This is a book about yoga. Or at least it was. January 2015. High on literary success and
familial bliss Emmanuel Carrère embarks on a rigorous ten-day meditative retreat in rural
France in search of clarity and material for his next book which he thinks will be a subtle
upbeat introduction to yoga. But his trip is cut short and he is brought down to earth with a
thud as he returns to a Paris in turmoil in the aftermath of the Charlie Hebdo terrorist
attack. From then on Carrère's life begins to unravel along with his novel-in-progress. He is
diagnosed with Bipolar II Disorder and is sectioned to a psychiatric hospital for a four-month
stint where he is subject to electroshock therapy. His marriage crumbles he is struck by
grief at the death of a close friend and is haunted by a love affair with a mysterious woman
who disappeared from his life. Pushed to the edge of sanity and forced to reckon with his
identity as a man and a writer Carrère sets out on a life of action instead of meditation.
This is a book that embraces the Yin and Yang of life: the pull between life and death desire
and despair presence and absence fight and flight. It is a book about a world and a man in
tumult and about how surprisingly far practising meditation - and writing about it - can take
us in life. With raw honesty and humour YOGA gives us the self-portrait of a man struggling to
live with himself and others by one of our greatest and most surprising international writers.
