Cosmic joke

If you paid $80 for this book, somewhere in India a stout little man in orange is laughing all the way to the bank.

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Don't be intimidated

This is an imposing volume for sure, the great length and expense of the book may lead some people to try something else. I encourage you to go ahead and try this one if you have any inclination to do so. It starts you out gently, the first chapter contains some exercises to increase the flexibility in ankles, hips, and knees, and the only meditative pose given is shavasana or corpse pose, which is just laying on your back on the floor. You can handle that. The method given of moving from boat pose into corpse pose for relaxation is fantastic. Everything is explained thoroughly and aimed at a complete novice, though the explanatory text is rewarding even for those already versed in yoga practices.

The course also provides some bodily cleansing methods which may freak you out a little bit. Right off the bat they give you Jala Neti which requires you to pour salt water into one nostril and have it flow out the other one. This feels odd at first but you get used to it and even start to crave it after a few days.

You spend as long as it takes to fully assimilate each chapter before moving on to the next. Fantastic progress can be made in an hour a day, though it looks like as you reach the more advanced teachings that time will increase.

So don't be intimidated, begin this journey.

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An incredibly clear and concise path to self-realization

There are a couple reviews here that do a great job of briefly explaining this book's amazing and unbelievably detailed contents so I won't head down that path. I will say that this is the path of yoga for the spiritually-inclined. Asanas are definitely part of the course, but in contrast to most other styles, a large amount of your time is spent in breath work and meditation which is not surprising given that Raja yoga (regarded as the most meditation-intensive supreme path of yoga) is a large part of Saytananda yoga. In fact, the more you progress, you realize that the asanas/postures are really just preparing you for meditation (kind of like stretching before running a marathon)

After practicing the first 7 lessons (7 months) of the book at home I decided to get serious about Satyananda Yoga and started looking for a teacher. As it turns out, there are only 4 fully accredited Satyananda teachers in North America (yes you read that correctly!) as it takes 3 to 5 years of intensive study to achieve that designation (as opposed to about 1 month to get a basic 200-hour yoga certificate elsewhere) and they have only started training Satyananda teachers in North America about 5 years ago. As all 4 of the teachers are in Cleveland Ohio, I took a flight out there to start my journey down this amazing path and hope to join the ranks of Satyananda teachers in a few years.

If you are a serious and disciplined aspirant and are interested in the practice of yoga for rapid spiritual evolution (as opposed to simply for health and fitness), then this is the path for YOU.

Hari Om Tat Sat,
Dave

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