cover image HOW WE LIVE OUR YOGA: Teachers and Practitioners on How Yoga Enriches, Surprises, and Heals Us

HOW WE LIVE OUR YOGA: Teachers and Practitioners on How Yoga Enriches, Surprises, and Heals Us

, . . Beacon, $14 (208pp) ISBN 978-0-8070-6295-1

This captivating, fresh collection of personal stories provocatively explores the question of "what happens to a practice based on stillness and acceptance, in a world based on striving, distraction and insatiable appetites." More than a dozen yoga practitioners shine light on their own lives to reveal a great breadth of possibilities about the reach of yoga for Americans. Editor Jeremijenko has done fine work pulling together startlingly different lives that are revealed through superior, thoughtful writing. Not all the stories are glowing tributes by any means, which gives this compilation all the more credibility. Fulbright scholar Elizabeth Kadetsky's "Coming Apart in Pune" commences the collection with a less-than-flattering account of a stint in yoga guru B.K.S. Iyengar's studio in India. Indian-American poet Reetika Vazirani's poignant, ironic and hopeful "The Art of Breathing" crystallizes America's variant of yoga, detailing its strengths and weaknesses. For the estimated 15 million Americans who practice yoga, this book is a real boon. It isn't at all about how to do yoga, but it is about how to comprehend yoga in a very rich way. Lacking a glossary to explain some terms, this work is not for those with no familiarity with the world of asanas (poses). But for those with even a cursory knowledge of yoga practice, it proffers a highly interesting, refreshing and deeper gaze at an ancient gift. (Oct.)