Yoga, Youth, & Reincarnation | 
 enlarge | Author: Jess Stearn
Creator: Frank Stork
Publisher: A.R.E. Press (Association of Research & Enlig
Category: Book
Buy New: $20.00
New (2) Used (10) from $5.95
Rating:  16 reviews
Sales Rank: 758233
Media: Paperback
Pages: 336
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.8
Dimensions (in): 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.8
ISBN: 0876044038
Dewey Decimal Number: 133
EAN: 9780876044032
ASIN: 0876044038
Publication Date: November 1, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
This book offers a path to help you maintain youthfulness, tap into reserves of energy, and understand your attitudes and emotions. Jess Stearn's personal experiences with yoga, resulting in his discovery of how to remain youthful, optimistic, and productive, are related in novel-like fashion. The book includes complete teach-yourself instructions and helpful photographs.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 11 more reviews...
 Sad Postscript April 27, 2008
rain cloud (USA)
Like, everybody else I read this book and retain a fondness for it because it was historical in getting many people involved in yoga.
I just learned the yoga teacher featured in this book, Marcia Moore, later (in the late seventies) got very interested in the use of a drug called "ketamine" that is alleged to give people spiritual experiences.
She then (so far as they can surmise) went out one night, climbed into a tree, injected ketamine. They think she then fell asleep, fell from the tree, and froze to death. She was considered as someone who just disappeared until her bones were discovered in the woods some distance from her house. She lived (I think) near Ojai, California.
So, this is a good book and I'm sure she was a nice person but it is a sad and very strange ending (albeit peaceful).
Dated yet relevant November 19, 2007
D. Dewald (Kearney, Mo United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
When I was 14 (in 1984) I found a copy of Richard L. Hittleman's book "Be Young With Yoga" in my mom's book stash. I promptly starting doing the basic postures without any regard to proper breathing and meditation.
Like most things in my young life this little yoga experiment came and went fairly quickly. However, over the years I keep going back to yoga. Sometime in my later teen years I came across Jess Stearn's book, "Yoga, Youth And Reincarnation."
Upon reading it as a sixteen year old I found a lot of the topics a little too metaphysical and outlandish to begin comprehending, but there was a lot of intriguing things to consider: Edgar Cayce, Mark Twain's strange dreams,etc.
Having just read the book again as a 37 year old I see it differently. I've read all the other reviews and agree that this book is dated. In our pop-culture world anything written in 1965 will come off dated and quaint. Some may be offended by the Fruedian thoughts the book expresses toward homosexuality, etc. In fact, that's why I searched Amazon to see if the book was still in print. It is so un-PC on some points that I was interested to see if it was still in print.
I found Stearn's story interesting because he was so honest, and it humanized the tale from that of pure cheerleading for yoga, into something much deeper. He did have a jealous streak against his guru's husband, and he did develope a crush on her. However, despite his human failings, ultimately the lessons of yoga took root in him and his life was altered in a positive way. Ultimately, I believe that is the premise of the book; the auther acknowledged his shortcomings honestly, but despite them the yoga philosophy transformed him.
So, yes the book is somewhat dated, but it is still relevant due to all the reasons people have already mentioned. The wonderful photos of Marcia, the excellent illustrations and descriptions of the poses, and, if one has an open mind, the story part of the book offers a novelistic tale to enjoy.
A true yogic journey... February 11, 2007
Bustani (ALPHARETTA, GA United States)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book many years ago and still consider it to be in my top 5 books on understanding Yoga. This book is more than a journalist's discovery of hatha yoga. It describes how hatha yoga should be practiced and exposes the true purpose of hatha yoga - UNION of body, mind and spirit. The how-to directions of various hatha yoga asanas in the back of the book are excellent.
 A dangerous book. December 3, 2005
P. J. Rohrmann (CA)
5 out of 24 found this review helpful
In the late 60s I read this book and was enthralled with it. I did the exercises and have to admit that got me through my PhD comprehensives. However, Hatha Yoga got me into the New Age Movement, where I spent 16 devastating years. Much as I thought I was approaching wholeness and peace, I was being torn apart inside and becoming very self-centered. My interpersonal relationships were full of conflict.
I note that one of the other reviewers noted how self-centered this author is. That is what I became during those years, full of myself. Everything was me, me, me.
So I have to say that with hindsight I think this book and the practice of Hatha Yoga is very dangerous.
35 years later.... June 12, 2004
12 out of 14 found this review helpful
...I still think this is the best book to teach anyone yoga from scratch. I have done many types of yoga, in excange for the space, or the job, or the study, but they all had serious problems. The worst of them were downright dangerous. Learning in a class, even from an experienced teacher, a tape, or one-on-one, will have you listening to something other than your own body, and is, more often than not, injurious. Gather the information first, practice slowly and meticulously, and you will improve faster than any other way. The best thing about this book is that it stresses the how and why, rather than the usual, "Do this!" As with everything, it's not as much WHAT you do...it's HOW you do it. Plow your way through the rest of it for the occasional tip, rule, or instruction, and you will be amazed at the benefits.
I first read this book because it was the only book in English that I hadn't read, in that part of Japan, during the Vietnam war. As a 20-something agnostic-by-mind, atheist-by-heart, all I was interested in was getting in shape physically, and, perhaps, controlling my own emotions. Imagine my surprise when, 3 months later, I found I had become an entirely different person! Not only was I physically more capable than I had ever been in my life, but I had the courage and the confidence to change my life into what I wanted it to be. My vision had been 20/200, it was now perfect, as an example.
You won't find the instructions for that in the positions illustrated in the back, or the pictures. You must read the text....with a notebook or a highlighter and dog-earred pages, but it's there, in language even a child can understand. The stories may entertain you, they may irritate you, but everything is there that you need. No one knows what your body needs but you, so do it alone, without distractions, when it is best for you. (I had 2 pre-schoolers then, so I did it late at night.)
Guaranteed, everything you need, for the rest of your life, is in there.
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