Layayoga: The Definitive Guide to the Chakras and Kundalini

by Shyam Sundar Goswami

The most comprehensive guide to chakra meditation and the ancient spiritual science of layayoga ever created.

• One of the great works on yoga, available for the first time in the United States.

• Full-color plates illustrate each chakra.

With the growing interest in energy medicine in the West, the ancient Hindu tradition of chakra meditation has become increasingly important to both healers and spiritual seekers. While new to us, the chakras have long been studied in the East, with the spiritual science of layayoga having the profoundest knowledge of these energy centers. The fundamental aspect of layayoga is the arousing of dormant energy within the body through concentration and breathing exercises and the movement of this energy through the chakras to achieve supreme consciousness. Unlike kundalini yoga, which starts with the lower chakras and moves energy upward, layayoga meditation starts with the Sahasrara, the spiritual chakra that crowns the aura, and brings energy down to spiritualize each chakra in turn. Layayoga has long been viewed as the most comprehensive and deeply researched examination of the chakras available in the West. Its detailed, illustrated look at each of the chakras and the various meditations and mantras that go with them makes it a must for serious students of yoga.

Genres: Hinduism, Reference, Philosophy

368 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1999

Reviews

[Anne Rowlands · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is not an easy read. Nor a simple guide to the chakras. It’s a comprehensive guide to them and the religious aspects that go with them. It’s a fully filled guide to the entire system and the religious practices that go with the purification and practice that are a part of the religion. I’m not practitioner myself, but I do use a similar system in my own eclectic practices. As a good eclectic I sought to have a better understanding of these practices and how they can be done in a culturally sensitive way. The chakras have found themselves into every day western appropriative practices and if you want to know more and think you should do a better job of honoring the culture that came with the chakras then this book will go a very long way in helping this aim. Be warned it’s not a easy read, and it’s a book that requires furious note taking, confusion, re reading and a long read. It took me almost 5 years to finish!

[Tom Blaschko · Rating 4 out of 5]

An incredibly detailed book describing in detail the practices Layayoga teaches to reach energy for the whole body, both physical and divine. It's strength is in its detailed descriptions of the fundamental ideas in Layayoga, the chakra system, and the concentration practices.

The amount of detail is also a problem for the book. It is not for beginners. Readers need to be ready for an immersion into Sanskrit terms and non-Western concepts. If they can handle the terms, concepts, and academic writing style, readers will find deep understanding of the techniques.

I believe that there are paths to understanding non-physical reality that are more in tune with Western culture. And perhaps there are paths that do not focus so much on the intellectual aspects of the work. But this is knowledge that deserves to be preserved and studied. As such, this is a valuable book.