Light on Yoga: The Bible of Modern Yoga is written by BKS Iyengar, the founder of hatha yoga and one of the most respected yoga gurus in the world. This book includes information on the philosophy of yoga, benefits, asanas and pranayama. If you practice Iyengar yoga and want a complete resource, this is the book to get.
The book begins with an introduction to the philosophy of yoga. The discussion of yoga is detailed, yet easy to follow, even for beginning students. Practitioners of all levels, whether new to yoga, intermediate, advanced, aspiring teachers and yoga teachers will all find this a valuable addition to their resource libraries.
This book has detailed instructions, photographs and descriptions of each pose, including the benefits of each. Poses are arranged in a progression from the easiest to the most advanced asanas.
This isn’t the type of book you will read through once and set aside. This is a reference book a student or aspiring teacher will use for many years. The asanas included in this book range from the easier poses to the most difficult and advanced asanas. Beginners may not reach that level for many years, if ever.
Iyengar is the master of alignment in yoga practice and this can be seen in his detailed descriptions and photographs. If you have been practicing for a little while and need instructions to help improve your alignment in the asanas, this book will help.
One criticism of the book is the names of the asanas English are not included. If you don’t know the Sanskrit names for the poses, it takes some getting used to. Of course, the photographs make it easy to recognize familiar poses.
There is an emphasis on the health benefits of yoga for certain health problems. In this book, Iyengar recommends specific asanas for various health conditions.
Iyengar has included a series of yoga practices at the end of the book. These are practices with varying levels of difficulty. You can use this as a sequence of practices to further develop in your yoga practice, or select the plans that are at your level or you like and try more advanced poses in your home practice over time.