Customer Reviews

Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness

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One of the best books on hatha yoga ever. There's nothing difficult to understand or apply. But the material will probably change the way you practice. It certainly did for me. I've been practicing yoga, on and off, for about ten years. I've taken classes with terrific teachers and even an agonizing series of 6 a.m. seminars with K. Pattabhi Jois. Yoga never got beyond the physical for me until I read Schiffman's book. Sometimes I wondered what the real difference was between a good hatha yogi and a contortionist. That question has been answered. Schiffman teaches the internals of yoga. His focus is on mobilizing the body's intrinsic energy--qi or prana--in each posture. The postures act as energy templates, he explains, but it's necessary to understand the lines of flow and circulation. He makes this very easy to understand and apply. And when you do, the external technique improves and you become precise without thinking about every distracting detail. Also, Schiffman's approach is beautiful. He teaches you to sense your limits and learn when you want to stay well within them, and when you want to push them. This is a method of gentle, "occasional healthy pain, tremendous gain." Schiffman is schooled in the Iyengar and Desikachar approaches. Precision is important to him. But he's taken it a quantum step farther. With Iyengar's Light on Yoga and Donna Farhi's Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit, Schiffman's book completes a trinity of the three most impressive, helpful books on hatha yoga I've seen, regardless of which style you practice or your level of skill.

This book is excellent for a number of reasons. The detailed descriptions of how to do the postures are wonderful. There are excellent hints for progressing through difficult postures, including some really helpful exercises for helping you get your hip joints in shape to do the lotus pose. Erich really understands how the different poses affect the physical body and the energy field, and imparts this knowledge clearly and eloquently.

There is a whole section on breathing with the postures which I've not seen done so well in any other book. Also, he explains his concept of "lines of energy" which really bring the postures alive. A line of energy is a directional path of force that moves through your body during a pose. For instance, when you are doing the Mountain (basic standing) pose, you allow two lines of energy to develop: one which starts at the navel and runs down through your legs and feet, anchoring you down into the earth; the other lifting you from the navel upwards through the crown of your head. Understanding these lines helps the practitioner to experience each pose as a way of reorienting one's energy, rather than just a set of muscle stretches.

Perhaps Erich's greatest contribution to the yoga literature is his way of explaining how asana practice goes with meditation practice. Before, I was never sure how asanas fit in with the rest of yoga practice. Now I understand a lot better. I found Erich's spiritual writings very unpretentious and inspiring. The meditation exercises are wonderful both for beginners as well as people who've been meditating for a while.

This is a wonderful book from a teacher who knows his subject well and who seems to have a truly open heart. I would love to take a class from him someday.

If you buy only one yoga book, this is the one. By a mile. Practically glutted with commonsense advice, especially from the mental point of view, here at last is a book that can take you a long long way in the privacy of your own home. Particularly useful is the exquisitely detailed information on the poses. Information that may at first seem like overkill, but isn't. Instead what you have is a comprehensive system for progressing slowly, naturally, and correctly. I love the author's comments on "feeling your edges" and "lines of energy" which really open your eyes right up. Superb photos. And an outstanding description of ujjayi breathing -- a difficult concept to describe but done beautifully here. A brilliant book which took 10 years to write. Good things obviously take time. My only advice is when it comes to meditation, take a look at Lorin Roche's, "Meditation Made Easy." Or Roche and Maurine's, "Meditation Secrets for Women." With these three books in your possession, you'll be cooking.

I have many books on yoga, including Iyengar's "Light on Yoga". While I enjoy my other books, I have to say this one is my favorite. It explains the asanas (poses) in easy-to-understand language, yet it is very precise and true to the essence of yoga. I also like how the poses are referred to in their traditional names as well as their western names (such as downward dog, tree, etc.). It makes it easier to look up poses in the back, and integrate it with what you learn in class. The back of the book also has sample routines for beginner to advanced students. An all around great book!!!

This is by far the most practical,lucid and inspiring book on yoga I have ever read.I am a yoga teacher and have been practicing for over twenty years.It is the only book I know of that teaches how to develope a truely personal practice,based on the experience of truth.Through the cultivation of inner awareness,gentleness and compassion the author guides us to connect with,honor and express the truth of our divine nature .This is the heart of yoga. I recommend that if anyone reads this book and doesn't connect with it immediately,keep reading until you do!It's well worth the effort.

The spirit and practice of Erich Schiffmann is well transmitted in this distillation of Erich's classes turned into a book. His engaging personal style and deeply-held convictions about using yoga as a primary channel for self-knowledge and enlightenment make his book a great introduction to starting or expanding your yoga practice.
This book opens a lot of doors. Erich's unique personal history with Krishnamurti and B.K.S. Iyengar contribute well to the common sense and precision of his theme of "Moving Into Stillness" and as a 6'4", 200+ lbs. XXL-sized teacher, Erich shows that yoga is not the exclusive province of the small and lithe.
If your just looking for a book or video to show you the basic postures, there are plenty of sources that can fill the bill. If, however, you are looking for the why and how of yoga as deep resource for transformation, Erich's user-friendly guide is an invaluable vade-mecum to the journey.
To get a taste of Erich's "voice", start with Chapter 11,"Listening for Guidance- The Aerial Perspective"pp.329-331.
Let Erich help you join your mind to the Infinite Mind, which, after all, is the true goal of yoga.

Nothing can replace a good teacher. But for those who are looking to practice yoga on their own this is the only book I can recommend. Many famous books like "Light on Yoga" by B.K.S.Iyengar fail here, they include many poses but few details so practicing them can increase the danger of injury and enforce wrong techniques. Here you will find only 49 most important poses with every detail for safe practice. After two years of suing Iyengar books I returned to learn basics with this author, just few months with it gave me much more than two previous years.

Buy this, and immediately take it to your nearest copy shop; have them remove its spine and give it a spiral binding so that it will lie flat. That way, you can lay it flat on the floor, where it can more handily serve as your guide while you study and practice a pose. It is the ideal first yoga text, but it is constructed to remain of use, no matter how advanced your yoga study gets. An ideal accompaniment for work with a teacher or a video, it is clearly written, helpfully illustrated by instructive photographs, and well organized for easy referencing. It includes a comprehensive collection of poses, and the poses are broken down into different levels of skill development, so that no matter how flexible or inflexible your body is, no matter how elementary or advanced your yoga learning, you can find the right pose and the right version of it for you. Even though it is a superb guide for anyone starting to develop or even just continuing a home practice in yoga, it also opens with an inspiring autiobiographical introduction and includes instruction in meditation, as well as explanations of yoga philosophy, giving some sense of how yoga can transform one's entire approach to living--without becoming evangelical about it. Schiffman has studied with a remarkable variety of yoga masters, so his text will suit students from a variety of yoga teaching traditions--Krishnamurti, Desikachar, Iyengar, Scaravelli, and so on--but not Ashtanga. There are many good yoga texts out there, but if you had to whittle your yoga library down to only one text, this one would be my choice.

I bought this book after reading a recommendation off a listmania list. Wish I had this earlier.

The book is fascinating; without going into the terminology of Yoga, the author tells you what Yoga is all about; how it affects the mind; why should one do postures; how he came to choose Yoga and stick with it. I had hitherto read a lot of hard-core philosophy of Yoga - the sutras, the translations, etc, but reading Erich's book gives you a simpler translation of the both process and the outcome.

A student of Jiddu Krishnamurthy, the author easily and fluently speaks Yoga; the Who am I excercise in helping one to know oneself is a simple and profound way of getting deeper into our consciousness. If you ever thought why you should do Yoga at all, read the chapter on "Why Yoga?" and ye shall be convinced.

The coverage on postures, while detailed and broken into numerous steps, are a bit long-ish for a quick read; but that is what Yoga is about - no quick lunch anytime.

Another highlight of the book is the various sets of routines one can follow for all levels of students.

This book is a must for all but the most advanced practitioner. Mr. Schiffman's perspective is unique. Most books don't give anywhere near enough detail. On first look, it would seem that Mr. Schiffman gives way too much detail; after reading, and trying, his instructions, I've seen that there's no such thing as too much detail. Postures I'd given up because they didn't do anything for me now feel really good. If you're serious about your practice, you want this book.