How to Use Yoga
 Mira Mehta
 (Reviewed by The Editor - Rebecca Brown)
 2001 Rodmell Press
  ISBN: 0962713864


A Step-By-Step Guide to the Iyengar Method of Yoga, for Relaxation, Health and Well-Being.

A powerful antidote to the streses of modern-day life, yoga is a practical philosophy & exercise regime that requires little equipment & less fanfare than almost any form of exercise other than walking or jogging.

In the comfort of your own home, or in the company of a teacher, you may practice the postures & gain the tranquility, flexibility, wellbeing & contentment through following this guide on How to Use Yoga.

In The Gift of Yoga, we learn its history & meet this particular Master -- B. K. S. Iyengar. In Toward Physical Wellbeing, the course of this book is described, how the postures are done & what your breathing needs to be, plus a caution about starting yoga without a teacher, & for those with a variety of chronic diseases.

Each lesson is called an Asana, & naturally it starts with learning to stand still -- learning to balance ourselves in relaxation & stillness. A simple enough thing to do, until you realize how constantly we force ourselves to be “doing something.” The only place, for most of us, where we're “still” is slouched in front of our teles or seated at our computers.

Then on through the other five balancing postures that will make us move into strange poses, tensing & relaxing our entire bodies. Just looking at the photographs of the people doing the postures, is calming!

Some Asanas require getting yourself inverted (upside-down) -- wait to do those first with your teacher so you will be safer. Most of us don't ever put our feet over our head, so take the author's advice -- get yourself a teacher who can “spot” you through these postures.

The one thing to remember about yoga is it's not a form of exercise that's in a hurry. The whole point is to slow down, extend & flex yourself slowly, deliberately, carefully.

A ten week course of Asanas is clearly illustrated as well as the Asanas for headaches, menstruation, stiff necks & shoulders & so on.

At the book's end are lists of the Names of the Postures, Further Reading & Useful Addresses where you can find a BKS Iyengar Yoga Association near you. There is also an Index.

How to Use Yoga is elegant & truly useful -- a pleasure to own. It has really helped me unbend, unstaple & uncrinkle my body & soul from the hectic workaday world I insist they lead.

My one kvetch is that it isn't produced like a cookbook, so I can lie it flat at the Asana I'm studying & it will stay open.
(10/27/02)

Rebecca