Yoga for the New year

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Happy New year and my best wishes! I have some interesting things to announce for this New year.

I always firmly believed that Yoga has the potential to unite the entire world and make it a better place to live in. That may sound like an altruistic vision. But it is quite possible if only we widen our horizons and look at Yoga the way it was originally meant.

Most people view Yoga as a health enhancer. I have no objection to that. I only want you to go beyond physical health. Even beyond mental wellbeing. I am talking about Yoga’s abilities to enhance the health of the entire society, entire nation, and even the whole world. That cannot be achieved if we restrict to the very limited definition of Yoga that we have today.

Yoga was originally aimed at much higher goals. I have always tried, through my books, to convey what Yoga originally meant and how it is a sound system with a vast potential. Let us rise beyond limited commercial interests and narrow religious boundaries. Seeing religious undertones in Yoga is grossly underestimating its reach.

I have attempted to explain what exactly I mean by the ‘world unifying abilities of Yoga’ through many of my books. But I have my own limitations. I write mostly in English. Though English is the largest spoken language, with 14% of the world population speaking English, there is a far wider world out there who speak myriad different languages. Nothing can communicate to you better than your own mother tongue.

But unfortunately, I have my own limitations. I can hardly claim to know half a dozen languages and a couple more with cursory familiarity. It is not possible for me to write in all those languages, each of which have their own power of expression. So, I was always toying with the idea of getting my books translated to other languages – as many as possible.

Coincidentally, one of my readers Mrs Anita from India recently made me a suggestion that I should bring out my books in other languages as well. Thankfully one of my friends volunteered to translate my book “Yoga Facts” to Hindi, an Indian national language. That Hindi version is now available in most online stores. Please check https://books2read.com/YogaFactsHINDI to see where this book is available and to make a purchase if you are a Hindi speaker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

That was just the beginning. More recently, one Chile based Yoga teacher brought out Spanish version of the same book. She did a wonderful job and I am sure all Spanish speakers would love her work.

Spanish is the fourth largest spoken language after English, Mandarin and Hindi. An almost 6% of the world population spread over 19 different counties are native Spanish speakers. I am sure Spanish speakers would love to read this book in their own language.

Instead of going into the complete story myself, let me ask my co-cost today, who has done this wonderful translation. Over to my co-host.

Co-host:

“Hello, my name is Francisca Hoces and I am a Chilean yoga teacher. I’ll let you in on a little bit of my experience while translating Yoga Facts.

First, I sent a message to Dr. King because I was really interested in translating his work. From my point of view, anything that helps to clear out the misconceptions about Yoga is very much needed. Dr. King accepted my first 10 draft pages, so we moved on from there. Dr. King kindly lent me a hand and helped me through the whole process, so that we could achieve a high-quality result.

I could tell immediately that Dr. King had a deep respect for ancient texts and was quoting them in order to make his case. The book succinctly depicts some of the most common misconceptions there are about yoga that could arise in the mind of a yoga practitioner, while going back to ancient texts for the answers.

This text really challenged what I thought about names of ancient texts and their correct notation, and answered some of my own questions about yoga that I might have been embarrassed to ask before. Because everyone takes this for granted. But this is something not to be taken lightly.

I hope that my contribution to this book makes it accessible to people from Spanish speaking countries. I want the reader to feel as close to the original intention as possible. And I hope that Yoga continues to shine a light on us, if we just open up to learn more about its origins and practice it the way it was intended, to make us reach a higher state of consciousness and an overall better life.”

Francisca, could you please say the same words in Spanish for the benefit of our Spanish speaking audience? I am sure they understand English too, but they love to listen to you in their own language. Even I love to listen to that sweet language.

Francisca:

“Hola, mi nombre es Francisca Hoces y soy una profesora de yoga de Chile. Les voy a contar un poco de mi experiencia mientras traducía Hechos del Yoga.

Primero le mandé un mensaje al Dr King, porque estaba realmente interesada en traducir su trabajo. Desde mi punto de vista, cualquier cosa que ayude a aclarar las ideas equivocadas sobre el yoga es muy necesaria. El Dr. aceptó el borrador de mis primeras 10 páginas, y entonces avanzamos desde ahí. El Dr. King amablemente me dio una mano y me ayudó a través de todo el proceso para que pudiéramos llegar a un resultado de alta calidad.

Pude darme cuenta inmediatamente de que el Dr King tenía un profundo respeto por los textos antiguos y los estaba citando para poder respaldar su caso. El libro describe sucintamente algunos de los errores más comunes que existen sobre el yoga que pueden despertar en la mente de un practicante de yoga, mientras regresa hacia los textos antiguos para las respuestas.

Este texto realmente desafío lo que pensaba sobre nombres de textos antiguos y cómo se anotan correctamente, y contestó algunas de mis propias preguntas sobre el yoga que puede que haya tenido vergüenza de hacer antes. Porque todo el mundo da esto por sentado. Pero esto no es algo que se deba tomar a la ligera.

Espero que mi contribución a este libro lo haga accesible a gente de países de habla hispana. Quiero que el lector se sienta tan cercano a la intención original como sea posible y espero que el yoga continúe brillando su luz sobre nosotros, si es que solo nos abrimos a aprender más sobre sus orígenes y practicamos en la manera en que se pensó, para hacernos llegar a un estado más alto de conciencia y en general una mejor vida.”

I am sure that you are eager to know where this book is available. It is available in most online stores as well as many offline libraries as well. You may find it in your country specific store as well. For starters, please check the link https://books2read.com/YogaFactsSPANISH . This by no means is an exhaustive list of stores. But should be good enough for many of you to make a purchase.

Francisca has made a wonderful translation. Please get a copy to show your appreciation for her efforts. And don’t forget to give your feedback by writing reviews. That would help me to take up more of my books and bring them to you in your own language.

Before I signoff, I would like to inform my general audience that if any of you would like to translate this book to your own language, please do contact me by dropping a line in the comment box. I normally don’t read comments on my podcast channels, so if you are listening to me on a podcast channel on apple, google, amazon and so on, please take the extra trouble to visit my blog and put the comment on my blog post. Normally these podcast hosts provide a link to my blog. I will surely consider it and provide you all the help that you may need. Together let us take Yoga to more and more people, the Yoga in its true sense. Let us make the world a better place to live in.