Yoga is an infinitely complex landscape of intersecting lineages, traditions, and streams of wisdom. Yoga Through the Ages dips into several of the major texts of these traditions and distills their essential teachings, drawing out the elements that are of particular relevance to a student, teacher, or practitioner of yoga today.

I first visited India in 2000 as part of a university study abroad program. It was September, the end of summer before the monsoon, and it was hot. Jet-lagged and hungry, I emerged into the muggy Chennai night with a sense of exhilaration. It was my twenty-first birthday, and I had finally come home.

The sense of being at home in India was not based on any outer experience. The sights, sounds and smells were new, exotic. I didn't understand the language; the food was strange and spicy; and I recoiled in the face of poverty and filth. But my soul felt a sense of relief and comfort that's like what you might feel after returning home after a long journey. I felt all of these things at the same time, and somehow there was no contradiction. The combination felt entirely natural.