Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B000BDC8GA | Format: PDF
Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom Description
The world's leading teacher of yoga shows how we can transform ourselves by bringing yogic principles into all aspects of daily living.
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 explains 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.
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 5 hours and 11 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Abridged
- Publisher: Macmillan Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: September 12, 2005
- Language: English
- ASIN: B000BDC8GA
An autobiography written by B.K.S. Iyengar would have been interesting, but instead Light on Life delves into the Yogic concepts of yamas and niyamas, the five kosas, pranayama, asana and the importance of ethics and forthright living. As a textbook, Light on Life gives a good introduction and comprehensive guide to Yoga, from a true and time tested master. I appreciated his humility and honesty when giving anecdotes and explanations, even calling himself a "fanatic."
A Yogi embraces and lives in the external world and does not renounce it. Iyengar continually emphasizes the interconnectedness of the many petals of Yoga. He gives crystalline answers to the questions which may arise at each step along the spiritual path, "the lowest being our ability to tie our own shoelaces when we are eighty and the highest being the opportunity to taste the essence of life itself."
If he has left any lasting reminder, it is that Hatha Yoga is not just a physical practice but can lead a dedicated practitioner to integration of mind, body and soul. His emphasis on practice, sadhana and tapas, gives hope for anyone starting at any stage to reap the benefits of Yoga with patience and perseverance.
He uses humorous examples like the temptation of a tub of vanilla ice cream to illustrate how the mind, ego and intelligence operate. "Drink contaminated water on Monday, sick on Tuesday, dead on Wednesday," is the way he describes previous epidemics of cholera and typhoid. Some of his anecdotes are quaint such as, "It is normal for women students to set their teachers on a pedestal in any subject, but by that time I was a bit more worldly-wise and developed a forbidding manner to keep them at arm's length. My flashing eyebrows and fierce glare came to my rescue.
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