Description
• 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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brianpowell –
The book overall presentation is good I tried reading it and realized Yoga was not for me.
RM –
Super helpful
物理・化学・電子・いろいろ科学者 –
つまんねえ。まあ、個人的感想だが。
MomofG –
This is the go-to book for students in instructor class. Well written, kept my interest, excellent photos.
Maddy G. –
This needs to be required reading for all teachers. Too many schools just run these teacher training money machines with little depth or scope, and consequently a ton of people out there call themselves teachers when their own practice is still in its infancy.
Whether you just wish to find deeper meaning and understanding within your own practice or wish to teach, you need this book.
Yoga practice is not meant to be the same daily repetition of sequence, nor is it meant to be the same for every student. It should wrap itself around the practitioner and few teachers approach it this way. Yoga is meant to be prescriptive. Bishnu Ghosh understood this as well. All true teachers do.
This is beautifully written and a treasure trove of applicable wisdom. If I had to recommend one book on yoga it would be this, followed closely by Light on Yoga.
JG –
Excellent livre de yoga.
Exposé détaillé des principes essentiels de la pratique du yoga.
T.K.V Desikachar développe sa méthode dans l’essence de la transmission de T. Krisnamacharya
La troisième partie du livre contient la traduction du sanscrit et le commentaire de T.K.V Desikachar du Yoga Sutra de Patanjali.
mahsa –
very nice book, mainly focused on the theory of yoga but also gives some useful practices and guidance to design your own practice.
JennyB –
It is a book for those in search of yoga as a way of living, explaining the core thinking of yoga in a profound way but still easy to follow. Asanas, Pranayama, and other elements are given importance in a balanced manner.
I like that the book encourages you to adapt the practice to meet your own needs and not that you meet the “style”‘s requirements. Very well written, very inspiring!
Amazon Customer –
I liked the fact that yogic facts are presented in a scientific manner. Opportunities and reasons to modify practice based on one’s desire are demonstrated. Satisfactory reading.
Winafew –
In reading this book, I was first taken by the interview at its beginning. I began bookmarking quotes for transfer to my personal noebook (taken to each class), and soon found myself with nearly every other page bookmarked! The quotes available in this book are outstanding. And not just in the interview section.
There are many interesting points Desikachar makes in his approach to asana sequencing: the importance of breath, the importance of tailoring the pose (and the sequence) to the individual, the importance of resting before engaging in a counter pose.
One of my favorite quotes from this book (attributed to the Mahabharata) is
“Speak the truth which is pleasant. Do not speak unpleasant truths. Do not lie, even if the lies are pleasing to the ear. That is the eternal law, the dharma.” To my mind this is much more practicable to practice than “Always tell the truth”.
Another is
“We can never experience our real nature if we do not expose ourselves to change”.
I take this as at once being both a caution in life style, and also in becoming too comfortable in one’s yogic pursuits, including asanas and meditation.
Then we get to “The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali” with Translation and Commentary by T.K.V. Desikachar.
“If you tell a person who cannot find their own house that there is a pot of gold inside, they would be happier had they not had this information. What use is the gold if it cannot be found? It only causes pain. First they must find the house and enter it. Then there are many possibilities.”
I take this to mean that everyone must start at the beginning…everyone must find their own house [way, path].
His views on dualism: (3.35 “The mind, which is subject to change, and the Perceiver, which is not are in proximity but are of distinct and different characters.” as opposed to Reductionism are also presented in this book. This Dualistic approach is softened later
“Thus the mind serves a dual purpose. It serves the Perceiver by presenting the external to it. It also respects or presents the Perceiver to itself for its own enlightenment.”
leaving open the possibility of a more Reductionist interpretation.
This section of the book is the one I shall most refer to in future.
Lizzet Martinez –
I helps me to develop a better understanding of yoga
Sarita –
So informative and interesting. As a budding yoga teacher it was very helpful
M***y –
Inspiring