Newsweek

50 Years of Yoga: The Author of "The World's Religions"

Huston Smith

Huston Smith

Huston Smith has done yoga every morning for the last 50 years. Sorry---who?!?! According to Newsweek, Huston Smith is, "arguably been the most important figure in the study of religion over the past five decades." So go look that up. Okay, since I know you won't, I'll tell you: In 1958, as a professor of religion, Smith authored a survey of major belief systems--Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Taoism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, and indigenous religions. Hence, The World's Religions."...in his day, Smith was doing something revolutionary. Without oversimplification or condescension, Smith introduced Americans to the notion that the world is full of all kinds of believers and that an educated person might learn a thing or two from another's faith. "The World's Religions" has sold 2.5 million copies since publication. It has been reprinted more than 60 times."A decade or so later he started doing yoga. In fact, Newsweek reports that he practiced forms from each of the religions he explicates---yoga, Islamic prayer, Zen meditation, Christian prayer, etc---believing all are viable and lead to the same source. And pretty fun to try, too!He used to demonstrate lotus pose on TV.But now, at 90, with osteoporosis, he's grateful to get into half lotus.