3 ms·

Any books you'd recommend for someone curious about this?

rramadass 2y ago
Are you asking about only the techniques or the whole subject of Ashtanga Yoga and its applications to practical Psychology?
- Handprint4469 2y ago
  I was curious about the techniques, but if you have any introductory reading about the whole thing that'd also be cool
  - rramadass 2y ago
    Ashtanga Yoga is a practical everyday-use discipline based on Samkhya metaphysics/theory Worldview. Without both this background you will not understand the techniques; So i will start from there and give you the full picture; 0) For a general succinct overview of all the major schools of Indian Philosophy see An Introduction to Indian Philosophy by Satishchandra Chatterjee and Dhirendramohan Datta (read chapters on Samkhya and Yoga). 1) For Samkhya (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samkhya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samkhya) metaphysics see the slim Samkhya Darshan: Yogic Perspective on Theories of Realism by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati. See also my previous comments on Samkhya starting here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41477432 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41477432 2) For Patanjala Yoga Sutras (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali) which lays out the framework of Ashtanga Yoga first see Bon Giovanni's succinct translation here (pdf) - https://www.starcenter.com/patanjali.pdf https://www.starcenter.com/patanjali.pdf Then for a detailed study start with Edwin Bryant's translation The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (with insights from the traditional commentators). To get an idea of practical application see Geraldine Coster's Yoga and Western Psychology: A Comparison - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.189086 https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.189086 3) For a compendium of Techniques to use for Concentration (aka Centering) see Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vij%C3%B1%C4%81na_Bhairava_Tantra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vij%C3%B1%C4%81na_Bhairava_Tan...). It briefly presents around 112 Tantric meditation methods (yuktis) or centering techniques (dhāraṇās) in very compressed form. The most accessible translation is the one by Ranjit Chaudhri while the most scholarly is the one by Jaideva Singh.
    - Handprint4469 2y ago
      awesome, thank you so much!

Are you asking about only the techniques or the whole subject of Ashtanga Yoga and its applications to practical Psychology?

Handprint4469 2y ago
I was curious about the techniques, but if you have any introductory reading about the whole thing that'd also be cool
- rramadass 2y ago
  Ashtanga Yoga is a practical everyday-use discipline based on Samkhya metaphysics/theory Worldview. Without both this background you will not understand the techniques; So i will start from there and give you the full picture; 0) For a general succinct overview of all the major schools of Indian Philosophy see An Introduction to Indian Philosophy by Satishchandra Chatterjee and Dhirendramohan Datta (read chapters on Samkhya and Yoga). 1) For Samkhya (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samkhya https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samkhya) metaphysics see the slim Samkhya Darshan: Yogic Perspective on Theories of Realism by Swami Niranjanananda Saraswati. See also my previous comments on Samkhya starting here - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41477432 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41477432 2) For Patanjala Yoga Sutras (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yoga_Sutras_of_Patanjali) which lays out the framework of Ashtanga Yoga first see Bon Giovanni's succinct translation here (pdf) - https://www.starcenter.com/patanjali.pdf https://www.starcenter.com/patanjali.pdf Then for a detailed study start with Edwin Bryant's translation The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (with insights from the traditional commentators). To get an idea of practical application see Geraldine Coster's Yoga and Western Psychology: A Comparison - https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.189086 https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.189086 3) For a compendium of Techniques to use for Concentration (aka Centering) see Vijñāna Bhairava Tantra (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vij%C3%B1%C4%81na_Bhairava_Tantra https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vij%C3%B1%C4%81na_Bhairava_Tan...). It briefly presents around 112 Tantric meditation methods (yuktis) or centering techniques (dhāraṇās) in very compressed form. The most accessible translation is the one by Ranjit Chaudhri while the most scholarly is the one by Jaideva Singh.
  - Handprint4469 2y ago
    awesome, thank you so much!