Understanding Yoga Psychology

Indigenous Psychology with Global Relevance

Anand C. Paranjpe

• Publisher: Taylor & Francis
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN: 9781032376332
• eBook ISBN: 9781000883251
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Psychology
• Subtopic: Developmental Psychology
• Index: Psychology

This book is an introduction to Patañjali's Yoga S?tras and its core concepts about the self, suffering and consciousness. It highlights its relevance to contemporary theories and applications in the fields of psychology and health.

The book adopts sociology of knowledge as a broad framework as it delves into the core concepts of yoga psychology in the Yoga S?tras in the context of worldviews and frameworks present in the Upanisads and the S??khya system. It provides an interpretation of Kriya Yoga and its practice in pursuit of spiritual upliftment, and concept of Sam?dhi or the transformation of consciousness using the language and idiom of contemporary psychology. It draws parallels between yoga psychology and the ideas of Husserl, Jung and Piaget while reconciling the seemingly disparate cultural, religious, spiritual, and intellectual traditions of eastern spirituality and schools of modern psychology. The book also discusses yoga psychology in relation to psychoanalysis, radical behaviorism as well as mainstream, cognitive, humanistic, transpersonal and indigenous psychologies and provides a guide to both the theories of yoga psychology and its applications.

This book will be of interest to students, teachers, researchers and practitioners of psychology, psychiatry, philosophy and yoga psychology as well as to psychologists, psychiatrists, counselors, mental health professionals, clinical psychologists, and yoga enthusiasts.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Endorsements
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• List of figures
• Preface and acknowledgments
• Glossary of Sanskrit terms
• 1. Introduction and context of inquiry
• 2. The worldview of the Veda and Upaniṣads: The background for Sāṁkhya and Yoga
• 3. Sāṁkhya system: The conceptual framework of Patañjali’s Yoga Sūtras
• 4. Patañjali’s eight-fold path (Aṣṭāṅga Yoga): General outline and basic concepts
• 5. The concept of afflictions (kleśas): and Kriyā Yoga to deal with them
• 6. The transformation of consciousness in Samādhi (I): An account from inside the texts
• 7. The transformation of consciousness in Samādhi (II): Looking from outside in
• 8. Yoga as Self-realization
• 9. Back to the context: Where does Yoga psychology stand in psychology today?
• Postscript: Where do we go from here?
• Appendix
• Index