According to a recent survey, 15 million Americans practiced yoga in 2003, a growth of 28% over just a year earlier. Yet for many of these individuals, it is nothing more than a wellness and fitness activity that enhances flexibility, strength, and cardiovascular health. Deepak Chopra and David Simon, cofounders of the Chopra Center at La Costa Resort and Spa in Carlsbad, California, present a broader philosophy of yoga in this helpful work. As they point out in their description of the eight traditional yoga branches, only Asana aligns itself with the physical poses that are commonly associated with yoga.
Chopra and Simon note that yoga is a Vedic "science of balanced living, a path for realizing full human potential. In these tumultuous times, yoga provides an anchor to a quieter domain of life, enabling people living in a modern technological world to stay connected to their natural humanity. Yoga offers the promise of remaining centered in the midst of turbulence."
In his bestseller The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, Chopra offered strategies for moving ahead. The laws in this book — Pure Potentiality, Giving, Karma, Least Effort, Intention and Desire, Detachment, and Dhama — are applied to the yogic path to enlightenment. Practicing these laws can lead to stillness, breath awareness, acceptance, detachment and serving others.
