Yoga and Total Health — February 2018

YOGA AND TOTAL HEALTH • February 2018YOGA AND TOTAL HEALTH • February 2018^1313

his later work. He feels he is an
instrument for higher reality; he does
not claim credit for what he does.

Hansaji had a very special destiny
that perfectly prepared for her to be
Dr. Jayadeva’s partner and director of
The Yoga Institute. She is a wonderful
combination of administrative skills
and deep Yogic development. She is
a deep spiritual resource, yet she is
connected with the everyday world
in important ways. The histories of Dr.
Jayadeva and Hansaji make them very
approachable and understandable as
human beings with a special mission.

The book includes Yogic texts,
stories, and testimonials. It is very
honest and straightforward. It is
enormously valuable because it takes
you by the hand and leads you down
the path that is the deep development
of The Yoga Institute. It strings together
the work of the Institute.

I feel an enormous kinship with
Dr. Jayadeva and Smt. Hansaji
Yogendra, and have from the first
time I heard about The Yoga Institute.
I was introduced to Smt. Armaiti Desai
by her sister who lives near Sonoma
State University where I taught yoga
for many years in the Psychology
Department. They invited me to be
present at their ‘World Householders’
Yoga (WHY) Conference on Sane
Living’ in 1997. It was an amazing
experience for me because as a
humanistic psychologist and yoga
educator, I share many values in
common with The Yoga Institute since
its founding. Since then I have stayed
in touch, and years later participated
in another conference. They have
generously shared everything with
me while I was there and gave

me copies of many of their books.

Because they have shared so much

with me in terms of their publications

and research, because I have been

reading “Yoga and Total Health” over

the years, because of my visits to the

Institute, because I have read and

studied so much about yoga in the

world in general and The Yoga Institute

in particular, I have a good perspective

on this book and the Institute’s work

over the past 100 years. I have gone

through it with them all.

Dr. Jayadeva’s coverage of yoga

through the four Bhavas enables you

to get a sense of the holistic quality

of yoga. The goal of yoga is portrayed

clearly throughout. The book has

ample testimonials which enable you

to experience the Institute through

the Sadhaka’s eyes and to get a sense

of the developmental process that a

person goes through over the years

following the first visit to the Institute.

It also summarizes the yoga therapy

research they have done in a very

approachable and understandable

way. The reader is able to assess

the thread that runs through all the

research and activities. This research

will be very valuable for future studies.

The glossary and index will aid scholars.

It is also inspiring of what yoga is all

about - higher consciousness.

In 2011, The International Association

of Yoga Therapists awarded Hansaji

and The Yoga Institute a plaque in

recognition of its founding as the first

Institute of its kind in the world. It set

the example for what was possible as

yoga was transformed from a practice

for a select few, to householders, male

and female.

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