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The Subtle Body
''The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America'' is a 2010 book on the history of yoga as exercise by the American journalist Stefanie Syman. It spans the period from the first precursors of American yoga, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thoreau, the arrival of Vivekananda, the role of Hollywood with Indra Devi, the hippie generation, and the leaders of a revived but now postural yoga such as Bikram Choudhury and Pattabhi Jois. Several critics gave the book positive reviews, praising its wide range and readability; other critics gave it mixed reviews, noting its strengths, but also its lack of a strong continuous argument and its tendency to gossip. Synopsis Syman begins ''The Subtle Body'' by describing in turn the precursors of American yoga, namely Ralph Waldo Emerson and Thoreau. She notes that Emerson's 1856 poem ''Brahma'' concisely introduced Hindu nondualism, repudiating "sacraments, supernaturalism, biblical authority, and ... Christianity". Thoreau, she states, tried to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chakrasana
Chakrasana ( sa, चक्रासन, lit=Wheel Pose, translit=Cakrāsana) or Urdhva Dhanurasana ( sa, ऊर्ध्वधनुरासन, lit=Upward-Facing Bow Pose, translit=Ūrdhvadhanurāsana) is a backbending asana in yoga as exercise. The one-legged variant is often chosen by yoga practitioners who wish to advertise themselves. Etymology and origins The name Chakrasana comes from the Sanskrit words चक्र ''chakra'', "wheel", and आसन ''āsana'', "posture" or "seat". The name Urdhva Dhanurasana comes from the Sanskrit ''urdhva'' ऊर्ध्व, upwards, and ''dhanura'' धनु, a bow (for shooting arrows). The pose is illustrated in the 19th century ''Sritattvanidhi'' as ''Paryaṇkāsana'', Couch Pose. Description In the general form of the asana, the practitioner has hands and feet on the floor, and the abdomen arches up toward the sky. It may be entered from a supine position or through a less rigorous supine backbend, such as Setu Bandha Sarva ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raja Yoga
''Raja'' (; from , IAST ') is a royal title used for South Asian monarchs. The title is equivalent to king or princely ruler in South Asia and Southeast Asia. The title has a long history in history of South Asia, South Asia and History of Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia, being attested from the Rigveda, where a ' is a Rigvedic tribes, ruler, see for example the Battle of the Ten Kings, ', the "Battle of Ten Kings". Raja-ruled Indian states While most of the Indian subcontinent, Indian salute states (those granted a Salute#Heavy arms: gun salutes, gun salute by the The Crown, British Crown) were ruled by a Maharaja (or variation; some promoted from an earlier Raja- or equivalent style), even exclusively from 13 guns up, a number had Rajas: ; Hereditary salutes of 11-guns : * the Raja of Pindrawal * the Raja of Morni * the Raja of Rajouri * the Raja of Ali Rajpur State, Ali Rajpur * the Raja of Bilaspur State, Bilaspur * the Raja of Chamba State, Chamba * the Raja of Fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Prabhavananda
Swami Prabhavananda (December 26, 1893 – July 4, 1976) was an Indian philosopher, monk of the Ramakrishna Order, and religious teacher. He moved to America in 1923 to take up the role of assistant minister in the San Francisco Vedanta Society. In 1928 he was the minister of a small group in Portland, OR, but in 1930 he founded the Vedanta Society of Southern California. The Swami spent the rest of his life there, writing and collaborating with some of the most distinguished authors and intellectuals of the time, including Aldous Huxley, Christopher Isherwood, and Gerald Heard. Biography Born in India, he joined the Ramakrishna Order after graduating from Calcutta university in 1914. He was initiated by Swami Brahmananda, the spiritual son of Sri Ramakrishna, and the first president of the Ramakrishna Order, headquartered in Belur, West Bengal. The reviewer stated that "throughout the book breathes an air of relaxed simplicity and conviction.... I was particularly refreshed by t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pondicherry
Pondicherry (), now known as Puducherry ( French: Pondichéry ʊdʊˈtʃɛɹi(listen), on-dicherry, is the capital and the most populous city of the Union Territory of Puducherry in India. The city is in the Puducherry district on the southeast coast of India and is surrounded by Bay of Bengal to the east and the state of Tamil Nadu, with which it shares most of its culture, heritage, and language. History Puducherry, formerly known as Pondicherry, gained its significance as “The French Riviera of the East” after the advent of the French colonialization in India. Puducherry is the Tamil interpretation of “new town” and mainly derived from “Poduke”, the name of the marketplace as the “Port town” for Roman trading in 1st century as mentioned in ‘The Periplus of the Erythraean Sea’. The settlement was once an abode of many learned scholars as evidently versed in the Vedas, hence also known as Vedapuri. The history of Puducherry can broadly be classified ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ashram
An ashram ( sa, आश्रम, ) is a spiritual hermitage or a monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ... in Indian religions. Etymology The Sanskrit noun is a thematic nominal derivative from the root 'toil' (< Proto-Indo-European, PIE *''ḱremh2'') with the prefix 'towards.' An ashram is a place where one strives towards a goal in a disciplined manner. Such a goal could be ascetic, spirituality, spiritual, yogic or any other. Overview 
An ashram wo ...
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Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo (born Aurobindo Ghose; 15 August 1872 – 5 December 1950) was an Indian philosopher, yogi, maharishi, poet, and Indian nationalist. He was also a journalist, editing newspapers such as ''Vande Mataram''. He joined the Indian movement for independence from British colonial rule, until 1910 was one of its influential leaders, and then became a spiritual reformer, introducing his visions on human progress and spiritual evolution. Aurobindo studied for the Indian Civil Service at King's College, Cambridge, England. After returning to India he took up various civil service works under the Maharaja of the Princely state of Baroda and became increasingly involved in nationalist politics in the Indian National Congress and the nascent revolutionary movement in Bengal with the Anushilan Samiti. He was arrested in the aftermath of a number of bombings linked to his organization in a public trial where he faced charges of treason for Alipore Conspiracy. However, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Woodrow Wilson
Thomas Woodrow Wilson (December 28, 1856February 3, 1924) was an American politician and academic who served as the 28th president of the United States from 1913 to 1921. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilson served as the president of Princeton University and as the governor of New Jersey before winning the 1912 presidential election. As president, Wilson changed the nation's economic policies and led the United States into World War I in 1917. He was the leading architect of the League of Nations, and his progressive stance on foreign policy came to be known as Wilsonianism. Wilson grew up in the American South, mainly in Augusta, Georgia, during the Civil War and Reconstruction. After earning a Ph.D. in political science from Johns Hopkins University, Wilson taught at various colleges before becoming the president of Princeton University and a spokesman for progressivism in higher education. As governor of New Jersey from 1911 to 1913, Wilson broke with party bosse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Woodrow Wilson
Margaret Woodrow Wilson (April 16, 1886 – February 12, 1944) was the eldest child of President Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Louise Axson. Her two siblings were Jessie and Eleanor. After her mother's death in 1914, Margaret served her father as the White House social hostess, the title later known as first lady. Her father remarried in 1915. Biography Margaret Woodrow Wilson was born in Gainesville, Georgia on April 16, 1886. While Wilson's parents were living in the North where her father was teaching at the time of her birth, both of her parents strongly identified with the South. Consequently, Ellen Wilson did not want her children born as Yankees and arranged to stay with family in Gainesville for the births of her first two daughters. Margaret attended local schools, with some associated with the colleges where her father taught. In his will, Wilson's father had bequeathed her an annuity of $2,500 annually (worth $ today) as long as that amount did not exceed one-third of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hatha Yoga
Haṭha yoga is a branch of yoga which uses physical techniques to try to preserve and channel the vital force or energy. The Sanskrit word हठ ''haṭha'' literally means "force", alluding to a system of physical techniques. Some haṭha yoga style techniques can be traced back at least to the 1st-century CE, in texts such as the Hindu Sanskrit epics and Buddhism's Pali canon. The oldest dated text so far found to describe haṭha yoga, the 11th-century ''Amṛtasiddhi'', comes from a tantric Buddhist milieu. The oldest texts to use the terminology of ''hatha'' are also Vajrayana Buddhist. Hindu hatha yoga texts appear from the 11th century onwards. Some of the early haṭha yoga texts (11th-13th c.) describe methods to raise and conserve bindu (vital force, that is, semen, and in women ''rajas –'' menstrual fluid). This was seen as the physical essence of life that was constantly dripping down from the head and being lost. Two early Haṭha yoga techniques sought to e ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Report Of A Personal Experience
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a v ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tantric Sex
Tantric sex or sexual yoga refers to a wide range of practices carried on in Hindu and Buddhist tantra to exercise sexuality in a ritualized or yogic context, often associated with antinomian or impure elements, like consumption of alcohol, and offerings of impure substances like meat to fierce deities. In particular, sexual fluids have been viewed as "power substances" and used ritualistically, either externally or internally. The actual terms used in the classical texts to refer to this practice include " Karmamudra" (Tibetan: ལས་ཀྱི་ཕྱག་རྒྱ ''las kyi phyag rgya'', "action seal") in Buddhist tantras and "Maithuna" (Devanagari: मैथुन, "coupling") in Hindu sources. In Hindu Tantra, Maithuna is the most important of the five makara (five tantric substances) and constitutes the main part of the Grand Ritual of Tantra variously known as Panchamakara, Panchatattva, and Tattva Chakra. In Tibetan Buddhism, karmamudra is often an important part of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theos Bernard
Theos Casimir Hamati Bernard (1908–1947) was an explorer and author, known for his work on yoga and religious studies, particularly in Tibetan Buddhism. He was the nephew of Pierre Bernard (yogi), Pierre Arnold Bernard, "Oom the Omnipotent", and like him became a yoga celebrity. His account of old-style hatha yoga as a spiritual path, ''Hatha Yoga: The Report of A Personal Experience'', is a rare insight into the way these practices, known from medieval documents like the ''Hatha Yoga Pradipika'', actually worked. His biographer Paul Hackett states that many of the travel experiences Bernard relates in his books are exaggerated or fabricated. There is however no doubt Bernard became fluent in the Tibetan language, travelled in Tibet, met senior figures, and gathered an extensive collection of photographs, field notes, manuscripts, and ritual objects. Biography Early life Theos was born on 10 December 1908 in Pasadena, the son of Glen Agassiz Bernard and Aura Georgina Crable. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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