Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Competitive Yoga Author: Benjamin Lorr | Language: English | ISBN:
B008VA716C | Format: PDF
Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Competitive Yoga Description
Author Benjamin Lorr wandered into a yoga studio—and fell down a rabbit hole
Hell-Bent explores a fascinating, often surreal world at the extremes of American yoga. Benjamin Lorr walked into his first yoga studio on a whim, overweight and curious, and quickly found the yoga reinventing his life. He was studying Bikram Yoga (or “hot yoga”) when a run-in with a master and competitive yoga champion led him into an obsessive subculture—a group of yogis for whom eight hours of practice a day in 110- degree heat was just the beginning.
So begins a journey. Populated by athletic prodigies, wide-eyed celebrities, legitimate medical miracles, and predatory hucksters, it’s a nation-spanning trip—from the jam-packed studios of New York to the athletic performance labs of the University of Oregon to the stage at the National Yoga Asana Championship, where Lorr competes for glory.
The culmination of two years of research, and featuring hundreds of interviews with yogis, scientists, doctors, and scholars, Hell-Bent is a wild exploration. A look at the science behind a controversial practice, a story of greed, narcissism, and corruption, and a mind-bending tale of personal transformation, it is a book that will not only challenge your conception of yoga, but will change the way you view the fragile, inspirational limits of the human body itself.
- File Size: 649 KB
- Print Length: 321 pages
- Page Numbers Source ISBN: 031267290X
- Publisher: St. Martin's Press; Reprint edition (October 30, 2012)
- Sold by: Macmillan
- Language: English
- ASIN: B008VA716C
- Text-to-Speech: Enabled
X-Ray:
- Lending: Not Enabled
- Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,234 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)
- #36
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Yoga - #89
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Biographies
- #36
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Yoga - #89
in Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks > Nonfiction > Sports > Biographies
This is a very fair examination of Bikram yoga, the people who practice it, the people who teach it, and the man who popularized it.
Neither a hatchet job that shares every piece of dirt to be found, nor an obeisant recital of Bikram's hyperbole laden claims.
Just a smart, insightful, and grounded perspective on the yoga, the people who practice it, the people who teach it, and the man whose name it bears.
By BBB
My teacher often reminds us that yoga is not a competitive practice, which has me wondering now if he has a history with Bikram yoga... A practice I have never and will never pursue. This book blew my mind! I think anyone who practices or is interested in yoga will enjoy this tome on the topic. The author applies several staple yogic traits to his writing: clarity, flow, honesty, humor, and insight. While sharing his lurid story into competitive yoga, you sympathize with his path because anyone motivated to "better themselves" has battled narcissism in some way. Thankfully, he found a way out of the bad and back to a grounded placed for reflection and sharing. I have always been intrigued by the power of the mind and body - may it be its tolerance for pain, ability to defy reason, and the power to head itself. He explores this all and more! I highly recommend this book! A great read to follow is
Human Movement Potential: Its Ideokinetic Facilitation.
By Todd K
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