Description

Escape the humdrum of daily life and reawaken your true essential Self with Stephen Sturgess’ sensational Yoga and meditation techniques. Learn about fascinating subtle bodies, chakras, nadis, and kundalini with the in-depth section on Yoga philosophy, then follow Stephen’s variety of practices and techniques for removing any obstacles that may be standing in the way of you uniting with your true nature. The book includes a wealth of Hatha Yoga techniques using asanas, mudras, bandhas, pranayama, and kriya purification, as well as Raja and kriya Yoga techniques – mantras, concentration and meditation.Top customer reviewsRight from the start I agree with Sturgess when he tells us in his introduction that we can tell which chakra/s a person abides in by how they see and relate with reality, how and what words they use in their communications, what kinds of thoughts they predominately have, what health issues they might be having, and what conscious state they currently perceive reality through (XIV).Sturgess’s three primary influences are Christianity, Lahiri Mahasaya, and his GURU Paramhansa Yogananda. In and of itself, these are all good sources, but throughout the book I kept shaking my head as Sturgess continuously connected Judeo-Christian scriptures to yogic philosophy.I love the parallels that can be found between traditions, and the fact that we can relate some teachings of Jesus to yogic philosophy is awesome, but to actually believe that something Ezekiel had said has anything to do with Kundalini Awakening not only stretches credulity, but also takes us down a road that leads to conflict and confusion. It is one thing to bring other philosophical traditions to bear in order to deepen our understandings of Christianity, it’s a whole other thing when we project/inject yogic practices into Christianity as if it really was what Jesus was teaching.The reason why I belabor this is that Sturgess makes a point of distinguishing his Kundalini system from the New Age systems. By doing that, it appears as if he is claiming to share the true Kundalini teachings as was passes down from teacher to student while the New Age movement is just making stuff up. If that were the case, then why bring in Christianity at all – that seems New-Agey to me?Anyhow, enough of that. Let me get to my review.The first 40 pages go over some basic Samkhya-Yoga philosophy and near-death experiences. Enough to wet the whistle, but not enough to really gain a deep understanding. The question I asked myself after reading his first few chapters was, “is it even necessary to talk about these things?” My answer: no. It seems more like filler than substantive material.After that Sturgess moves into describing the chakras and energy systems of the body. Nothing new to be found. Just the same old associative images, colors, sounds, mantras, anatomical equivalents, and so on.After 124 pages we finally come to the practices that will help Awaken the Kundalini. Sadly, the practices are just rehashed exercises from hundreds of other books on Kundalini with the addition of breaking them up into little baby steps. On top of that, there is no systematic way of working with the practices. And, from what I read in the book, Sturgess’s approach to Kundalini is primarily centered around the physical body and does not go into any detail on the emotional and mental planes.Having studied many books on Kundalini and having worked with the bodily energies for many years I can say that this is not a book you want if you actually wish to activate the Kundalini. Theoretically it has everything you need, but from the practical standpoint, it’s lacking.Paperback: 288 pagesPublisher: Watkins Publishing (May 20, 2014)http://www.amazon.com/Book-Chakras-Subtle-Bodies-Consciousne…