Yoga and the Jesus Prayer

Thomas Matus studies the yogic realization described by Hindu Tantric writers and the personal testimony of a great Eastern Christian mystic, Symeon the New Theologian (949-1022). The convergence of their respective narratives in a shared symbolic language points to an 'analogy of experience' between them. On the basis of this analogy, Matus suggests that the awakening of hidden energies in the body can be understood as the fulfilment of a life of faith in Jesus. In this revised edition of his pioneering study of 1984, Matus goes beyond a purely theoretical reflection and offers both an account of his own experience as a Christian yogi and a clear description of the yogic rites and techniques into which he was initiated more than fifty years ago.