This book was great fun. The question, whether and how practice is really transformative, is perfect. There is a nice consistency among the people interviewed - they're all like my big brothers and sisters, people in their fifties or sixties, Americans who started practicing in the 1970s or thereabouts. They're also folks who mostly straddle the line between Buddhism and Yoga. I think I have met five of these people over the years.

I am fascinated by the question of the effectiveness of transformative practice, and particularly the methodological challenge. Real transformation takes decades of dedicated practice. The people interviewed here are all teachers. That must create a selection bias. Surely it is common enough for someone who has practiced for thirty years also to be teaching, sharing what they have learned. But wouldn't some folks be working more quietly, just engaged in whatever sort of work and teaching more by example and just helping people less programatically?

There are some fascinating currents and contrasts in the book, though these are hardly brought out for explicit discussion. Each interview here stands on its own and it is up to the reader to compare and draw conclusions or at least extract issues.

One issue: does practice free one from the problems and troubles of life, or does it more change the way one relates to those? Of course this distinction is itself tricky. But we sure do meet a couple folks here who seem engage life from a blissful angle. I seem to recall a dissenting voice too, a voice that wonders if all that bliss isn't more like a candy coating that leaves underlying problems unresolved. Anyway, this issue provides a nice axis along which these various interviews can be contrasted.

Another issue is that of formal versus informal practice. It's a curious puzzle how someone who teaches can themselves let go of formal practice. Of course one solution is that formal practice is more for beginners and then at a more advanced level informal practice is more appropriate. To some extent an informal practice can simply be a widely diverse and spontaneous practice, i.e. a smorgasboard of formal practices. Some teachers do seem to teach in diverse settings, so each mode of teaching has a distinct form but then when adding up their totality the boundaries cross and blur enough that the overall form is difficult to discern.

These interviews are nicely short, so quite easy to digest in one sitting. Each interview seems to touch some core concern - we seem to be getting below the surface.

If you want a picture of what is happening in America where Yoga and Buddhism meeting, this book gives a clear and balanced picture. ( )

The author asked the teachers of a retreat to share their stories of how the long-term practice of yoga has changed their lives. I found the stories inspiring. ( )