"The science of yoga teaches you how to live and how to shape your life with a commanding sense of purpose, capacity, and meaning," writes Rod Stryker, the founder of Para Yoga who is also a well-known meditation teacher. In his view yoga has less to do with the body or the mind than with the happiness that comes with realizing one's full potential. According to the Vedas, the soul has four desires which must be realized:
• The desire for Purpose where we open like a flower and bloom as we were meant to do, becoming our best self
• The desire for the Means (money, security, health) to flourish in the world
• The desire for Pleasure such as those discovered in love, intimacy, and beauty
• The desire for Spiritual Realization and Ultimate Liberation
Throughout the book, Stryker includes vignettes from the real-life experiences of people animated by these desires. He provides teachings, exercises, meditations, and six yoga poses, which can help us develop the qualities needed for our quest: courage, willpower, self-awareness, letting go, and surrender.
The Four Desires is based on The Yoga of Fulfillment, a course Stryker taught for more than 30 years. Given the amount of time and energy put into the teachings in this book, we are especially appreciative of Stryker's perspectives on intention, self-defeating behaviors, non-attachment, the courage to change, the reward of contentment, and more.
