Earlier this spring Columbia Journalism professor Robert Love published his book The Great Oom, The Improbably Birth of Yoga in America (Viking Adult, $27.95). This biography chronicles Pierre Bernard's transformation from an Iowa-born nobody into a radical leader of mind-body consciousness--in the late 19th century. According to this NPR story, contemporary yogis have Bernard to thank for the existence of yoga in America. All Things Considers interviews Love on this fascinating story in which author Robert Love tells NPR's Guy Raz how Bernard weathered early rumors of rampant sex and drug use, and later an arrest, to lay the foundation for an empire. Listen to the interview with Robert Love on NPR here (opens an MP3 file).
NPR looks at the Business of Yoga
From NPR's Web site:
"Talk of the Nation, December 26, 2006 · Guests explore yoga's path from the margins to the mainstream, and its transformation along the way from spiritual meditation to a mass-marketed workout.
Guests:
Hanna Rosin, staff writer for The Washington Post and author of "Striking a Pose," an article in Harper's magazine that examines yoga's potency as both exercise and market force.
Robert Love, contributing editor at the Columbia Journalism Review. Love's recent article "Fear of Yoga" traces yoga's origins in the United States and its rocky rise to popularity.
Miriam Nelson director of the John Hancock Center for Physical Activity and Nutrition"
Listen HERE http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6681341