Living in the Light: Yoga for Self-Realization

“Royal Yoga can bring you more of everything you want,” contend bestseller Chopra (Abundance) and yoga teacher Platt-Finger in this uneven program. The authors outline a six-week plan for “living consciously” through the practice of raja, or “royal,” yoga, which focuses on achieving wholeness through “bringing light” to one’s social life, emotions, and body, as well as embracing one’s energy and achieving awareness of knowledge that “exists beyond the senses.” Chopra, who helms the first half, breaks down each week by day, encouraging readers to start the second week by facing one’s “feelings honestly without denying or repressing them,” and then close it out by turning one’s “attention to what life means,” though details on how to do either are scant. Platt-Finger provides the second half, which homes in on the philosophy and practices of yoga. She suggests the body is “so much more than a shape; it is a process,” as she offers an overview of various asanas (poses), chakras (energy centers), gunas (natural qualities), and shariras (bodies of energy). The hazy discussions of “energy,” “light,” and “awareness” will leave some readers scratching their heads, though the illustrated survey of 54 yoga poses fares better with its pragmatic focus and details on the poses’ physical and therapeutic benefits. Overall, this is hit-or-miss. (Jan.)