Hi Lily:
Though the approach Feuerstein (who is a respected yoga scholar) promotes is the common traditional one, I don't know anyone who has had success with it going the distance in yoga, which again begs the question: "Where's the enlightened?"
The premise in traditional yoga is that learning to behave enlightened (yama and niyama), doing neuro-energy practices (asanas and pranayama) and draconian sensory deprivation (pratyahara) are the prerequisites for learning the most powerful enlightenment practice -- meditation that directly cultivates inner silence. Perhaps the reference here is to a method of meditation that does not go immediately deep beyond the thinking process, and therefore it requires "preparation" so we will not get hung up in it. Well, who needs forms of meditation that place the burden of their ineffectiveness on the practitioner? This entire process seems backwards to me, and leading nowhere fast.
Oddly enough, the mainstream traditional approach to yoga is highly esoteric because it leaves ardent seekers hankering indefinitely outside the door of deep practice. Add to it that only a "guru" can impart the "advanced" teachings of meditation, and you have a sure-fire formula for not much happening.
The traditional eight limbs "in sequence" approach to yoga that Feuerstein and others promote is the least risk, least results strategy. It reflects the condition of yoga around the world today where nearly everyone is left wallowing in physicality and intellectuality -- barely scratching the surface of the vast potential for human spiritual transformation. Then add to that the kundalini messes associated with premature crown practices, and who would even want to look further?
The shortcoming is not in the practitioners. The shortcoming is in the teachings!
The limbs of yoga need not be taken in sequence. In fact, the best results are found by taking them in a more practical order, with effective deep meditation first. There is more discussion on this in the lesson on the eight limbs of yoga and samyama (#149) at
http://www.aypsite.com/plus/149.htmlThe bottom line is, we ought to be optimizing the application of yoga practices in ways that are results-oriented, rather than blindly following approaches and practices that are slow and produce sub-par results. There is no time to waste.
The guru is in you.
PS -- Btw, the answer to the question, "Where's the enlightened?" is to be found right where each of us is sitting...