The Reading List- An Introduction

Since I graduated from my teacher training through Edge Power Yoga, my personal practice and views on the benefits of yoga has changed immensely: as most people who start practicing seriously do (whether as a dedicated student or in becoming a teacher), you start to realize ways to relax in the poses that give you the most difficulty, or how to use your breath to deepen your twists, or how to balance where you used to falter. In my case, I realized who my favorite teachers were and became friends with them, and the advice they gave me as well as in-class adjustments and cuing were giant stepping stones in bringing me further in my understanding of the art form.

Before I decided to take a 200 hour teacher training course, the only book on yoga that I had read was Baron Baptistes Journey Into Power, as I was recommended it from a friend at my studio. This book certainly is a great place to start: my favorite Vinyasa teachers follow a flow in the Baptiste tradition, and Baron does an outstanding job at breaking down the poses and their benefits, and how each pose fits into the flow of a 90 minute class. He also briefly explains ujjayi breathing and the core lock of uddiyana bandha, and dedicates a decent section of the intro to the mental aspects of yoga. All in all, it is a great reference to have as a student that is beginning to grasp the foundations of the vinyasa flow style while consistently going to classes and interacting with your teachers. I cannot imagine starting to study yoga without the help of a classroom and a teacher to answer your questions, and I quickly wore out the binding of my copy as I used it at home when I started to practice on my own.

My teacher training opened a lot of doors for me, the biggest door being my voracious appetite for more information. We read and used five great books as reference in our training: Barons Journey Into Power; The Yamas and Niyamas; The Bhagavad Gita; Yoga Anatomy; and last but certainly not least, Michael Singers incredible book, The Untethered Soul. The classic texts of the Yamas and Niyamas and Bhagavad Gita were intriguing and profound, dealing with how a humans thoughts, judgements and actions ultimately reflect back to themselves the things in life that prevent them from experiencing the kind of happiness and wonder that children and animals feel; Journey Into Power and Yoga Anatomy deal with the proper practice and execution of yoga, and explain its physical benefits very well but do not go as deeply into the mental benefits of yoga; but it was Michael Singers book that really opened my eyes to what is behind this veil of ego and judgement that clouds our perception of what life truly is.

This post has gone wildy out of control: I set out to make a brief article about how I plan on reviewing the books I have been reading, since my teacher training began and up through my recent birthday, when I received 5 more wonderful books as presents. I was inspired to write this by a fellow student at my studio, who will soon be entering teacher training herself and was asking for a book recommendation; I had one for her, and I believe I have one for you as well. This post now serves as an introduction to my Reading List column. It will take some time for me to get through this stack I have been collecting over the past 8 months, so please be patient. Soon: a review of The Untethered Soul by Michael Singer. Do yourself a favor and check it out in the link provided, you will not be disappointed. Namaste.