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FREE YOGA AND THE QUEST FOR THE TRUE SELF PDF Stephen Cope | 369 pages | 01 Oct 2000 | Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group Inc | 9780553378351 | English | New York, United States Yoga and the Quest for the True Self by Stephen Cope: | : Books Goodreads helps you keep track of books you want to read. Want to Read saving…. Want to Read Currently Reading Read. Other editions. Enlarge cover. Error rating book. Refresh and try again. Open Preview See a Problem? Details if other :. Thanks for telling us about the problem. Return to Book Page. Millions of Americans know yoga as a superb form of exercise and as a potent source of calm in our stress-filled lives. Far fewer are aware of the full promise of yoga as a 4,year-old practical path of liberation—a path that fits the needs of modern Western seekers with startling precision. Now Stephen Cope, a Western-trained psychotherapist who has lived and taught fo Millions of Americans know yoga as a superb form of exercise and as a potent source of calm in our stress-filled lives. Now Stephen Cope, a Western-trained psychotherapist who has lived and taught for more than ten years at the largest yoga center in America, offers this marvelously lively and irreverent "pilgrim's progress" for today's world. He demystifies the philosophy, psychology, and practice of yoga, and shows how it applies to our most human dilemmas: from loss, disappointment, and addiction, to the eternal conflicts around sex and relationship. And he shows us that in yoga, "liberation" does not require us to leave our everyday lives for some transcendent spiritual plane—life itself is the path. Above all, Cope shows how yoga Yoga and the Quest for the True Self heal the suffering of self-estrangement that pervades our society, leading us to a new sense of purpose and to a deeper, more satisfying life in the world. Get A Copy. Paperbackpages. Published September 5th by Bantam first published October 5th More Details Original Yoga and the Quest for the True Self. Other Editions 4. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about Yoga and the Quest for the True Selfplease sign up. Be the first to ask a question about Yoga and the Quest for the True Self. Lists with This Book. Community Reviews. Showing Average rating 4. Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Start your review of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self. Apr 29, Craig Shoemake rated it it was amazing Shelves: yogaindian-philosophyindian-religionmeditationkundalini-yogakripalu-yogayoga-and- psychotherapy. Maybe it is, maybe not. Either way, it is pretty damn good. This is one of those books that entertains and educates you in a visceral way right from the start. We meet a man, a practicing Boston psychotherapist, who for a variety of reasons was feeling unsettled and dissatisfied with his life and then, somewhat to his dismay, found himself joining a religious community to do…what? Much of the book is an answer to that and related questions: What did he want? What was he trying to do at Kripalu? What was—is—the meaning of yoga? What is enlightenment? Is such a thing possible? Yoga and the Quest for the True Self there enlightened people in this world? And what happens when all the things we try to keep hidden are revealed for the world Yoga and the Quest for the True Self see? Stephen Cope furrows through all these questions and more. His sincerity, his intensity, his intelligence, make the book a gripping read. Its pages educate the reader even as Cope the protagonist is educated by his experiences in the ashram. Yoga philosophy is pondered over, its depths turned up, and its many connections to Western psychotherapy reflected upon, all in gratifyingly sober, lucid prose. You will find yourself in this book. In one of the many personal portraits Cope draws, you will find your own symptoms and neuroses, your fears, dreams and failings. And when you do, you will know that yoga has something to offer you. There is so much teaching here, and it is given in such generous, gentle and wise ways. Yoga and the Quest for the True Self of all, I think the primacy of ourselves as bodily beings, as thinking, feeling, dreaming animals of earth, is borne out. The body really is our temple, and yoga is our puja, an act of adoration, discipline and feast. If this is so—and I know it is—then any act, any breath, any thought done with full and alive attention, is yoga. View 1 comment. Sep 10, David Guy rated it liked it. I picked this book up on a whim because I have been doing yoga and reading up on it, and I was intrigued by the title. Cope is a therapist who went to Kripalu a yoga center in Western Massachusetts and basically never left. He writes very well, and tells a lot of stories. There was something about the book I found vaguely annoying, maybe all the upper middle class angst of many of the people he was talking about. There was also a lot more psychiatric jargon than I was interested in; I'm nore i I picked this book Yoga and the Quest for the True Self on a whim because I have been doing yoga and reading up on it, and I was intrigued by the title. There was also a lot more psychiatric jargon than I was interested in; I'm nore interested in spiritual practice than in therapy. That having been said, the book has stayed with me, and the basic concept of a false vs. One can't do justice to it in a few words, but basically the false self is one that we create out of concepts; the true self is the one that is living our daily Yoga and the Quest for the True Self life, and that we too often avoid by going off into our heads. He also mentioned something that R. Laing said at a conference of Buddhists and therapists that keeps coming back to me: Human beings are afraid of three things. Their own minds, other people, and death. Dec 20, Anne Phyfe rated it it was amazing. As a yoga teacher, I figure I am supposed to read yoga books. However I find within three chapters of most books on the subject I am either distracted or bored, or I have already absorbed what I need from the author. That was not the case with this book, which I read daily and finished within two weeks. Yoga and the Quest for the True Self Yoga and the Quest for the True Self recommended to me years ago, and I didn't even read it when my yoga studio 8 Limbs held a book group around it. But when a writer friend urged me to give As a yoga teacher, I figure I am supposed to read yoga books. But when a writer friend urged me to give it a chance, I finally relented, to my great advantage. Cope, a psychotherapist who has lived at Kripalu for several decades, uses a memoir framework to deliver some of the most personally valuable teachings about yoga I have received. I recommend this book to yoga practitioners of all levels. Be here now. Read it. May 13, Sunshine rated it it Yoga and the Quest for the True Self amazing Shelves: njsunshinebookclubto-buy. Absolutely transformational. Revolutionized the way I see yoga, myself, life, and relationships with people. There is so much to learn and so much more growth needed, but grateful for a read that deepened my spirituality and religious convictions and changed my perspective for the better. Because all beings are one with the great river of life, we are all, in effect, just a single soul. We are already inherently perfect; we have already arrived; and we have the potential in each moment to wake up to our true nature. Beneath the surface of our separation, we feel the hidden,unseen threads that link us. Each time we penetrate into samadhi, we have a small death-rebirth experience. Samadhi the world as we know it—its boundaries and categories. You will not be able to entertain the slightest feeling of personal ownership, not even toward the body, which is the most precious and jealously guarded possession of most persons. God is both here, within, right now, and is also everywhere? At the same time? It is the Yoga and the Quest for the True Self God, the same Reality. Just our language has trouble capturing it. This is the wonderful thing about yoga. You find God right here, right now. Yoga and the Quest for the True Self () • Stephen Cope More thancopies sold! Millions of Americans know yoga as a superb form of exercise and as a potent source of calm in our stress-filled lives. Far fewer are aware of the full promise of yoga as a 4,year-old practical path of liberation—a path that fits the needs of modern Western seekers with startling precision. He demystifies the philosophy, psychology, and practice of yoga, and shows how it applies to our most human dilemmas: from loss, disappointment, and addiction, to the eternal conflicts around sex and relationship. Above all, Cope shows how yoga can heal the suffering of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self that pervades our society, leading us to a new sense of purpose and to a deeper, more satisfying life in the world.

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