After hearing an interview with the author on Fresh Air, I was interested to learn more about Indira Devy, who is characterized as the main reason yoga was brought to the West.

While the topic is interesting and Indira Devy certainly lead a colorful life, I found myself getting a bit bogged down. Now, to be fair, that may be because I've had many things going on in my personal life, including *not* going to yoga the last few months. Or, it may be that the chronological presentation of Indira's life and her interaction with various major figures in yoga didn't catch my fancy as I had hoped.

Oddly, the book describes many pictures, but doesn't include any of them. I find pictures very interesting in biographies, autobiographies, and other historical information, so the lack of them in this book knocked it down a bit.

Overall, an interesting topic which I'll try to return to when less distracted.

This book, coupled with American Veda, is a great education on the fusion of
Western and Eastern thinking as it evolved over the 20th century and beyond. The author's main criticism of Indra Devi is that her detachment from personal relationships prevented her from developing emotional attachments and tending to her husband. The same could be said of many men who devoted their lives to causes beyond themselves. Martin Luther King and Gandhi come to mind. I would like to see more critical biographies of Krishnamacharya, Iyengar and Pattabi Jois that also include their shadow side. While it is true that Indra Devi's parapatetic spirit compelled her to evangelize yoga throughout the world, if she had been a man, perhaps this criticism would not be as prominent.

A fascinating look at the historical circumstances surrounding the life of a female Forrest Gump, if Forrest Gump were really into yoga. Hard to read at first because I was hoping for more insights into this strange lady, but once you accept that this book is not going to give you that, it's a riveting read covering a tremendous amount of world history.

I bought this book at a used book store years ago and now I’m heading on a (decolonizing) yoga retreat so I thought I’d read this beforehand.

What a wild ride. She is like The Doctor in the ways she shows up in historical events. I had to search so much history as I was following along. Learned lots about European Theosophy and WWII-era European interaction with eastern religion.

I liked the titular character in so many parts, but I lost her on her non-political stance when it came to the history of (this) yoga teaching being riddled with so much sexual assault.

Also, she was super interesting but saying she brought yoga to the west wasn’t really the way the story played out. Her story was more complicated than that and I think and there wasn’t a sufficient enough analysis of the role of colonialism in the American version of yoga (her time in the U.S. wasn’t even the most interesting part of her journey.)

An interesting read, but if it’s gonna be a white lady, I think I prefer “Yoga with Adriene” to “Yoga with Eugenia.”

This is a really interesting read about a solitary woman who shows up all over the world at pivotal moments in human history- from her initial home in Riga to Moscow, which she left in 1917 when revolution was on the streets, to Berlin and her eventual departure with the onset of world war II. Devi found herself in India as it sought independence from the British, and on the street in Dallas when Kennedy was assassinated in 1963. She lived in Hollywood and taught yoga to the rich and famous of her day, rubbed shoulders with Gandhi and was a senior adviser to a Panama official when Panama faced its darkest days.

I don't believe in gods and gurus; Devi's story shows, perhaps more than any other, that the power of a guru is just as liable to corruption as a bureaucrat in government. Some of her decisions are highly questionable and there is a selfishness about her life that can't be denied, but this is definitely the tale of an extraordinary life- and for a woman born in the 19th century, who saw the entirety of the painful 20th and the beginnings of the new millennium, it's a story that should spark a sense of adventure in every woman who wants more than the status quo.

The story spreads across the world and is often digressive, diving into peripheral characters and happenings with brilliant attention to detail, adding richness to a history that hasn't been recorded before. If you're interested in feminism, world history or yoga, this is a great read- I learned a hell of a lot more than I had expected to.

1.5 stars. If you're interested in the history of yoga and how it's changed over the years, this is not the book for you. The TLDR is that it was an aristocratic Russian woman who made yoga popular in the US, it was introduced as a very practical method of relaxation (the spiritual quest part didn't start until the 70s Age of Aquarius era), and it started with bored rich housewives in the 50s.

The book needs serious editing. There is little flow, there are too many people, and too many tangents; it felt like she was trying to fill space. The writing is good when she discusses Devi's influence, but a good chunk of of the book reads like Devi's travel itinerary and her contacts list, against a background of overly-detailed descriptions of context (e.g., there are pages on an attempted overthrow of the Noriega Panamanian government before the Americans did it). There is some interesting information to be found here, such as the fact that New Age thinking actually started in the late 1800s, but these tidbits are rare and weren't really worth the time wading through the rest of the uninteresting detail.

Overall, not a good read.

A really fascinating look at a truly bizarre life, with plenty of insight into the hows and whys behind the development of western yoga.

A lot of work went into culling the information for this book. That's not how I, as a reader, want to feel. I want a cohesive story. Also, some fact were wrong, which doesn't look good for all the hard worker had to slog through. Wait for the movie.