The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice
by T. K. V. Desikachar
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Book Summary Information
Author: T. K. V. DesikacharEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1999-03-01
ISBN: 089281764X
Number of pages: 244
Publisher: Inner Traditions
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9780892817641
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice
Book Review: good for therapeutic asana practice, not good for the "heart" of Yoga Sutras
Summary: 3 Stars
The name, T. K. V. Desikachar, is significant in the world of hatha yoga in the West. The famed teacher Krishnamacharya is his father, and B. K. S. Iyengar is his uncle.
The book begins with an "interview" with Desikachar. The questions are about Krishnamacharya's philosophy and method of teaching yoga. It is revealing to read how his (and Desikachar's) approach to teaching and hatha style is quite different from that of his two famous students, Iyengar and Pattabhi Jois. Readers who have no emotional connection to Krishnamacharya, or just want to know asanas, may have little interest in this background. However for yoga teachers, it is quite informative on asana teaching styles, goals for asana practice, and interpretation of yoga.
The most useful and satisfying parts of the book are the following chapters that are about developing a personal practice: Foundations of Yoga Practice, The Principles of Asana Practice, The Careful Construction of a Yoga Practice, and Asana Variations. Here you do learn how to understand an asana and the importance of developing a personal asana practice. Many out-of-the-box asana adaptations indicate deep understanding about body movements. The approach in this book is gentle and therapeutic. It is not about challenging asana practice. The therapeutic aspect, a welcome change, is usually lacking in yoga practitioners and most mainstream yoga books. Four general practice sequences at the end of the book are a good start. The reader senses right away that this is the author's comfort zone and area of expertise.
Then come the chapters on what is the "heart of yoga," Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. The author considers the sutras to be the most important text on yoga. Given that, the brief commentary after each sutra is so simplified that it lacks depth. For us, there is more confusion regarding the relationship between hatha and raja yoga than clarity. The writing did not convey the same level of comfort or expertise as the asana chapters.
In conclusion, The Heart of Yoga, is an excellent resource for developing a personal practice with appropriate modifications. However, for the heart of yoga described by Patanjali, we recommend two other books. For a simple, conversational commentary, Raja Yoga: Conquering the Internal Nature by Swami Vivekananda is a good choice. It is easy to read. For a serious reader looking for an in-depth and more academic commentary, we recommend Four Chapters on Freedom: Commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali by Swami Satyananda Saraswati.
Summary of The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice
The first yoga text to outline a step-by-step sequence for developing a complete practice according to viniyoga--yoga adapted to the needs of the individual.
? A contemporary classic by a world-renowned teacher.
? This new edition adds thirty-two poems by Krishnamacharya that capture the essence of his teachings.
Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya, who lived to be over 100 years old, was one of the greatest yogis of the modern era. Elements of Krishnamacharya's teaching have become well known around the world through the work of B. K. S. Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois, and Indra Devi, who all studied with Krishnamacharya. Krishnamacharya's son T. K. V. Desikachar lived and studied with his father all his life and now teaches the full spectrum of Krishnamacharya's yoga. Desikachar has based his method on Krishnamacharya's fundamental concept of viniyoga, which maintains that practices must be continually adapted to the individual's changing needs to achieve the maximum therapeutic value.
In The Heart of Yoga Desikachar offers a distillation of his father's system as well as his own practical approach, which he describes as "a program for the spine at every level--physical, mental, and spiritual." This is the first yoga text to outline a step-by-step sequence for developing a complete practice according to the age-old principles of yoga. Desikachar discusses all the elements of yoga--poses and counterposes, conscious breathing, meditation, and philosophy--and shows how the yoga student may develop a practice tailored to his or her current state of health, age, occupation, and lifestyle.
This is a revised edition of The Heart of Yoga.
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