On Beyond Yoga: A novel of adventure, romance, and transformation

by Eric William Brown

Frustrated with the superficiality of contemporary yoga, three yoga students join their “half-enlightened” teacher on a two week, magical-mystical tour through India's spiritual capitals hoping to find answers.
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Egon is a romantic, happy go lucky, Bavarian enraptured by the exotic and material aspects of modern-day yoga. He is ecstatic when his teacher invites him to an Indian yoga retreat hoping it will be an extension of the spiritual shopping-spree he started with his first yoga class eight years hence.
Franz, a successful, German businessman has a horde of physical disorders caused by his consuming desire to excel in the corporate world of materialism. After experiencing a radical reversal of pain through yoga, Franz decides the yoga retreat might offer answers to a few of the deeper questions that have plagued him since he started his mid-life crisis.
Lisette is a beautiful, Dutch dancer turned yoga teacher who also decided to join the three men on a trip to three of India's holiest cities.
Soon after their arrival, Egon discovers a growing erotic attraction to Franz as Franz develops a passionate feeling of love for Lisette. Lisette only has eyes for her mentor and celibate yoga teacher, Joshua, who has an ongoing hate/love relationship with God he hopes to reconcile in India.
This “love square” irons itself out on their journey through the sacred cities of Rishikesh, the current yoga capital of the world; Varanasi, the oldest inhabited city of earth; and Tiruvannamalai, a holy city at the seat of Arunachala, one of India's most sacred mountains.
Through a series of philosophical discourses steeped in the Vedic principles of “A Course in Miracles” and filtered through the sutras of Patanjali, the ancient sage of yoga, Joshua leads his three students through variety of strange and mystical experiences, extraordinary encounters and profound revelations that leaves each of them wondering about the true nature of reality.

Genres: M M Romance

629 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 19, 2015

Reviews

[Tim Pyke · Rating 4 out of 5]

On Beyond Yoga is a humorous story about a yoga teacher and three of his students taking a trip to India. On a search for spiritual answers they travel to Rishikesh, Varanasi and Tiruvannamalai practicing yoga and discovering the country as well as their own doubts, worries and sexual yearnings. They each face their own truths as they encounter the highs and lows along their journey. Packed full of philosophical thoughts I found the book both entertaining and interesting. It also introduced me to the 1970s book, a course of miracles, which I have added to my list of books to read.

[Jnana Hodson · Rating 5 out of 5]

There aren't a lot of novels about yoga — the books in front of the public are overwhelmingly serious nonfiction — but Brown's tale is sex-laced except for the teacher, who is doggedly sexless. Here three men and a woman head off from Germany for two weeks in India a few decades after yoga had hit America and Europe. Each member of the party has different expectations of the pilgrimage, as they relate in their candid and often humorous confessions. Despite annoying first-person/third-person shifts and a few other glitches, this book remains a rich encounter with some of life's most enduring questions.

[Amy Shannon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spiritual and Enlightening

It's a very easy read, and it comes from the perspective of four travelers. There are positives and negatives in life, and this book scratches the surface of both. It's an interesting story about trials of life and how it is an adventure. Not everyone can go to the beautiful locations set in this book, but it's a good read.

[P.J. Paulson · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book! As the characters' journey (both travel and spiritual) progresses, the characters enlighten the reader as well as one another through a series of discourses as they reflect on the spiritual and philosophical aspects of the occurrences of the day. To me, it brings to mind the Dialogues of Plato and the Socratic method, but the writing style of On Beyond Yoga is smooth and straightforward - a very easy read. The candid descriptions of both the positive and less positive aspects of daily life in India are colorful, informative, and very interesting - the book would be of interest for that alone. This is not a book about yoga, per se; it is about spiritual seeking and learning that can accompany yoga, or be independent of it, and that is realized by the travelers as they experience the holy sites of India. I found myself bookmarking several pages in which Joshua and his students share remarkably enlightened wisdom that I hadn't expected to find in a novel. Prior to reading this book, I hadn't known that yoga had a spiritual component. I also hadn't realized that "A Course in Miracles" was applicable outside of Christianity, and went to dust off a copy I bought years ago. Not only is On Beyond Yoga well worth reading, I've found it has strengthened and brightened my own spiritual outlook.

[Eric Brown · Rating 5 out of 5]

On Beyond Yoga book is a gem of both inspiration and practicality, simple but deep, easy to understand. The characters are both entertaining, humorous and easy to relate to. The book was an easy read despite some of the more intricate philosophical discourses that appear throughout the book.

An excellent book to read if you have ever pondered life, purpose, God, the self, suffering, pleasure, beliefs, or mortality.