Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom [Hardcover]

B.K.S. Iyengar (Author), John J. Evans (Author), Douglas Abrams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 25, 2005

The world's leading teacher of yoga shows how we can transform ourselves by bringing yogic principles into all aspects of daily living.

"Anyone and everyone can make the yogic journey and reach the goal of
illumination and freedom..." from the introduction to Light on Life

B.K.S. Iyengar - hailed as "the Michelangelo of yoga" (BBC) and considered by many to be the most important living yoga master - has spent much of his life introducing the modern world to the ancient practice of yoga. Yoga's popularity is soaring, but its widespread acceptance as an exercise for physical fitness and the recognition of its health benefits have not been matched by an understanding of the emotional, intellectual, and spiritual development that the yogic tradition can also offer. In Light on Life, B.K.S. Iyengar brings readers this new and more complete understanding of the yogic journey.

Here Iyengar explores the yogic goal to integrate the different parts of the self (body, emotions, mind, and soul), the role that the yoga postures and breathing techniques play in our search for wholeness, the external and internal obstacles that keep us from progressing along the path, and how yoga can transform our lives and help us to live in harmony with the world around us. For the first time, Iyengar uses stories from his own life, humor, and examples from modern culture to illustrate the profound gifts that yoga offers. Written with the depth of this sage's great wisdom, Light on Life is the culmination of a master's spiritual genius, a treasured companion to his seminal Light on Yoga.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

If this book is to lay any claim to authenticity, it must make one point clear above all others. It is this: By persistent and sustained practice, anyone and everyone can make the yoga journey and reach the goal of illumination and freedom. Krishna, Buddha, and Jesus lie in the hearts of all. They are not film stars, mere idols of adulation. They are great inspirational figures whose example is there to be followed. They act as our role models today. Just as they reached Self-Realization, so may we.

Many of you may worry that you are unable to meet the challenges that lie ahead. I want to assure you that you can. I am a man who started from nowhere; I was heavily disadvantaged in many ways. After much time and effort, I began to reach somewhere. I literally emerged from darkness to light, from mortal sickness to health, from crude ignorance to immersion in the ocean of knowledge by one means alone, namely by zealous persistence in the art and science of yoga practice (sadhana). What held good for me will hold good for you too. Today you also have the benefit of many gifted yoga teachers.

When I began yoga, there was, I am sorry to say, no wise, kind teacher to lead me. In fact my own Guru refused to answer any of my innocent inquiries on yoga. He did not instruct me as I do my students, offering them step-by-step guidance in an asana. He would simply demand a posture and leave it to me or his other students to figure out how it could be realized. Perhaps that stimulated some stubborn aspect of my nature, which allied to unshakable faith in the subject of yoga made me burn to go on. I am ardent and passionate, and maybe I needed to show the world that I was not worthless. But far more than that, I wanted to find out who I was. I wanted to understand this mysterious and marvelous "yoga," which could reveal to us our innermost secrets, as equally as it revealed those of the universe around us and our place in it as joyful, suffering, puzzled human beings.

From Publishers Weekly

Master yogi Iyengar offers what may turn out to be his last written words on the discipline that he helped popularize with Light on Yoga. Published in 1966, that first book became yoga's "bible" and set the standard for yoga books, providing pictures and instructions. The 86-year-old teacher here expounds the philosophy of yoga—its metaphysics, of which yoga poses, or asanas, represent the physical component. Iyengar yoga is vigorous because it involves the body, mind and spirit, and the master explains those interrelationships clearly. Chapters elaborate on aspects of yoga—the physical, energetic, mental, intellectual and divine, showing the architecture of the comprehensive system of spiritual teachings that lead to samadhi, the state of blissful absorption. Yoga is about health and purity, flexibility and divinity. While this book underlines the intellectual aspect of yoga, it is insufficient for a new yoga student, no substitute for yoga sadhana, practice that requires and integrates body and mind. Not the book with which to begin the yoga journey, it is highly recommended for those advanced on the path and interested in learning from a master of flexibility and wisdom. (Oct.)
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Rodale Books (August 25, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594862486
• ISBN-13: 978-1594862489
• Product Dimensions: 0.4 x 0.4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #475,192 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

59 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars For all of those on the path of yoga, October 11, 2005

By 

Theresa Reed "The Tarot Lady" (MILWAUKEE, WI USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom (Hardcover)

At 86 years old, BKS Iyengar has contributed much to the yoga world. Not only his prolific books, but also his style - which focuses on alignment and uses props. Almost every popular style of yoga today can thank Iyengar for helping to popularize this art. Now Iyengar has written a book that takes on a far more personal and conversational tone than previous works. Light On Life is a book that brings together all of Iyengar's personal experiences and insights in his 70+ years as a yoga practitioner.

This is a fantastic book whether you practice Iyengar style yoga or not. I picked it up a few weeks ago and took my time reading through it. There is a tremendous amount of insight here and one needs to digest it slowly.

This book blends Iyengar's life story along with wisdom and philosophy. You will come away from this book with a clear idea of what the yoga journey is all about. I recently had the good fortune of being able to hear Iyengar speak at a conference. He is amazing, brilliant and very witty (spry too!). This book reflects his personality beautifully. After reading this book and seeing him in person, I feel that I am more dedicated to my path than ever.

Highly recommended!

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional Wisdom from an Exceptional Man, October 2, 2005

By 

B. Vanderwel "Vaj" (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom (Hardcover)

It is a rare thing to find wisdom distilled into a book, rarer still that the author walks among us. This book is more than a capstone to 70 years of Mr. Iyengar's own yoga practice, it's an invitation to share his experience an find out for oneself how much yoga can change, transform and enlighten the intelligence of the body, the mind and ultimately the spirit. Lucid, well-written and accessible, this is a book for seekers everywhere. I can't recommend it highly enough.

33 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A New Classic Written by and Old Classic, October 25, 2005

By 

Scott Masterton (Blaine, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom (Hardcover)

"Light on Life" is a thoroughly readable book by the Father of modern Yoga. I have read both "Light on Yoga" and "Light on Pranayama" and without a doubt this is the most accessable of the three books. In his earlier books, Iyengar writes as a stearn teacher with a rock solid philosophy. However, in this new book, the Master writes with a grandfatherly wisdom that neither demands nor commands. This is a gentle book by a gentle man that outlines a life based around the art and science of yoga as well as detailed instructions for overcoming challenges along the way. Iyengar writes candidly about his own struggles in life and with his own challenges in the practice of his beloved Yoga. His devotion and love for his wife and family is delightfully apparent as he describes parts of their life together. All students wherever they are on their path, will take heart that even a great master like BKS Iyengar has faced the same pitfalls as all of us.

This may be the final published work by this treasure of a man and everyone interested in the Yoga lifestyle should own and read this book.