A disappointing book.
Forty odd pages of the same old Krishnamacharya stories, particularly sanitised here, spread over five chapters interspersed with grandson Desikachar's 'case studies' of his own experience teaching. A couple of, well you can't call them interviews really, fluffed up quotes, recollections from some of Krishnamacharya's students, what a wasted opportunity.
There are a few nice pictures, most we've seen before,
Two curious pages of drawings stand out though. 'A souvenir from Krishnamacharya's trip to Mt Kalisha', these are supposedly from a book of drawings made by Brahmacari ( Krishanamacharya's teacher ) daughter and show a couple of postures, Akarna Dhanurasana (archer) and Purna matsyendrasana (kingfisher). There is also a drawing showing some use of props that fits in with K Desikachar's positioning of his own approach to yoga as the true legacy of Krishnamacharya.
A. G. Mohan's book Krishnamacharya is I think much better, charming and extended recollections of his time spent with his teacher.
You have to wonder if we'll ever get a serious, scholarly biography of this great man who's influence has reached millions worldwide.
'Ransom Stoddard: You're not going to use the story, Mr. Scott?
Maxwell Scott: No, sir. This is the West, sir. When the legend becomes fact, print the legend'.
The man who shot Liberty valance. John Ford
Has any one seen got their hands on T. K. V. Desikachar's Health, Healing and Beyond yet, any better?
UPDATE
K. Desikichar has a bit of a dig at Ashtanga in Yoga of the yogi, on p56 he writes,
Yoga kuranta contained a wealth of information including how to adapt asana and pranayama to suit different needs of individuals, and how to use certain aids (props in todays parlance) to help in the healing process. Krishnamacharya wrote this himself about this now lost text, and his words contradict the popularly held notion that the yoga kuranta was the basis of ashtanga yoga'. p56
It's true Ashtanga doesn't use props and the series are fixed but Manju says his father would adapt the sequence, give him extra postures etc. to help him with a pose he was struggling with. Plus there are stories about Jois taking people with injuries and disabilities and adapting the practice for them.
Ashtangi's don't use props ( not in public anyway), blocks, belts and ropes etc tend to be frowned upon but here's a thought.... is an assist a prop? Those assisted dropbacks, the foot on the knee in badha konasana, on the ankles in Supta vajrasana, the help with the bind in the marichi's and helping one reach their ankles in kapo and what about the holding the leg up in utthita haste padangusthasana, the sacrum push after backbends, the lowering down and up in karandavasana.....
Who needs props.
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15 comments:
I did get Health Healing and Beyond, pre-ordered and got it about 3 weeks ago. It was DISAPPOINTING as well... Did not even write a review.
I have a feeling these books are not 'really' being written by Desikachar anymore. But obviously I cannot prove that so I could very well be talking out of my elbows...
It seemed to me like a way to get the Krishnamcharya foundation to keep getting money by exploiting the name of the guru. No new information.
Glad you warned me about this one. Thank you G
By the way, I TOTALLY AGREE, that MOHAN's book is the Best.
One more thing about that Health H and Beyond and why I think it is biased... you know it says that Krishnamacharya had TWO famous serious students, one was Desikachar, and the other one was Iyengar...
NO mention AT ALL of Ramaswami, Mohan, Devi, or Jois... Even though these four were a powerful source in disceminating the yoga of K. I found it disrespectful.
Hi Claudia. Indra devi and Jois get 'interviews' at the back of this book and he's quite respectful of Devi here but then he's stressing how Krishnamacharya was the first to teach yoga and chanting to women. There was one little dig at ashtanga I noticed somewhere that was a bit of a misrepresentation. Note to self, never buy such a book if they haven't bothered to put an index.
Mohan's book was charming but still a little frustrating.
I hear you, you want the real bio, the real thing on the big K. Me too. Hope an unbiased scholar might provide that at some point, someon who can make a good book too !
I posted on the K foundation page in Facebook how the Yoga Makaranda can be read for free, as was intended by the real authors. The comment was deleted immediatelly.
Posted again... deleted again...
Dont mean to be rude, I am just all round disappointed about the leadership and the disrespect for the lineage on the K family...
Oh, how funny - I'm reading that book right now and I thought of you a few times, wondered if you'd picked it up yet. If not, I was going to scan the asana drawings because I thought you'd find them interesting.
Curious what you thought about the author's take on the Yoga Kuranta, not being a basis for Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, ect. Of course, he can say whatever he likes because we'll never know for sure, given that the only copy was eaten by ants ;-)
The stories and anecdotes are kind of fun, and I was very interested in the 'six categories of yoga' which roughly correspond to life cycles. But I'm finding much of the book tedious.
Too bad about 'Health, Healing and Beyond.' I purchased that on Kindle. I'll still read it, but it sounds like it's more of the same.
Kai : ) nice Surprise
The bit about the yoga koranta and ashtanga was the reference I was trying to find, can you remember which page? The drawings are a bit of bombshell, if there really is such a book.... but then I really don;t believe a word he writes, not that i think he's lying but just ...printing the legend.
Yes, Ramaswami talks about the categories of life, his other book of course is called yoga of the three stages of life, same idea.
I thought Health healing and Beyond was written by his father, let us know what you think about it when you move on to it.
While on the subject of books, was just in an Oxfam in London and they had Swenson and Bikram's book.
Ahh here it is, p52
Yoga kuranta contained a wealth of information including how to adapt asana and pranayama to suit different needs of individuals, and how to use certain aids (props in todays parlance) to help in the healing process. Krishnamacharya wrote this himself about this now lost text, and his words contradict the popularly held notion that the yoga kuranta was the basis of ashtanga yoga'.
Curiously the yoga Rahasya was 'lost' for a lot longer before krishnamacharya had his vision, memorised it and sometime or other ( would love to know when ) wrote it out.... you'd think, given that he'd memorised it and it was SO important, that he would have written that out too.
It's true Ashtanga doesn't use props and the series are fixed but Manju says his father would adapt the sequence, give him extra postures etc to help him with a pose he was struggling with. Plus there are stories about Jois taking people with injuries and disabilities and adapting the practice for them. Was a silly thing to write I thought.
Just had a thought....is an assist a prop?
That is a good question, maybe it is more like a prop in steoids? cause it is after all, assuming proper form (good teacher), customized, and there is transmission and direction of energy which the teacher leads the student into (if he is Good)... John is excellent at that, so is Greg, Chris, oh so many teachers are good at it...
so yes, I would venture to say it is and then say that it is more than that
Nice to hear from Kai!
I have a hardback copy of 'Health, Healing & Beyond'. I found it to be an excellent read. Can't comment on whether it offers anything new because it was the first book on Krishnamacharya that I ever read (so it was all new to me at that time).
I'd been checking regularly to see if the new release was available on Kindle (limited book shops over here), but I'll probably pass on that now.
Digressing, but I did just discover that Gregor Maehle's book on Intermediate is on Kindle, and bought it yesterday. I figure that's one of the best books to have on the iPad possible.
Ah, good, you found the page number and I see you updated your post with this info. Interesting, isn't it?
Yes! I think adjuments fall into the same category as props. My current teacher sees both props and adjustments as a way to get information about the body and the pose - not a permanent fixture, but once your body gets the point, you can move on without them.
And what about DonutZenMom, who uses props in place of traditional adjustments in her solo home practice? I've done that! I think most of us who practise second series have propped our knees under the edge of some furniture to hold the legs down during Supta Vajrasana at one time or another.
Of course, a teacher giving an adjustment is preferable because he/she can offer feedback, field questions and respond to shifts in the body during the adjustment.
One more thought about the 'stages of life'. Seems that there are many ideas out there that are purported to be Krishnamacharya's that actually may small pieces of his teaching that loom large because they resonated with his various students (ie: Props for Iyengar, Yoga as a therapy for Mohan, vinyasa as a set series for Jois, ect.).
It's like the game of 'telephone', where the kids sit in a circle and whisper a sentence around the circle. When it gets back to the original speaker, it's somewhat garbled.
So this 'stages of life' idea interests me very much because these different 'yogas' (page 66) seem to describe roughly the different styles represented by Krishnamarchaya's various students. I've heard it proposed the Iyengar and Jois's approach are so different because they studied with Krishnamarcharya during different stages of *his* lifetime. Srsti Krama might be similar to Astanga Vinyasa, Siksana Krama seems similar to Iyengar's approach, Cikitsa Krama similar to A.G.Mohan's.
Or, it's entirely possible that I'm full of beans :-D
I too was disappointed by Health Healing & Beyond, though it's always nice to read stories about K. The lack of any mention of Jois was so conspicuous that it made me curious to know whether there's "bad blood" between Desikachar and the Jois family. Or maybe just sour grapes?
I like that, props+
I seem to remember that Ramaswami wasn't so keen on props but don't quote me on that would have to check my notes.
He did say that Krishnamacharya didn't really give assists. He would explain the pose then if necessary demonstrate but that was about it. He was with him for thirty years though so I wonder if that changed over the years though come to think of it Krishnamacharya was in his 60's when Ramaswami first took lessons so perhaps no wonder he wasn't pulling him this way and that.
One of the nice things about studying with Ramaswami was that you felt so close to the source, rather than a game of chinese whispers. It was always my teacher would do this or have me do that and then later on seeing the Yogasanagalu the hundred odd pictures were exactly as we had been shown. Ramaswami never said you should do it this way or that way but rather this is how my teacher taught me.
Health and healing looked the better of the two books Steve but the yoga of the yogi reprint came out sooner. Should have waited the couple of weeks for his fathers book. Tempted to get it anyway just to compare. Sure there are some nice pictures.
I thought the sentence I quoted from Yoga of the yogi about Ashtanga and the yoga kurunta was quite revealing Rene. It was such a strange and silly thing to write. Makes me think of the Buddhis proscription on right speech, 'Is it timely, is it harsh, is it true... is it...., now what was the fourth one?
The photo you asked me about many moons ago was from that book (K. adjusting a lady into a forward bend).
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