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Demystifying American Yoga: Embodied Movement for Individual and Collective Transformation
262 pages, Paperback
Published January 20, 2025
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February 24, 2025
Demystifying American Yoga is a great read which offers the reader a dive into not just the modern yoga community, but specifically the U.S. market (and marketing) of yoga. An interesting blend of academic insight and personal memoir, it offers background for those somewhat familiar with the issues yoga practitioners focus, and explanation for those less familiar. Author Sarah Hentges is an experienced yoga teacher and professor who seems to understand that, while there's a certain image yogis have in the media, this does not reflect every person who practices yoga. Reflecting on the issue of bias in the community, Hentges freely offers her own biases, which keeps the book from feeling combative if the reader doesn't agree with the author on certain topics. Whenever one is discussing topics like race, political affiliation, body size, or the like, there is potential for a reader to feel attacked and for division to continue. Instead, Demystifying American Yoga airs the "dirty laundry" of the community but puts it out there for us to consider where we can address the issues at the personal and community level.
Hentges includes chapters called Interludes, which not only give readers a break from the harder-hitting topics, but help one assess their own needs and practices. I particularly appreciated these sections because they offered ideas I can incorporate into my health & wellness practices as well as things I know will be wonderful for the folks who attend my yoga classes. While I have trained with one of the same organizations as the author (YogaFit) and share her appreciation for the way they train us, her thoughts and ideas from personal experiences and other trainings helped me expand my education.
The only section of the book that fell slightly flat for me was the section on feminism, which is only a fault in that the author has so much knowledge to share that it doesn't quite "fit" in the flow of the book. I'd like to see this broken out as its own title, as Hentges shared interesting insights and references that didn't quite mesh in the total topic. It's an area where I think she needs more time and space to really help the reader deep dive - especially with the number of allegations of sexual misconduct within our community.
As a member of the military/family community intersecting with yoga and mindfulness offerings, I would LOVE to see this author take on the research to create a title along these lines, with a similar format to Demystifying American Yoga. She touched on the topics of trauma-informed yoga, PTSD, and the military community and seems like just the person to be able to share the stories and helpful practices in this area in a way that will help those in need find it. Demystifying American Yoga is written with a compassionate voice, but Hentges clearly brooks no nonsense, and that's exactly what I've found to be most successful in the military and first responder communities.
I am pleased to have had the opportunity to read a digital ARC edition of this book from McFarland (McFarland.com) and will be investing in a print copy for myself. Definitely worthy of real shelf space in my library! I strongly recommend that any yoga teacher trainee consider reading this book as well.
Hentges includes chapters called Interludes, which not only give readers a break from the harder-hitting topics, but help one assess their own needs and practices. I particularly appreciated these sections because they offered ideas I can incorporate into my health & wellness practices as well as things I know will be wonderful for the folks who attend my yoga classes. While I have trained with one of the same organizations as the author (YogaFit) and share her appreciation for the way they train us, her thoughts and ideas from personal experiences and other trainings helped me expand my education.
The only section of the book that fell slightly flat for me was the section on feminism, which is only a fault in that the author has so much knowledge to share that it doesn't quite "fit" in the flow of the book. I'd like to see this broken out as its own title, as Hentges shared interesting insights and references that didn't quite mesh in the total topic. It's an area where I think she needs more time and space to really help the reader deep dive - especially with the number of allegations of sexual misconduct within our community.
As a member of the military/family community intersecting with yoga and mindfulness offerings, I would LOVE to see this author take on the research to create a title along these lines, with a similar format to Demystifying American Yoga. She touched on the topics of trauma-informed yoga, PTSD, and the military community and seems like just the person to be able to share the stories and helpful practices in this area in a way that will help those in need find it. Demystifying American Yoga is written with a compassionate voice, but Hentges clearly brooks no nonsense, and that's exactly what I've found to be most successful in the military and first responder communities.
I am pleased to have had the opportunity to read a digital ARC edition of this book from McFarland (McFarland.com) and will be investing in a print copy for myself. Definitely worthy of real shelf space in my library! I strongly recommend that any yoga teacher trainee consider reading this book as well.
Displaying 1 of 1 review