The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga

by Marian Klatt

By now you are either a woman who loves Yoga and feels you know everything about it you need for your life, or one who does't really care about Yoga, and feels the same.

Either way, I promise you'll learn something in adding The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga to your library. This is not a new book. The first edition came out in 1960, followed by a 1988 edition, and another in 1995. The 1998 is the one sitting upon my shelf; I enjoy the preface of the latter for its unintended timelessness. "Humanity is plunging deeper and deeper into crisis, yet a bright future awaits .... The most positive action we can perform to contribute to the momentous task of bringing our planet back into balance is to start changing ourselves."

I want to respond to this with a wry, "Nothing ever changes," but there is a paradox we find in watching the years pass. Everything changes, but nothing does. The situations to which the above-mentioned preface refers are not at all the same, but they were equally intimidating to the generation facing them as current events are to us now. The future is as unpredictable--and scary, and hopeful--as it has been through the course of human existence. The practice of Yoga carries within it this wisdom, and encourages us to slow down, to listen to our bodies, to respond to the relation of the body to mind to external in as true a manner as possible.

The Guide is not what you would envision from the title. Most books filling the Yoga shelves these days are essentially magazine spreads collected and put into hardcover, a how-to for forming physical stances, with perhaps an introduction that quotes studies on health effects and such. The Guide, however, takes more time to explore the mental than it does the physical. Even the chapter or two dedicated to poses reads more like a spiritual guide. Pictures are minimalist black and white. Chapters focus on philosophy, with one entitled, "Self as Existence, Knowledge and Bliss." A whole chapter is devoted to Savasan, or Corpse pose. At first glance the pose is nothing more than lying down, but here the book uses it as a meditation on the need for deep relaxation. "There is no use in increasing energy if we are going to waste it unnecessarily, because if production of energy is increased while the useless waste remains unchecked, the new energy produced will merely increase this useless waste."

In addition, few books on Yoga these days will offer such mulling as, "The awakening of the intellect does not necessarily mean that man is perfect and virtuous. While the unfolding higher intelligence gives an upward tendency to man, it is equally true that some men are so closely wrapped in the animal sheath that they use the awakened intelligence to satisfy their lower animal desires." The idealized peace-and-love of Yoga Journal this is not.

As far as I can tell, which edition you have won't make a big difference. There are small differences and edits, but the bulk of the material is the same for each. Get your hands on what you can, and take your time with it--there's a lot to absorb.