of fresh, critical translations of classic yogic texts from 1000 BCE to the 19th century. This is an invaluable collection of original sources.

Samuel, Geoffrey. The Origins of Yoga and Tantra. Indic Religions to the Thirteenth Century. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008. 

The author, a specialist in Religious Studies, presents a dense history of the origins of yoga and tantra up to the thirteenth century of the common era. He sets this history within the larger religious and cultural context of South Asian societies. He thus uncovers origins of not only Hinduism, but Buddhism and Jainism as well. The book will appeal to specialists in the study of religions. 

Singleton, Mark. Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2010.

In this book, scholar Mark Singleton explores the evolution of posture-based yoga (continuing De Michelis’s work in A History of Modern Yoga). Here’s the book’s thesis: “Posture-based yoga as we know it today,” Singleton explains in the introduction, “is the result of a dialogical exchange between para-religious, modern body culture techniques developed in the West and the various discourses of ‘modern’ Hindu yoga that emerged from the time of Vivekananda onward.” Essentially, Singleton posits that posture-based yoga today evolved from a back-and-forth exchange of ideas between the East and the West.

Singleton, Mark and Ellen Goldberg, eds., Gurus of Modern Yoga. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press, 2014.

Edited by two scholars from Modern Yoga Research, this compilation of essays includes profiles of twentieth-century figures in modern yoga. Some of the figures covered include Swami Vivekananda, Sri Aurobindo, Shri Yogendra, as well as more recent figures like B.K.S. Iyengar and John Friend. This book is often referenced in other research on modern yoga.