Tracing the Path of Yoga: The History and Philosophy of Indian Mind-Body Discipline

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Clear, accessible, and meticulously annotated, Tracing the Path of Yoga offers a comprehensive survey of the history and philosophy of yoga that will be invaluable to both specialists and to nonspecialists seeking a deeper under- standing of this fascinating subject. Stuart Ray Sarbacker argues that yoga can be understood first and foremost as a discipline of mind and body that is represented in its narrative and philosophical literature as resulting in both numinous and cessative accomplishments that correspond, respectively, to the attainment of this-worldly power and otherworldly liberation. Sarbacker demonstrates how the yogic quest for perfection as such is situated within the concrete realities of human life, intersecting with issues of politics, economics, class, gender, and sexuality, as well as reflecting larger Indic religious and philosophical ideals.

Stuart Ray Sarbacker is Associate Professor of Philosophy and Religion at Oregon State University. He is the author of Samadhi: The Numinous and Cessative in Indo-Tibetan Yoga, also published by SUNY Press, and (with Kevin Kimple) The Eight Limbs of Yoga: A Handbook for Living Yoga Philosophy.

The history of the physical and mental disciplines referred to collectively as "yoga" extends into the distant past of India's religious and cultural her- itage, perhaps as far back as 2,500 years or more. Yoga has played a crucial role in the development of the doctrine and practice of a range of Indian religious traditions, including Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism, and its influence has extended out of India to touch nearly all parts of the world, especially in the past two centuries. Its manifestation as a popular mode of physical and athletic culture in Europe and the Americas in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries represents one chapter in a fascinating history that has seen both great change and remarkable continuity. The goal of this work is to examine a wide range of meanings and permutations of theory and practice that are associated with the term "yoga," and thereby bring coherence and nuance to our understanding of its historical formulations and contemporary manifestations.

In the contemporary context, the range of ideas and practices commonly referred to as "yoga" is represented, in large part, by a constellation of transnational traditions emphasizing the physical practice of yogic posture (asana), often without apparent connection to sectarian religious commitment or identity.