Green Yoga

by Georg Feuerstein and Brenda Feuerstein

Green Yoga is a book for those wishing to make their Yoga practice relevant to today's environmental and social crisis. It shows how the ancient wisdom teachings of Yoga are relevant to a "green"... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0978213823
• ISBN13: 9780978213824
• Release Date: August 2007
• Publisher: Traditional Yoga Studies
• Length: 164 Pages
• Weight: 0.48 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Seeing the Sustainable Side of Getting Limber and Centered

Most people turn to yoga by accident or against their will. There are numerous misconceptions about yoga, but once you experience a few classes, it becomes clear that it is more than just doing poses on a mat. The longer you practice yoga, the more it begins to positively influence the rest of your life. Having practiced for nearly 3 years, I was amazed when my yoga practice further fueled my passion for developing more sustainable lifestyles. It turns out my eco-inspiration wasn't too far off-base, according to Green Yoga by Georg & Brenda Feuerstein. Specifically outlining yoga's teachings as a call to sustainable living, Green Yoga is not for the faint of heart. Unaware of just how dire our environmental situation is? Green Yoga will set you straight in a frank away - that's means no sugar-coating the truth. For some, it may catch them off guard, but I found it refreshingly blunt. The book covers the timely issues of all our major life systems - land, water, air - along with the overall concept of Mother Earth. The tome ends with a specific and extensive list of "practical things you can do to make a significant difference." "We realize that some of our readers - those who did not read our book carefully or ponder its evidence in an unbiased way - might deem our message too radical. We think, however, that our message is commensurate with the weight of the evidence," say Green Yoga's authors in the book's epilogue. I highlighted countless other passage throughout the book - far too many to post here. That is solid proof this book can educate even the most informed eco-advocate. Green Yoga is a book that I am elated to see is on the market - it is aimed at yet another popular activity that, with a bit of effort, can become a vital part of creating a sustainable future for everyone.

A Blue-Print for Green Yogis!

Green Yoga is one of the most important yoga books in print today. The Feuersteins have distilled into one slim powerful volume the essential wisdom of yoga with facts and figures gleaned from hundreds of resources on the environment. Green Yoga connects the vital interrelationship between self-transformation and the preservation of our natural environment. The core values and practices of yoga (including ahimsa (non-violence -- not harming any living beings, and aparigraha, not stealing, accumulating or consuming more than we need) coincide with the values of the green movement and deep ecology. If yoga is inherently green, we may ask, "Why then, do we need to speak specifically about green yoga? We may not like the answer the Feuersteins put forth: because much of contemporary Yoga is anything but green. Modern yoga practitioners are caught up in the consumer society like everyone else and the yoga lifestyle has become thoroughly commodified. We are addicted to driving everywhere; aspiring yogis stop for hamburgers after class and fly around the country to yoga conferences. Yoga publications promote products that are causing havoc on the planet. "Yoga cruises" regularly dump oil and hazardous chemicals as well as waste water and sewage into the ocean. The Feuersteins define green yoga as "Yoga practiced responsibly at a time of unprecedented peril affecting the entire biosphere of our planet." What is an aspiring green yogi to do? First, we must change our priorities--our values, our philosophy, and then our attitudes and behavior. We must make our yoga practice rigorously green and ask ourselves: "If a yogi is not aware of environmental issues, who will be? If a yogi is not aware of the immense suffering on this planet, who will be? If yoga practitioners won't respond to this unique and perilous crisis, who will?" This is the perfect book for yoga teacher training programs and I wish that every yoga center in the world would purchase Green Yoga for each of their students, in honor of Earth Day and all year around! [...]

Best Green Book

If you are interested in being Green and saving the planet, there is only one book you need: Green Yoga. We all owe it to ourselves, our families, and friends to read this book.

Profound.

The book Green Yoga provides a blunt and profoundly disturbing look at the environmental challenges we face. The first chapter is a blitzkreig of information on the current state of the world; catastrophic in proportions and globally encompassing. It throws you into the depths of this global suicide, spurring feelings of disbelief, anger, sadness, and even hopelessness, then continues with its relentlessness in the disclosure of the portends of worldwide ecological collapse. Don't be fooled however. The challenges we face are a catalyst of sorts. Brenda and Georg plead with their yoga brethren to join them in an all out spiritual calling to heal the world. Though they are appear to be talking to whom they've educated and enlightened for decades, the book is a call to each and every one of us; It is time.

Essential reading for Yoga practitioners who want to be part of the solution rather than a blind par

This is one of those books that the mind does not want to read. Georg and Brenda pose the punch-you-in-the-gut question "How realistic is it to expect to attain individual serenity in a troubled sociocultural and natural environment?" Then they go on to explain how we do this through a process they call "sattvification," which is a purifying that involves mindfulness and activism in relation to both the mind and the world. This book is a powerhouse. It is essential reading for Yogis and Yoginis who want to be part of the solution rather than a blind part of the problem. It is a challenge to act--Karma Yoga--not just sit on your butt in meditation.