I am currently reading Stephen Cope's Yoga and the Quest for the True Self (Bantam Books: 1999). It's a very breezy read -- at least so far -- about a man's discovery of yoga. It's very much in the line of another yoga book that I enjoyed, Amy Weintraub's Yoga for Depression because both are written with a journalistic flare, serious scholarship and a deep commitment to yoga. Both write most of the book in the first person so there is a personal immediacy in the narrative. Cope was/is a psychiatrist so he is sensitive to the whole human spiritual dimension of yoga. He also happens to be giving an account of the Kripalu Center, which underwent a major upheaval after its guru was discovered to be dabbling with some of his female followers. Both Weintraub and Cope were at Kripalu together and acknowledge each other in their respective books.

I had been planning on reading this book for years but never bothered to order it. Last week, I put in an order for other material at Amazon and I said to myself, why not. I should also pick up his other book, The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker's Guide to Extraordinary Living (Bantam Books: 2006), but I can't possibly handle both at the same time, plus all the other reading that stacks up on my desk and shelves.

Labels: reading, yoga