Spiritual Yoga: Awakening to Higher Awareness Paperback – February 7, 2014

I admit to being a bit bias: Gyandev McCord has been a friend, mentor, spiritual advisor, yoga and meditation teacher in my life for more than 25 years. I am just one person in a very large group who knows full well why he's one of the leading voices of yoga in the United States today, through the Yoga Alliance. Yet, I always feel stronger, calmer and more infused with light whenever hearing him talk about yoga, or lead a session.With Spiritual Yoga: Awakening to Higher Awareness, Gyandev defly guides us through the side of yoga often missed in power yoga and other energy- and strength-dominant practices — the calming spiritual side, from whence it originally came thousands of years ago. He returns the purpose of yoga to its rightful place, to open up our latent energy centers and operate from them in a state of actively calm awareness. Also, to use yoga to still the body's energies and settle ourselves for quieter communion through meditation and prayer — a state of mind that leads to lifelong happiness and accomplishment. With each posture, he presents the affirmations developed by the late Swami Kriyananda, the founder of the Ananda community and Gyandev's spiritual teacher for more than 40 years. This is a wonderful presentation, and one that gives us a perfect way to address yoga in these times — as a calmer, a healer, the way to reconnect ourselves to the spiritual place, that higher awareness to which the author refers, from which we serve and love each other for the souls that we are.

Too much of physical yoga and too little of spiritual yoga

Very well written - "simple yet powerful keys to self-transformation". Highly recommended for those who are looking to deepen their yoga practice beyond the physical.

I purchased this in a local bookshop to add to my large yoga book collection. Of all my yoga books, this gentle gem is BY FAR AND AWAY THE MOST USEFUL AND PROFOUND yoga book I own. If I could only have one yoga book this it definitely it! It captures the true essence of what yoga is supposed to be -- a coming together of body, mind and spirit. The writing is intelligent and spirit-driven at the same time. The information is easily accessible to the modern reader regarding the physical technology as well as the higher aspects. It doesn't miss a beat -- hitting all the important points of the postures and their energetic benefits. The illustration photos are very clear and easy to see regarding how to be in a certain asana. The book goes beyond asana to include pranayama and meditation skills, and in a such a pure way. One can tell that a huge amount of thought and loving attention went into writing and visually presenting every detail of this book. To read it and take it in, is a nourishing experience. Thank you Gandev for your heartfelt sharing of your wisdom borne of a lifetime of practice -- it has made a profound difference in my life. IT IS HERE IN THIS BOOK, THAT YOU WILL FIND THE SOUL OF YOGA PRACTICE FOR TODAY'S WORLD.

The summary given in the Ananda newsletter said it nicely:"Spiritual yoga tunes practitioners into their own body’s *subtle energy flows*.Experiencing the full dimension of each posture expands the benefits of yogabeyond the body, into the mind and soul."(emphasis added)As the author of Bench Yoga (available at Amazon), I agree with that sentiment whole heartedly.When you *experience* those subtle energy flows, you begin to know yourself as an *energybody*, that is *intimately connected with the vast energy of the universe*. (The point of benchyoga is that it gives you a place to sit in meditation, dwelling on that experience, and thatconnection. So I suspect these two volumes can help you lift your practice to the next level.)

This is a great book for putting Hatha Yoga into its proper relationship to the rest of the spiritual path. Well worth reading for anyone with an interest in yoga, meditation, and/or spiritual living.