“Yoga is the journey of the Self, through the Self, to the Self” – Bhagavat Gita
I am confused. I want to overcome the confusion. My mind chatters. How to stop the mind from chattering? Maybe be Yoga is the answer! Well, Yoga can be confusing and overwhelming to start. You will be confused where to start. Your mind will chatter about plethora of practises and books available. This in itself can be a major problem in starting Yoga, especially home practises.
So, where the hell do I start?
I believe, in any subject there should be three kinds of books—a serious authoritative text to devour, a background text to keep you anchored to the chronology, a fun book to breeze through and not get intimidated.
Keeping this in mind, after teaching Yoga for 5 years and working with multitude of students and colleagues, this is my list of ideal books to start your practise.
1. Light on Yoga by B.K.S. Iyengar – a serious authoritative text to devour.
This is the “Bible on Modern Yoga”. This is must read for anyone wanting to have more than a superfluous understanding of what yoga is. Especially the 30 odd page introduction has to understood diligently. Here he gives the deep interconnectedness of Yoga as a way of life. If you are someone who is perplexed by Sanskrit terms like Paschimottana-asana this may be off-putting, but if you're serious about your yoga, you'd better get used to it.
The second part "Yogasanas, Bandha and Kriya," constitutes the majority of the book and here you can find several hundred asanas, supplying general advice for practice as well as detailed instructions for each pose. Every asana is accompanied by clear photos of Iyengar demonstrating the asana under discussion.
Few quotes to get you going !
'Work alone is your privilege, never the fruits thereof. never let the fruits of action be your motive; and never cease to work. Work in the name of the Lord abandoning selfish desires. Be not affected by success or failure. This equipoise is called Yoga.' -B.K.S
"When the senses are stilled when the mind is at rest, when the intellect wavers not--then, say the wise, is reached the highest stage. This steady control of the senses and mind has been defined as Yoga. He who attains it is free from delusion." -B.K. S
2.Yoga Mythology by Devdutt Patnaik – a background text to keep you anchored.
This is not a book on the practice of yoga. This is about the mythology that nurtured the idea of yoga.
He begins strong “We live in times when the Buddha has become a spa icon, and the pursuit of health has been reduced to losing weight and developing a six-pack to indulge vanity.” He beautifully weaves the history, more accurately the mythology of Yoga from its beginnings. He gives interesting background information and the importance of understanding the origin story. He explores the inter connectedness of everyday activities, performed for a millennium and its relation to Yoga. His explanation of how “Kolam” relates to yoga is a case in point. It also gives some insights to think about to more secular minded people, debating the spiritual and religious nature of yoga. The books goes on to provide a breezy read of the mythology of 64 asanas. After reading this book, you will intuitively “get Yoga”.
3.The joy of yoga by Emma Silverman – a fun book to keep you going
I’ll change the lingo here. I’ll tell you, what this book is not about. This book is not about interconnectedness of yoga and life or about the sublime nature of existence. This book is jute cute AF. This has number of illustrated sequences which is easy to understand and remember. This is fun to read and does not have an intimidating old dude looking like a pretzel.
Tell me this isnt cute !
One more book I would recommend to scientifically minded people or people who like looking at pictures or like me just fascinated by the most sophisticated machine on the planet i.e. the human body is Science of Yoga -Understand the Anatomy and Physiology by Ann Swanson
Light on yoga is good