The Art and Science of Raja Yoga

"I've studied many books in hopes of finding one that would change my life, showing me how to be a happy, contented person. This book has been the one. It has taught me how to access peace from within my Self. It is a manual I will study again and again for its depthless teachings."

—P.B., Dallas, TX

"The lessons themselves are so rich that I learn something new every time I read them."

—K.M., Ojai, CA

"I must say the results are more that I expected. My friends say I'm glowing. I seem to have almost limitless energy."

—P.O., Dundee, FL

"The depth of knowledge I've gained is exactly what I was seeking. Since I started the teachings, I have noticed a significant difference in the quality of my life. I feel more relaxed, more at peace, and sometimes find myself smiling with a joy that bubbles from inside."

—P.R., Jersey City, NJ

"With yoga much in vogue these days, the prolific Walters, a longtime teacher and disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda and founder of Ananda Village, offers an ambitious package of instruction in the discipline. Intended as a 14-week home-study course, the book's 14 chapters cover teaching, postures and routines, meditation and breathing techniques, health and healing topics and diet. It's tough to do a good yoga book, because a number of variables have to converge: substantive integrity, clarity in how-to explanations and quality visuals.

"By those measures, this book succeeds. Walters' long teaching record shows his ability to discuss key yogic concepts and practices in simple terms. B&W photos illustrate form, and each explanation includes a helpful statement of the benefits of each pose. This comprehensive guide has an extra medium to distinguish it on the crowded yoga bookshelf: an accompanying audio CD that contains a vague lecture as well as more helpful sections of guided meditation and posture instruction. All things considered, it's superior to books that reduce yoga to a series of physical exercises taught by this year's guru."

—Publishers Weekly

"Swami Kriyananda (J. Donald Walters) was a close disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, author of the classic Autobiography of a Yogi. Each lesson contains sections on yoga philosophy, yoga postures, breathing, routines that present sequences of postures, healing, diet (including recipes!), and meditation. The guides to yoga postures include illustrations, specific tips and a variety of general advice, but above all, the book explores the whole yogic understanding of life. As Swami Kriyananda puts it, this "science of yoga was born in an age when mankind as a whole was more enlightened, and could easily grasp truths for which our most advanced thinkers are still grasping . . . . It is because the groping for these truths has begun again that great yogis have reintroduced this ancient science to humanity at large.

"Swami Kriyananda writes in a friendly, conversational style and includes anecdotes from his own training and practice. He also points out how the inner, holistic approach of yoga differs from modern western attitudes such as competitiveness, analysis, and unrestrained emotional expression (as opposed to sublimation). At the same time, he insists that yoga is a science in its own right that proves its findings to any dedicated practitioner, and offers much greater joy than materialistic or sensual pursuits. It is all the same energy, says Kriyananda; the question is whether we squander it, or cultivate it and direct it towards higher and more lasting goals. In addition, he rules out the idea that the Eastern spiritual path is essentially passive, since it aims at the goal of self-mastery, and success depends upon both will power and effort.

"You will also find discussions of more esoteric topics such as personal magnetism, chanting of mantras, yogic anatomy, and kundalini."

—Bodhi Tree Review

"Imagine being renowned worldwide as a lecturer, author, teacher, composer, singer, philosopher, artist, scientist, and businessman. Swami Kriyananda embodies this renaissance description. Walters was formally educated at Haverford College and Brown University. He is perhaps best known as the disciple of the revered yoga master, Paramhansa Yogananda, and the founder/spiritual director of Ananda Village, a successful alternate-lifestyle community. He has composed over 400 musical works, and is the author of over 80 books.

"Besides philosophical truths, the physical aspects of hatha yoga postures are learned through descriptions and images. Visualization techniques, healing methods, chakras, prayers, recipes, breathing exercises, and meditation, are also taught in the lessons.

"The author succeeds in enlightening the Western mind and practice with the ancient Indian system of yoga. If the reader can comprehend energy (prana) as a "fundamental reality of physical matter" then the science of yoga makes perfect sense. Kriyananda's gentle, but firm language ("to relax, think space at the points of strain") keeps the various methods, paths, and philosophies interconnected for an individual spiritual training. This course acts as a lifetime guide in the "neutralization of the waves of feeling" and helps to harmonize the body, mind, and spirit.

"Kriyananda includes an extensive index, overview of subject matter, suggestions for study, and other resources. Overall, the guide has an organized presentation and is written by a familiar, master's voice. This book contains essential understanding and definition for an often generalized term, yoga."

—ForeWord Magazine

"The Art and Science of Raja Yoga by Swami Kriyananda is an exhaustive, "user friendly", self-tutorial featuring black-and-white photographs of yoga postures, detailed descriptions of yoga philosophy and affirmations, instruction in the art of meditation and breathing techniques, chakras, chanting, prayer, fasting, energy, magnetism, and more. Of special note is the accompanying full-length audio CD providing a complete accompaniment to the text. . . . easy-to-understand instructions for a better exercise regimen, improved health, and greater tranquility of the mind, The Art and Science of Raja Yoga is strongly recommended."

—The Midwest Book Review

"The Art and Science of Raja Yoga is much more than a book, it is a comprehensive course in yoga and meditation as taught to us by Swami Kriyananda, a direct disciple of Paramhansa Yogananda, the first yoga master to permanently live and teach in the West. Its fourteen lessons slowly lead us into an involvement with this "royal yoga," as it is known, through an intensely lucid and detailed presentation of postures, meditative practices and a comprehension of the precepts and principles of yoga practice. Touted as the most ancient science known to man, yoga's purpose is "to open the windows of the mind, and to awaken every cell of the body and brain to reflect and magnify the energy that comes to it from the surrounding universe." Combining the physical discipline of hatha yoga, practicing postures aimed at harmonizing the body with natural law, and practicing meditation, are the main tools of raja (royal) yoga.

"Building upon one another, each successive lesson in the book offers information on philosophy, breathing, healing, and diet as it pertains to the yoga. Step one begins with a history of this "path to enlightenment," and introduces three postures with special guidelines for the process of gradual discovery of the body's potentials. Breathing is explained as the means of taking in prana, translated as both "energy" and "life." Suggestions about establishing a routine are followed by sections on healing, diet and the importance of meditation practice, with instructions on a simple exercise for beginning to still our thoughts. Certainly a marvelous primer for anyone interested in seriously pursuing the path, The Art and Science of Raja Yoga also provides a great resource for those already so engaged to sharpen the details of their knowledge and practice."

—Spirit of Change Magazine