I was looking at my shelf of yoga books and thinking, I probably don't really need all of these, so one of my projects over the next few months will be reading them and disposing of a few to clear some more space. As I've mentioned previously, I have a tendency to, shall we say, overacquire when it comes to books (and some other things). One might say it's completely justifiable when it is material I could refer to in my second life as a teacher/trainer. However, the truth is that for the foreseeable future (at least ten years), I am likely to be teaching/training only on a part-time basis, and with an emphasis on dance.
With that in mind, I started with the biggest and heaviest of my yoga books, fully expecting that it would go directly into the "donate to library" pile. Alas! It will not!
"Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health," by B.K.S. Iyengar, published by DK Books, and like all of theirs profusely illustrated, is first a survey of basic yoga philosophy, second an encyclopedia of 23 basic poses or asanas, and third a reference for the use of these asanas in sequences designed to address specific complaints.
The third part I don't expect to use or refer to. I am not in the physical therapy profession, and even if I were, I don't believe I would rely on combinations of just these 23 asanas. The students I have had who were open to discussing yoga have been more interested in using yoga to improve their dancing than to address other issues they might have. Let me add that I think a basic yoga practice would be helpful to almost anybody!
The history and philosophy part I had skimmed through before, but not read with a great deal of attention. It is, however, a nicely written and concise treatment, which touches on, among other things, the use of physical asana to induce a receptive mental state in which the student can access and investigate the six obstacles to happiness: desire, anger, greed, infatuation, pride and envy. Note that in this interpretation, happiness = enlightenment, or vice versa. This approach does not overly emphasize the search for the divine; I am not a deep reader on yoga philosophy, but I do know some schools that direct the student to seek "God" through yoga. This is evidently not one of them, which may be why I am comfortable with it. To me, the notion of seeking God indicates desire (God is something the student wants). At the heart of Buddhist philosophy as I've read it, enlightenment is the state in which there is no desire, only acceptance and understanding. This particular book is for the earthbound student who wants to use yoga to improve his or her life in the here and now.
Iyengar goes on to note in his introduction to the basic asanas that the work of physical asana progresses through several phases. The first is the practice involving only the anatomical body. In the second, the student has understood the motions, alignments, and foundation of each asana and progresses to mental awareness of the physical: that is, a reflective and meditative attention paid to the tissues, organs, and skin; to feeling and noticing the contraction and expansion of the lungs and organs, the breath, the heartbeat, and the activation of the muscles.
In the third phase, the student's intelligence and body become one. This sounds very New Age, but the body really does have its own intelligence; information in our brains is linked with the information provided by our bodies, in a sort of ongoing conversation. In my personal-training program, the body's intelligence is called proprioception - the ability of each tissue to provide information about itself to our brains. So I would say this phase of a yoga practice is about linking cognitive perception with proprioception to develop a multidimensional understanding of movement.
The final phase of the yoga practice, according to Iyengar, is the state of perfection, which he defines as the state of body, mind, and self (soul) becoming one. At this level, asanas become meditative or spiritual. I would label the four phases Alignment, Attention, Integration, and Meditation.
Iyengar emphasizes, and so would I, that the student should not hurry through. The first phase, in particular, is the foundation. If a student tries to rush ahead of his or her true understanding, the other phases will never fall into place. And as a teacher, I would say that rushing ahead of true ability is a recipe for injury and disillusionment. Every asana has a beginner version, and that is where beginners should start. (Just as in ballroom dancing, the student should seek to truly master bronze material. I have seen professional competitors who do nothing but bronze material in their championship-level events. It's all about how you do the material, which is a direct result of your understanding of it.)
Each student progresses at his or her own pace, which is one reason I have avoided group classes in general over the years; it may be "unyogic" of me, but I don't have infinite time, I don't do yoga just to burn a few calories, and to me there is little benefit in doing ten Downward Dogs in a sequence. I have my own yoga agenda, and so does every other student. For that reason, I think every yoga student ought to have a home practice, even if they attend multiple group classes, in order to address their specific issues without distractions and without the risk of being coached away from what they themselves really need.
Having digressed, let me return to the book. The encyclopedia portion is brilliantly laid out, with in-the-round photographs of each asana, a brief text on how to enter and exit the pose, cautions and benefits, ways to progress the pose, and advanced work. The book is worth keeping just for this. I wish it covered more asanas!
As a final note, here is what Iyengar has to say about yoga in the modern world:
"Egoism and pride cause an individual to lose contact with his or her emotional center. In order to achieve a fully integrated personality, you must develop emotionally as well as intellectually. Only then will you be able to control the stresses and strains which knock you off balance from time to time. As long as your heart and your mind remain separate, stress will manifest itself physically and emotionally through contracted body muscles, tense facial expressions, and undesirable behavioral patterns. ... It is only when the head and the heart are in harmony, that peace of mind, stability, and happiness can be achieved."
