The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice

author became engineer in india, then became follower of his yoga father. also reads the Sanskrit of the original sutra, and points out many modern mistranslations. corrected several important mistakes such as using asanas instead of hatha for postures. focused writing, short chapters. includes the yogi sutra of patanjali, all four books (67 pages) in sanskrit & english with commentary.

In reading this book, I was first taken by the interview at its beginning. I began bookmarking quotes for transfer to my personal noebook (taken to each class), and soon found myself with nearly every other page bookmarked! The quotes available in this book are outstanding. And not just in the interview section. There are many interesting points Desikachar makes in his approach to asana sequencing: the importance of breath, the importance of tailoring the pose (and the sequence) to the individual, the importance of resting before engaging in a counter pose. One of my favorite quotes from this book (attributed to the Mahabharata) is “Speak the truth which is pleasant. Do not speak unpleasant truths. Do not lie, even if the lies are pleasing to the ear. That is the eternal law, the dharma.” To my mind this is much more practicable to practice than “Always tell the truth”. Another is “We can never experience our real nature if we do not expose ourselves to change”. I take this as at once being both a caution in life style, and also in becoming too comfortable in one’s yogic pursuits, including asanas and meditation. Then we get to “The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali” with Translation and Commentary by T.K.V. Desikachar. “If you tell a person who cannot find their own house that there is a pot of gold inside, they would be happier had they not had this information. What use is the gold if it cannot be found? It only causes pain. First they must find the house and enter it. Then there are many possibilities.” I take this to mean that everyone must start at the beginning…everyone must find their own house [way, path]. His views on dualism: (3.35 “The mind, which is subject to change, and the Perceiver, which is not are in proximity but are of distinct and different characters.” as opposed to Reductionism are also presented in this book. This Dualistic approach is softened later “Thus the mind serves a dual purpose. It serves the Perceiver by presenting the external to it. It also respects or presents the Perceiver to itself for its own enlightenment.” leaving open the possibility of a more Reductionist interpretation. This section of the book is the one I shall most refer to in future.

If you want to dig deeper into Yoga this is a great book. This was a required prerequisite reading for my YTT. I actually purchased it twice. My first copy got ruined with bug spray on my flight to Bali for my teacher training. As soon as I got back to the States I purchased a second copy. It has great information on the 8 limbs of yoga, yogic philosophy, mantras and the yoga Sutras. Highly recommend. It was a wonderful background of knowledge to have going into my training and reading it again as I love having this information on the forefront of my mind.

Most Americans think of yoga as just the physical poses. Once they get interested in the philosophy, they have a tendency to get silly about it - believing any old thing as long as it's weird and New Age-y and feel good. This book by contrast is written by a real yogi, famous in the world of yoga. It's not really so much of a "how-to" book although there is some instruction, it's more of an intro to yoga. I found it easy to read, enjoyable and informative. There is a complete translation of Patanjali's yoga sutra at the back of the book. i guess the only reason why I would not give this book 5 stars is that the title is a little misleading. I don't think a person could make a personal practice of yoga merely by reading this book. I would suggest taking a few classes at an ashram or a gym or a studio - just to get clear on the alignment, before going rogue. For a person with some prior experience, you could create a personal practice after learning the basics of sequencing and breath work from this book

This needs to be required reading for all teachers. Too many schools just run these teacher training money machines with little depth or scope, and consequently a ton of people out there call themselves teachers when their own practice is still in its infancy. Whether you just wish to find deeper meaning and understanding within your own practice or wish to teach, you need this book. Yoga practice is not meant to be the same daily repetition of sequence, nor is it meant to be the same for every student. It should wrap itself around the practitioner and few teachers approach it this way. Yoga is meant to be prescriptive. Bishnu Ghosh understood this as well. All true teachers do. This is beautifully written and a treasure trove of applicable wisdom. If I had to recommend one book on yoga it would be this, followed closely by Light on Yoga.

This is a very sophisticated and detailed description of the interplay between breathing, doing the asanas, and maintaining a meditative state. All three combined are the essence of yoga. Much information and techniques. A great book

An essential for anyone interested in a deeper understand of yoga. Sublime topics communicated in a down to earth manner from a teacher who chose to embrace his impressive lineage (it not being forced apron him). With so much information coming out about dodgy "gurus", and with so many people virtue signalling with pseudo spiritual trappings, T. K. V. Desikachar is the real deal, primarily because he is not a guru, nor makes claims to be one, but instead is clearly only interested in passing on quality information to the best of his ability. Yoga, much like everything else evolves with time (for positive and negative reasons) but some sources of information are more "future proof" than others, there are some parts of "the heart of yoga" that may be less relevant or even unsuitable for some contemporarily, BUT, in my humble opinion, this book is a must for students... I know I got a lot from it.

Truly Inspirational! I absolutely love this book! I'm reading it slowly for a second time and will likely read it a tenth. I have been a practicing yoga student for years, but this book has really opened my mind to a more complete understanding of yoga. It seems that many books get lost in the mechanics of poses or treat it purely as a way to get great abs. In contrast this book emphasizes a steady, safe and incremental path to learning yoga. It embraces all forms of practice and is refreshingly absent of persuasion towards any style. It discusses the importance of having a good teacher and learning techniques at the appropriate time and in the correct way. It covers all the branches of yoga and discusses the importance of ancient texts. It brings clarity to the purpose of yoga and how the mind, body and breath function together. And it is a wonderful window into another place and time into the lives of Desikachar and Krishnamacharya... a glimpse directly into the fountain of yoga. This book is perfect for anyone looking to deepen and expand their understanding of yoga.

very nice book, mainly focused on the theory of yoga but also gives some useful practices and guidance to design your own practice.

The book covering the fundamentals of yoga, written by lifelong teachers.

Gutes Buch über die leider weniger poluläre Linie von Desikachar, die einige wichtige Dinge ander behandelt als Iyengar oder Jois.

つまんねえ。まあ、個人的感想だが。

So informative and interesting. As a budding yoga teacher it was very helpful