Last weekend, Yoga Tree Castro hosted a two-night benefit for an exciting new literary project in the yoga world: a book that, if completed, will reveal incredible never-before-read information about yoga.

The proposed 600-page project is called the Tantric Studies Reader, and it's being put together by renown Sanskrit and Yogic scholars. These scholars estimate that only 4% of the hundreds of key texts on yoga and Tantra have yet been translated. There are thousands more, unknown to the Western world, written on palm leaves (like the one pictured here) in libraries in India and Nepal. This project is all about getting a hold of these manuscripts, translating them, and making them available to the yoga community at large.

This is awesome news for the yoga community because it means we will get to understand a lot more about practices like mantra, darshana, asana, pranayama, and meditation. But the academics working on the project, specifically the main editor, Columbia University professor Somadeva Vasudeva, need more funding to see the book to completion.

Local interest is building, especially because the Bay Area's own Sanskrit and Tantric scholars Christopher Tompkins and Harish Wallis are also involved. And now, teachers like Janet Stone and Shiva Rea (right) have jumped on board to help. They both held benefit events this past weekend at Yoga Tree Castro.

I went to Shiva Rea's event—in which Chris Tompkins was also teaching; it was a huge gathering on Saturday night around a colorful yantra in the middle of the studio. Chris did a lecture on Tantric art and Shiva Rea led the group in a spontaneous flow movement massive trance dance. Janet held an event the night before and, between the two events, more than $2000 was raised for this groundbreaking yogic text.

The teachers and scholars are putting out a plea for help with their work. If this work excites you, there are lots of ways to get involved.

+ Read more about the project, and donate if you can.

+ purchase any of the spiritual art
or any of the DVDs on the Foundation for Yoga site; through November, all proceeds will go to the project.

+ Read more about the importance of Tantra in the history of yoga.

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Photo of Shiva Rea by Lisa Johnston