Everyday Yogini

In the comments yesterday, both Mamalissa, a new reader, and Lilalia asked for a list of books and/or resources that I read in my early years of practice. Today, I will give a rundown of my favorite teachers and books that have shaped my practice and what I consequently teach.

My perspective on a brief formal practice is entirely my own, born of my own experience as a busy Mama and my sense that other busy, modern, women often choose to not do anything because they can’t devote an hour to it! (Type A+) But I believe that if you devote 100% of your attention to a formal home practice for even 10 minutes a day, you can change your life. I also believe that additional time will start to magically appear for practice… at least on some days!

On to the modern Yogini’s must-read resources!

Yoga Resources
The first books I ever bought about the practice of Yoga were, naturally, all of the books by BKS and Geeta Iyengar. Dog eared and well-worn copies of the following books have been next to my bed for fifteen years. (Not quick and easy reading, but essential for the Yoga geek.)

-Light on Yoga
-Light on Pranayama
-Light on the Yoga Sutras
-The Tree of Yoga

BKS Iyengar’s daughter, Geeta, wrote the seminal book of Yoga for women, Yoga: A Gem for Women.

More accessible, with a more modern feel, my two favorite female teachers, Donna Farhi and Judith Hanson Lasater have written many great books about Yoga. My favorite books by these two ladies are the ones related to bringing Yoga into daily life (go figure).

Those titles are:
-Living Your Yoga
-Bringing Yoga to Life
-Yoga Mind, Body, and Spirit: A return to Wholeness

Yoga Mind, Body and Spirit is a great all-around Yoga book, with asana and philosophy. I loaned my copy to someone along the way and don’t have it any longer, but it is a terrific book to get started.

Georg Feuerstein has written countless books and articles on the Yoga tradition. I am most familiar with his writing through the articles he used to write for Yoga Journal many years ago when it was still a little hippie magazine. Amid all the high gloss advertising that YJ boasts today, you can still find some good articles. Speaking of magazines, my absolute number one favorite Yoga magazine is Ascent. Published quarterly out of Canada, it is associated with the Yasodhara Ashram. Attending a retreat there is on my long-term list of things to do…

The Buddhist teachers who have most influenced me and occupy space on my bedside table (bookshelf) are: Pema Chodron, Sylvia Boorstein, and Jon Kabat-Zinn. EVERY book in the above links is worth reading. The only one I don’t have is the Kabat-Zinn book on depression. Choose one, buy all, there is great stuff in all of them….

Last, my list would be incomplete without mentioning a little book that I read passages from every day for probably a year at one time in my life. The Still Point Dhammapada: Living the Buddha’s Essential Teachings is still among my favorite books. Geri Larkin, like Pema Chodron, evokes such a sense of being just a simple human being striving to live a spiritual path. I cannot possibly express the impact both of these women’s teachings have had on my life. I am so grateful they share their wisdom with the world.

So there you have my list of resources and books. Pick one or two that appeal to you and see what you think. If you have specific information or a style you are looking for, I would be happy to make a recommendation!

This entry was posted on Friday, February 15th, 2008 at 5:09 am and is filed under Ask the Everyday Yogini. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.