Review by Booklist Review
The quality of yoga instruction in the U.S. has improved exponentially, and more people are discovering yoga's myriad benefits. New yoga books reflect this rise in popularity by providing thorough and responsible texts accompanied by high-quality illustrations. Schiffmann epitomizes the best of American yoga. His appearance in the best-selling video Yoga Mind Body (which also features celebrity student Ali MacGraw) paved the way for this practical guide to meditation and asanas. No Hollywood opportunist, Schiffmann has been involved with yoga since a very young age and has studied with two diverse, highly influential masters, Krishnamurti and Iyengar. This superb training has made Schiffmann an authority on both the spiritual and the physical aspects of yoga, and his teachings are articulate, specific, carefully paced, and deeply inspiring. Students who want to know more about the origins of yoga will find Miller's straightforward translation, introduction, and commentary to Patanjali's Yoga Sutra invaluable. Patanjali was an ancient Indian philosopher whose 195 aphorisms became a primary yoga text, encapsulating, as they do, methods for realizing cessation of thought, the state of mind required for true enlightenment. Patanjali's verses were composed to help practitioners achieve a "new perspective on the nature of knowing," which, ultimately, results in "spiritual tranquillity." There is much wisdom here as well as beauty, mystery, and challenge. --Donna Seaman
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
