Biography of a Yogi: Paramahansa Yogananda and the Origins of Modern Yoga [Paperback]

With over four million copies in print, Parmahansa Yogananda's autobiography has been translated into thirty-three languages, and it still serves as a gateway into yoga and alternative spirituality for countless North American practitioners. This book examines Yogananda's life and work to clarify linkages between the seemingly disparate aspects of modern yoga, and illuminates the intimate connections between yoga and metaphysically-leaning American traditions such as Unitarianism, New Thought, and Theosophy.With over four million copies in print, Paramahansa Yogananda's autobiography has served as a gateway into yoga and alternative spirituality for North American practitioners since 1946. Balancing traditional yoga, metaphysical spirituality, and a flair for the stage, Yogananda inspired countless people to practice Yogoda, his own brand of yoga. His method combined the spiritual and superhuman aspirations of Indian traditions with the health-oriented sensibilities of Western practice.Because the Yogoda program does not rely on recognizable postures and poses, it has remained under the radar of yoga scholarship. Biography of a Yogi examines Yogananda's career and Yogoda in the wider context of the development of yoga in the twentieth century. Focusing on Yogis during this early period of transnational popularization, Foxen highlights the continuities in the concept of the Yogi as superhuman and traces the transformation of yoga from a holistic and spiritual practice to its present-day postural practice.List Of FiguresNote On TransliterationDramatis PersonaeIntroduction1: The Turbaned Superman2: Yogis Without Borders3: Here Comes the Yogiman4: Yogi Calisthenics5: Hagiography of a YogiEpilogueBibliographyAnya P. Foxenteaches in the Religious Studies Program at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo. She holds a Ph.D. from the University of California, Santa Barbara and is a certified yoga instructor and long-time practitioner. The ml3#