The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice

On the other hand, it is very informative if you're skimming for information. It can give you a very good over-all understanding of Yoga's history if you read just a few key paragraphs from each section.


Good but flawed with sloppy research   June 25, 2003
 36 out of 48 found this review helpful

This book is a sweeping overview of the Yoga tradition of India and its many subdivisions. He covers everything from Tantra yoga, Karma yoga to Sri Aurobindo and everything in between.

Does he do a good job at presenting this vast subject?
Yes and no. Yes he covers the various topics in some detail. Though his coverage is spotty. On some topics he does a good job and on others he glosses over. He also suffers though from accepting every guru and school as valid. As such he includes several well known cults and bogus teachers as legitimate.

He also does not cover the problems with gurus in the yoga tradition. A good many of them have sexually or emotionally abused their student and had to leave the schools they founded. The kundalini teachers are especially notorious in this regards.

Also does not adequately cover the so-called 'crazy wisdom' teaching and how it is abused.

Two cases of his intellectual sloppiness stand out:
Adi Da(franklin Jones)- a brutal authoritarian with a god complex, Fuerstein gives a glowing review of his teachings and him as a authentic guru. Da's group is considered a cult by all cult-watch organizations. BTW Fuerstein was/is a student of Da.

Yogi Bhahan. This man is teaching a mish-mash system of yoga with no lineage. The Sikh's don't even do yoga in India. It is also considered a cult. Yet georg includes his teaching as valid.

His inclusion of these two groups makes me wonder if he really does investigate and research the various schools of yoga or accepts what they say on face value.

As such this work is marred by dubious scholarship. Ken Wilber's glowing comments not withstanding.

Despite this it is still worth purchasing. But don't accept it on his say so alone, do some research.


Handsome book, not much substance   April 25, 2003
 28 out of 45 found this review helpful

In the clubby world of American yoga Feurstein is often cited and recommended. Perhaps it is because he has a Ph.D. and quite a number of books published (largely recycling the same material). Maybe its because he has supplied them with effusive blurbs for their own books. Frankly, I don't see what all the fuss is about.

In my opinion, Fuerstein's writing style is ponderous yet is lacking in academic rigor. Nor do I find him to be ispiring or substantial in any practical sense. The question I ask myself is if he is not a good academic writer nor a good practical writer, why should I read him? I can't think of any reason!

One of his most irritating qualities to to present his marginal theories as if they are well accepted in authentic academic circles. Also, he cites some really insignificant writers as if they are renowned scholars, simply because they support his views. One author whom Fuerstein frequently cites has a dubious degree and is self-published. Fuerstein also cites as authoritative a book which he co-authored (a fact that is only mentioned in a foot note)that is academic junk and is published by a theosophical publisher!

On the plus side, this book is handsome and is well designed, with nice graphical images and photos throughout.

Yes, there is some interesting and valuable material contained in The Yoga Tradition. However, in my opinion getting to it is not worth the effort. There is far too much winnowing of chaff required. Still, if you want to impress your friends with the depth of your "knowledge", leave this book lying around. It just may impress them.


A great resource   March 14, 2003
 11 out of 13 found this review helpful

For the keen on Yoga, this is a great resource. It is commendable that the Author has made an effot to compile the huge volumes of ancient Indian scriptures - many of which is a life-time study - into a single volume. With such an effort, there would many purposes served and some not served too well. You have the vedantas, yoga sutras, history of yoga, history and philosophy of various religions all in one place. Because of this, the reader could get a bit lost for there would be too much to understand.

Nonetheless, I treaure this book; as a Yoga teacher, I find that I constantly go back to this volume. Secondly, the effort is commendable because these ancient texts are still not public as much as we want them to be.