Yoga Unveiled: The Evolution and Essence of a Spiritual Tradition(2 DVD Set) Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)This excellent documentary, aimed especially at Western practitioners of hatha yoga, explores the origins and development of yoga, the branches of yoga, the transmission of yoga to the West, and the uses of yoga for health and healing. The film includes commentary by an impressive array of yoga teachers, scholars, MDs, and others (including B. K. S. Iyengar, Rodney Yee, Georg Feuerstein, and Jon Kabat-Zinn) and historical footage of some important twentieth-century teachers (including Krishnamacharya and Indra Devi).

The film is divided into five parts on two discs. Disc One (142 min.) opens with a segment on the contemporary practice of yoga in the West (11 min.).

Part 1, "ORIGINS OF YOGA" (23 min.), covers the Indus Valley civilization, the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Bhagavadgita, and the Yoga sutras. (I've used this part and the beginning of part 2 in teaching Hinduism to undergraduates.)

Part 2, "BRANCHES OF YOGA" (46 min.), begins with good explanations of bhakti yoga, karma yoga, jnana yoga, and raja (ashtanga) yoga. Then there's a discussion of yogic views of the human body/mind that isn't clearly tied in with what precedes or follows it, followed by a brief and unilluminating discussion of tantra and a rather abstract discussion of kundalini yoga. Part 2 closes with a good, detailed exploration of hatha yoga.

Part 3, "YOGA'S PASSAGE FROM EAST TO WEST" (16 min.), covers the Asiatic Society, the Transcendentalists, the 1893 World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago, and Swami Vivekananda.

Part 4, "MODERN YOGA" (46 min.), profiles five teachers who were instrumental in reviving and shaping hatha yoga in the twentieth century and introducing it to the West: Krishnamacharya, Indra Devi, Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, and Desikachar. (I think parts 3 and 4 will mainly be of interest to yoga devotees who've already heard of some of these teachers and to scholars of contemporary Hinduism or Asian religions in the West.)

Part 5, "YOGA AS THERAPY" (56 min.), is basically a separate film. (It's the only part on the second disc, and it has its own opening credits.) It explores yoga's uses for physical and mental health and healing and the integration of yoga with Western medicine.

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Product Description:
Yoga Unveiled is a breathtaking journey of sight and sound that illuminates the essence of yoga as its creators understood it thousands of years ago. Harnessing the colorful commentary of the most prominent yoga scholars, teachers and medical experts, Yoga Unveiled reveals how yoga began, tells the story of its passage to the West, describes its numerous branches, recounts the fascinating biographies of the foremost yoga masters, and explores the astonishing medical potential of yoga.Stunning cinematography, ornate visual displays and stirring music create a truly enchanting viewing experience. The great devotees of yoga featured in the film include B.K.S. Iyengar, Patabhi Jois, T.K.V. Desikachar, Rodney Yee, Patricia Walden, Dr. Dean Ornish, Dr. Mehmet Oz, Jon Kabat-Zinn, Dr. Georg Feuerstein, and others. Deepak Chopra praises Yoga Unveiled as a one-of-a-kind documentary film that covers the most comprehensive overview of the yoga tradition in its true essence. An artistic and inspirational triumph, it should be viewed by all!

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