Yoga the Path to Holistic Health  (English, Hardcover, Iyengar B.K.S.)

Yoga The Path To Holistic Health provides clear instructions on performing Yoga Asanas. Apart from this, the author covers yoga as more than just another fitness routine. He provides an overview of Yoga as a holistic practice that benefits the body, mind and spirit.

Summary Of The Book

Yoga is an ancient spiritual and physical discipline, practiced over millennia in India. Yoga can help improve not just the physical condition of the body, but also the condition of the mind and spirit. This has been the main intent of Yoga.

The author is a world renowned Yoga master, who teaches his own form of Yoga, known as Iyengar Yoga. The book includes a short life history of the author. It also contains a small section on good dietary practice that can supplement the benefits gained from Yoga. It mainly advocates a vegetarian diet.

Yoga The Path To Holistic Health then explains the various asanas. These are the main focus of the book, the actual yoga postures. There are clear, detailed step-by-step instructions with illustrations. The final pose is presented with a 360 degree coverage.

The book even has a special section to get beginners started. It shows how to attain the needed postures using supports like blocks, mats, and ropes. This helps the reader who has no previous experience. They can use these props initially to get their postures just right. Once they learn how to do it, they can gradually drop the props and do it independently.

The author also explains the correct sequence for building towards the final pose. He also provides advice on the correct order of asanas to be followed in a regular Yoga regime. Further, he also provides specific details on Yoga and how it benefits health. He explains which asanas can be of help in different health conditions like back pain and heart trouble. There are also instructions on what not to do while trying out the various asanas.

At the end of the book is a section that provides instructions for a twenty week yoga course. Yoga The Path To Holistic Health presents Yoga as a wholesome lifestyle practice.

About B. K. S. Iyengar

Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar is a renowned Yoga master.

He has also authored other books on Yoga and its related subjects. Some of these are The Tree of Yoga: The Definitive Guide to Yoga in Everyday Life, Light on Yoga, Core of the Yoga Sutras: The Definitive Guide to the Philosophy of Yoga, Yoga in India, and Light on Pranayama: The Yogic Art of Breathing.

B. K. S. Iyengar was born in Karnataka in 1918. Throughout his childhood, he was plagued by ill-health. When he was in his teens, his brother-in-law, Sri Tirumalai Krishnamacharya brought him to Mysore to teach him Yoga and improve his health. After a few years of training, he was sent to Pune by his Guru to teach Yoga to other people. His friendship with violinist Yehudi Menuhin helped him establish Yoga schools in the west. His Iyengar Yoga is now famous throughout the world. Iyengar has been awarded the Padma Bhushan and the Padma Shri.