fajrdrako | The Spirit of Yoga....

This was a wonderful book: The Spirit of Yoga by Kathy Phillips. It's a coffee table book with first-class photography, not just of yoga subjects - where it's the best I've ever seen - but pictures of celebrities - like B.K.S. Iyengar, and the Beatles meeting with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, and art photos too of ancient Indian art, and simple still life.

Best introduction to yoga I've ever read, I think. In their way Iyengar's books are better (deeper and more complex) but his intent is different. This is a great overview.

I particularly enjoyed a tree that charted the development of yoga from prehistory to the present, with the branches that formed the different schools of yoga and the different teachers who established them. I knew all the names but the differences and connections between them were vague to me. This spelled it all out beautifully.

An interesting point: she mentions that B.K.S. Iyengar in Light on Yoga says that no props and tools are necessary for yoga, nothing but a mat, and she points out that Iyengar teachers use props a lot. After reading her book I turned to Iyengar's new book, The Path to Holistic Health, which is in many ways basically a rewriting of Light on Yoga with a modern outlook, new formatting, and different photos. And I noticed that he now uses props a lot in his illustrations and instructions, especially in the section on curing illness. He now advocates the use of blocks, blankets, straps... the whole thing.

Just as my own Iyengar-style teacher does. A year ago I'd have said that using props in yoga was not a great idea, but I think I've become a convert. They really help sometimes.

The Phillips book is also full of great quotes - T.S. Eliot, modern pop music, ads, Indian sages old and new, and even a Toyota ad.