The 7 Most Fascinating Yoga Books I Read This Summer

What if Patanjali is wrong? I wondered a few months ago. Not that he was, but nevertheless it is always good to expand our views on yoga. These are books that I have read over the summer and that are transforming my understanding of the science of yoga, from every single point of view, I hope they do the same for you:

CARRIED BY A PROMISE: In the Fall of 2003 I visited the Yasodhara Ashram in British Columbia, learned their prayers, ate in silence, dedicated all to the Divine Energy. Some of that story can be read in the "About" page of the blog.  The experience changed my life and initiated me into yoga, no ceremony was necessary.

In 1995 Swami Radha passed into the light and Radhananda, the author of this book slowly transitioned into the presidency and has ever since been the head of the Ashram.

This book is filled with her diary entries and is so down to earth it takes you by surprise, especially the parts where you see that even in the high ranks of people who are spiritual (even initiated swamis) still get caught in threads of jealousy, withholding of information, projections and fights.

She is a true warrior of yoga that sorts through and learns also as she prepares to change her life completely leaving behind her grown children and selling her home. An inspiration.
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THE TEXTBOOK OF YOGA PSYCHOLOGY: Don't let the price scare you, there are used versions for under $15 (which I can't link to, it seems).

The 1973 book tries to incorporate the rigidity and scholarly brevity of the yoga sutras into something a little more accessible to someone like, say, me, in this time and era:
"When the mind succeeds in seeing all external and internal motion within itself then it gains control over mental waves".

I knew yoga was controlling or stopping the mental waves but this book seems to go beyond, into more details.  Have not read it in full, will be reviewing it when I do.
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TEACHING YOGA: EXPLORING THE TEACHER STUDENT RELATIONSHIP: In my recent review of this book I called it "the book that every student and teacher of yoga MUST read".  


The reason becomes obvious as you read it, it presents examples drawn from Donna's extensive teaching experience at teacher trainings, workshops, overseas intensives, running studios etc., as well as all the difficult cases that have presented themselves to her and which she had to learn to deal with from a position of empowerment and professionalism.  


The 12 exercises given at the end of the book (only one of which has a proposed answer) are gems for a prospective teacher to analyze, think about, and come to productive conclusions of how one would proceed on a similar situation.
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FOUR CHAPTERS ON FREEDOM:  Reading over Satyananda's book I had to do a sort of double-take between my notes taken while taking the 20-hour Yoga Sutra workshop with Sirvatsa Ramaswami (A 35 year direct student of Krishnamacharya).


Some of the explanations, especially on chapter one are similar and as full and interesting.  There is of course one discrepancy which I seem to find only in Ramaswami (and Krishnamacharya;s interprettion), and that is on sutra 2.47 which, Ramaswami tells us, is where Krishnamacharya derived the concept of vinyasa.  But I guess that is not much of a surprise, not Iyengar, not this author, nor Maehle, nor any other scholar makes the connection, only Ramaswami through Krishnamacharya.


Beyond that point, on which I seem to be a little fixated I admit, the book is easy to read and has a wealth of metaphors to bring the points home.
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THE ART OF ADJUSTING:  I have written an extensive review about this heavy and rather expensive book everywhere and the reason why is because it is more than worth the price.


The adjustments described reflect on a decade of teacher training and are precise, beautiful and, well, they just entice you to roll the mat, grab a partner and explore.


Here is the full review in case you are interested. I will tell you right off that this was my favorite summer read and I still experience separation anxiety when I do not have it near.  That is how much I enjoy reading it.  Amazon may be out of stock but Ashtanga.com does have it and they are pretty reliable with quick shipment.  A treat for anyone focusing on deepening the understanding of the asanas of the primary series of Ashtanga, although, granted, the closing sequence is missing, maybe there will be another book.  And in case Cooper is reading, people have already been asking for "The Art of Adjusting the Intermediate Series", so we hope you get that message Brian!
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KUNDALINI YOGA FOR THE WEST:
I have a lot to say about this and although I am planning on writing a full review on the book I will tell you one thing I discovered.  The world of the yoga sutras is very male energy dominated, filled with instructions to be interpreted by gurus or scholars, and does not provide explicit and easy ways of reflection and exercises that can take us to clean up our own internal house to the point where we can actually make use of them.


THIS is the book that does that.  I know that the name kundalini scares a lot of people but this book is extremely down to earth and filled with suggestions that bring in something that is mostly missing from yoga in America, the Divine Mother, and her capacity to help us deal with minutia and daily issues in a way that will bring us closer to a state in which we can get to progress on the path of yoga.  I would go as far as to say that give the yoga sutras to someone and they may or not understand the path of yoga, but give this book and you will have some clear points of self-reflection that will help you eliminate the basic pains and turmoils of your life so you can create a solid foundation for the more advanced practices of yoga.


Radha studied with Sivananda (on of the most practical and effective gurus of the last century) directly and was initiated by him.  Her story is filled with her work with the "light" which is a term she uses constantly as a way for us to not identify so much with body and mind but rather grasp in a very practical way that we are NOT what we think we are.


I have owned the book since 2003, but I confess I can only take it in doses. Buy at your own risk, as you will discover things about you, by way of doing the exercises, that you may not want to know.
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FUNDAMENTALS OF YOGA: I came across this book while investigating a claim from Ramaswami where he says that this author warns again and again against the bad practice of forcing students into things like 108 sun salutations or hours of asanas or feasts of 100s of drop backs.  


I did not find such claims in this particular book but what I did find is another of those 70's books filled with clear interpretations of what it means, for example, to 'renounce the world' and how confused we all are on this idea.


The book led me and inspired me to write the story on my failed attempt, or fiasco, at renouncing the world and going to live in a solitary cabin.


Every chapter in the book teaches yoga in a very different light than the pragmatic and almost academic style that Ashtanga utilizes and it helped me open my mind to new ways of grasping what liberation may be really about.

AAAAAAND.... A BOOK ON PRE-ORDER:

Some books have not come up yet but I have already put a pre-order  so I can read them fresh off the oven:

HEALTH, HEALING AND BEYOND: YOGA AND THE LIVING TRADITION OF T. KRISHNAMACHARYA.  By T.K.V. Desikachar

It becomes available on September 13 but you can pre-order today.