Book Review: The Heart of Yoga by T. K. V. Desikachar
Another recommendation from Lewis Hamilton’s masterclass.
Science and psychology are now studying and catching up with so many concepts explored in yoga. What suffering is, how it exists in our mind and our reaction to our circumstances, how we can build practices that alleviate our stress and so on.
If you’re learning yoga from a teacher who doesn’t get into a lot of explanations, this would be a good compliment to your practice. It explains how asanas ought to be combined, such as doing a backward bend but also balancing oneself by doing a counterpose like the forward bend.
The book is as much about the elements that involve developing a more peaceful existence as about the specifics of yoga and its many aspects including breathing, meditation and so on. The whole approach is non-judgmental - creating space for the reader and practitioner to find their way at their own pace. It need not be read in one sitting; one can reference or revisit a chapter relevant to what one is currently exploring.
“The ultimate goal of yoga is to always observe things accurately, and therefore never act in a way that will make us regret our actions later.” This could be in life, in a pose that you’re not ready for where you may injure yourself, in your reaction to a situation or person and so on.