Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom » (Reprint)

B.K.S IYENGAR, world-renowned yoga master, has been called by The New York Times "one of the most penetrating writers on yoga alive today." Iyengar's bestselling classics Light on Yoga and Yoga: the Path to Holistic Health, head the Amazon.com list as the two best yoga books ever written. Iyengar has trained thousands of teachers and there are Iyengar Yoga Centers in most cities around the world.

The world's leading teacher of yoga shows how we can transform ourselves by bringing yogic principles into all aspects of daily living.

"Anyone and everyone can make the yogic journey and reach the goal of illumination and freedom..." from the introduction to Light on Life

B.K.S. Iyengar - hailed as "the Michelangelo of yoga" (BBC) and considered by many to be the most important living yoga master - has spent much of his life introducing the modern world to the ancient practice of yoga. Yoga's popularity is soaring, but its widespread acceptance as an exercise for physical fitness and the recognition of its health benefits have not been matched by an understanding of the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual development that the yogic tradition can also offer. In Light on Life, B.K.S. Iyengar brings readers this new and more complete understanding of the yogic journey.

Here Iyengar explores the yogic goal to integrate the different parts of the self (body, emotions, mind, and soul), the role that the yoga postures and breathing techniques play in our search for wholeness, the external and internal obstacles that keep us from progressing along the path, and how yoga can transform our lives and help us to live in harmony with the world around us. For the first time, Iyengar uses stories from his own life, humor, and examples from modern culture to illustrate the profound gifts that yoga offers. Written with the depth of this sage's great wisdom, Light on Life is the culmination of a master's spiritual genius, a treasured companion to his seminal Light on Yoga.

Publishers Weekly

Master yogi Iyengar offers what may turn out to be his last written words on the discipline that he helped popularize with Light on Yoga. Published in 1966, that first book became yoga's "bible" and set the standard for yoga books, providing pictures and instructions. The 86-year-old teacher here expounds the philosophy of yoga-its metaphysics, of which yoga poses, or asanas, represent the physical component. Iyengar yoga is vigorous because it involves the body, mind and spirit, and the master explains those interrelationships clearly. Chapters elaborate on aspects of yoga-the physical, energetic, mental, intellectual and divine, showing the architecture of the comprehensive system of spiritual teachings that lead to samadhi, the state of blissful absorption. Yoga is about health and purity, flexibility and divinity. While this book underlines the intellectual aspect of yoga, it is insufficient for a new yoga student, no substitute for yoga sadhana, practice that requires and integrates body and mind. Not the book with which to begin the yoga journey, it is highly recommended for those advanced on the path and interested in learning from a master of flexibility and wisdom. (Oct.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.