Will Yoga & Meditation Really Change My Life?: Personal Stories from 25 of North America's Leading Teachers

As one of the largest and most successful yoga-based retreat and education centers in the world, Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, Massachusetts, attracts many of the leading teachers of yoga and Buddhist meditation to its annual retreat, East meets East: Yoga & Buddhism. In Will Yoga & Meditation Really Change My Life? Stephen Cope brings to the printed page the fascinating dialogue that he has fostered in these retreats.

Cope asks participating teachers to share their Tales from the Path, stories of how the long-term practice of these ancient traditions has changed their lives. The result is an inspirational volume featuring 26 distinct voices telling their stories, how they became interested in these traditions, the teachers who inspired them, and how the practice of yoga and meditation has shaped their lives and perspectives.

The contributors, many of whom are authors of well-known books on these topics, speak of their experiences as real people living in our complex world, complete with spouses, children, aging parents, financial demands, illnesses, injuries, and all of the ordinary aggravations of everyday life. Many of these teachers have studied and explored the practice of yoga or meditation over the course of 30 years and have been pivotal in creating retreat centers, styles of yoga, and teaching techniques that have contributed to the widespread popularity of these practices in mainstream culture.

The stories of these teachers ask the questions, What is possible for me, in my life, right now? How can my practice of yoga and meditation help me lead a more satisfying life? These are questions on which every spiritual seeker and practitioner of yoga and meditation inevitably must reflect.

Stephen Cope tells stories from participating teachers of how the long-term practice of the ancient art of yoga and meditation has changed their lives and perspectives. Cope's previous title is "Yoga and the Quest for the True Self".

Over the course of thousands of years, yogis discovered and refined astonishingly practical techniques for living fully. They developed sophisticated forms of mediation — and a remarkable science of physical culture that led to refined states of well-being.

In the span of a mere 30 years, these ancient practices have been transplanted into the mainstream of American culture, and we now face an interesting historical crossroads. We have, for the first time, a whole generation of Americans who have spent much of their adult lives influenced by the regular practice of yoga and meditation. An intriguing question emerges: So what? Have these practices really changed our lives? What are their real long-term benefits? Do they really make us happier? More productive? More authentic? And do these practices just change individual lives, or do they transform societies as well?

In this volume of essays, well-known yoga teacher and author Stephen Cope poses these questions to 24 of the most prominent teachers of yoga and meditation in America today. Their answers, collected here in both essay and interview form, reveal an astonishing portrait of one generation's struggle with both the promises and the pitfalls of contemplative practice. Their stories are remarkably moving, real, and human — and they take us beyond the idealized images we may have of spiritual practice into a realm of authentic personal and social transformation that has the potential to make a profound and lasting impact on our culture.

In this collection of intensely personal and profoundly inspirational essays and interviews, 25 of North America's leading teachers of yoga and Buddhist meditation tell their stories of how the practice of these rich and varied spiritual traditions has made an enduring impact on their lives...and how it can transform yours.

Rama Berch
Sylvia Boorstein
Maya Breuer
Edward Espe Brown
Anne Cushman
Lama Surya Das
Donna Farhi
Richard Faulds
Lilias Folan
John Friend
Robert Hall
Judith Hanson Lasater
Cyndi Lee
Konda Mason
Esther Myers
Richard Miller
Phillip Moffitt
Douglas Phillips
Larry Rosenberg
Mu Soeng
Rod Stryker
Patricia Sullivan
Patricia Walden
Larry Yang

The author of The Wisdom of Yoga and Yoga and the Quest for the True Self, Stephen Cope is a psychotherapist and yoga teacher. He is also the Director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living.

Tales from the Path
Sylvia Boorstein: I Got Kinder
Larry Yang: Family Tree Practice
Anne Cushman: Living from the Inside Out
Larry Rosenberg: Tasting the Silence
Esther Myers: Coming Home to My Body, to Myself
Lama Surya Das: Changing Everything; Changing Nothing
Patricia Walden: Moving from Darkness into Light
Douglas Phillips: The Truth-Telling Place of Everyday Life
Konda Mason: Nonviolent Activism with Wisdom
Edward Espe Brown: When You Are You, Zen Is Zen
Cyndi Lee: Practicing to Save My Life
Richard Miller: The Search for Oneness
Donna Farhi: Paying Attention
Maya Breuer: Feeling My Wings
Phillip Moffitt: It's Not Personal!
Richard Faulds: Practice, Practice, Practice
Lilias Folan: Cultivating Witness Consciousness
Mu Soeng: Letting Things Unfold
Judith Hanson Lasater: The Samadhi of Here and Now
John Friend: Enlightenment in Every Moment
Rama Berch: I Always Belonged to God
Rod Stryker: A Passion That Led to the Heart
Robert Hall: Trusting the Inner Voice
Patricia Sullivan: Dharma Gates Are Boundless
Stephen Cope: Everything Is Already OK
Glossary
Key Teachers (As Mentioned in Text)
Contributors' Publications, Recordings, and Web Sites
Acknowledgments
Index