Book Review: ‘Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health’ by B.K.S. Iyengar
I am in love with this book. This book has become my daily friend, someone I turn to with each physical ache and trouble. Thanks to this book, I now have a daily yoga practice. After years of dabbling, I finally decided that my health issues called for taking a deeper look into what yoga could bring. That’s when this book crossed my path and I am deeply grateful.
Yoga has a broad scope. A person can approach it as gentle physiotherapy, medicine, an athletic sport, or a spiritual path, as there is a wide variety of styles and depths. If you are disabled, you can find an approach that works with and around your disability. If you are sick or too exhausted to be athletic, there are styles of yoga that allow you to rest in a variety of poses, while lying on the floor with pillows. You can learn about Sanskrit or how yoga can move your body’s energy, or it can simply be used as a form of exercise.
Although I own several good books on yoga, this one, ‘Yoga: The Holistic Path to Health’ has become my very favorite. It explains extremely clearly how to use the book and then how to approach each pose with the correct posture so you can maximize the benefit. Through this book, I have learned all the basics, so when I use other how-to books, I know what I’m aiming for. This is an excellent primer to springboard to other books, but it can also easily function as the only book you’ll need.
Iyengar puts together sequences of poses designed to help with specific physical or emotional issues, and they work. My return-to favorites are the ones for physical fatigue, headache, sinusitis and menstrual pain flows. I am always in awe of how I can lay down my yoga mat and pillows in terrible pain, and when finished stand up feeling tremendously improved. Now, after three years of near daily yoga practice, I still can’t put my head to my knees or put my feet behind my head, but I have experienced so much relief from colds and flu, menstrual difficulties, bladder troubles, headaches and allergies, sore muscles, exhaustion, brain fog, depression, anxiety, imbalance issues, insomnia, constipation, and stiffness, that I am so grateful. I’m still hoping that some day I’ll be able to achieve poses of great difficulty, but in the meantime, I am helping my body now and laying the foundation for a healthy life as a senior. Thank you, Iyengar!
Book Review: ‘Yoga: The Path to Holistic Health’
by B.K.S. Iyengar
© 2007 by Juanita Marshall, butyoudontlooksick.com
