Author & Yoga Expert Stephen Cope
Kripalu Center Yoga Instructor's Quest for the True Self
In his readable memoir of experiences at the Kripalu center, psychologist Stephen Cope offers a useful roadmap for Western seekers on any internal personal journey.
What many students of yoga quickly realize is that the effort of doing these postures does not constitute a mere workout.
While listening to inhalations and exhalations, students begin to listen more and more to their own minds. While learning to test the limits of their flexibility, students understand their bodies on a deeper level. Sure, students feel stronger or perhaps a bit better balanced. Bodies grow suppler; it becomes uncommon to feel sore after other kinds of exercise.
While earnestly listening to their breaths, students finally hear their true Selves.
A Return to the Body
Instead of battling against the limitations or sensations from within us, we begin to listen and hear more clearly. We eventually stop trying to dominate or control our bodies, and we learn how to take care of ourselves.
Eventually, our yoga classes feel so good, and help us relieve stress so much, that we are unwilling to give up those ninety minutes for much else. We are no longer willing to sacrifice ourselves as we have habitually done for so long, because we have learned that we can bring more to our families and jobs if we just do this one thing.
Perhaps this describes you
- Do you find yourself seeking quiet time - to carve out space for yourself to tune in to that "still small voice" within you?
- Do you find yourself longing for authenticity?
- Do you feel trapped by your old life?
- Do you feel a gut-wrenching need to express yourself somehow?
Do you feel, as do so many other individuals undergoing what Cope calls "the Reality Project" also feel "an inchoate sense of something unimaginable about to be born out of the disorganization of our lives"
Perhaps it will give you a great sense of relief to know that this is not only your experience, but also that of many others.
You are not alone
If you answered "yes" to more than one of the above questions, "Yoga and the Quest for the True Self" could be helpful. These characteristics, among others, are part of a normal and natural spiritual and psychological growth period for adults.
In this, his first book, Stephen Cope, and American psychotherapist, presents an inward-bound travel journal. In a tale as friendly as any novel, the reader progresses on this journey along with the author.
Though it may be of particular interest to those who have found peace and awareness of their bodies and minds on the yoga mat, Cope does not site yoga as the only possible path on this search.
One path among many
He is quick to emphasize that this is merely the route he took, and one that is accessible to most students. He does not limit other explorers to a single path, and in chapter 2, he specifically defines what to look for when selecting a healthy and realistic retreat, guru or group, what Cope refers to as a "transformational space".
The work is rooted in firm foundations of common sense and science. Cope maintains a psychologist's gentle touch while exploring painful emotional truths in case studies and common patterns of behavior in our society.
With a logical Western mind, Cope casts a wide net across various spiritual beliefs. He seeks to clarify and define many of the confusing aspects of eastern metaphysics and philosophy, particularly those that relate to the study of yoga: Veda, Hinduism and Buddhism.
Now a senior instructor at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, in Lenox, Massachusetts, Cope published his second book "The Wisdom of Yoga: A Seeker’s Guide to Extraordinary Living" in 2006.
