Light on Yoga, B.K.S. Iyengar

Contributor: Michelle Smeby

I was working for a company where I was miserable, but out of this experience I met the loveliest man who introduced me to Light on Yoga. The man was a consultant working on a project with me, and one day we went to lunch. As we started talking about the importance of taking care of ourselves, particularly because we were working so many hours per week and under such stressful circumstances, somehow the subject turned to yoga.

I grew up in a household where my mother did yoga regularly ever since I can remember, using Richard Hittleman's Yoga: 28 Day Exercise Plan. I am still a huge fan of this book, where after the day's exercises there is a thought for the day. The book (I have the large version that opens flat) gently coaches the reader to pay attention to her (his) posture, and smoking, and eating habits. The daily reviews encourage approaching the exercises as gracefully as possible, which translates into treating one's life with the same degree of gentleness and grace.

Light on Yoga took my yoga exercise to a whole new level. The book starts with a description of yoga, then has detailed instructions (and photos) showing 592(!) asanas and pranayamas. What most intrigues me about this book is the 300 week asana courses.

An additional appendix entitled Curative Asanas for Various Diseases includes the yogic approach to heal a body of disease. While a person should always consult their doctor before trying a new exercise regimen, a friend of the consultant was able to cure himself of piles (hemorrhoids) using this book.

For my personal yogic practice, I enrolled in an Iyengar yoga class for formal instruction by a certified instructor, before embarking on the 300 week course. The correction she gave me during the classes helped me recognize when my body was in the appropriate position to get the most out of an asana.

Now, I feel more confident in my ability to practice yoga on my own. Someday I plan to get beyond week 5, which I have personally been working on for several years. In the meantime, I admire the flexibility of B.K.S. Iyengar, and aspire to become as strong and graceful as he appears in the pages of this book.