Wednesday, May 16, 2007


a gift from david byck

it's amazing how generous the international yoga community can be. today i received an autographed copy of david byck's it's a long way to the floor from byck himself.

devoted readers will recall that i've mentioned byck's book previously! it's david's story of how he, one regular kinda sports-watching, married guy, found his way to successfully changing his life through yoga.

plus, he loves coffee!

just skimming through it so far, let me say that david's an ashtangi with a slightly self-deprecating sense of humor:

"[the yoga teacher] continued to say that is was unfortunate that our culture had taught us that if we're not moving forward we must be moving backward, and although this applies in some situations, it doesn't apply to yoga. . .of course all this went in one ear and out the other."

unlike many yoga writers, david offers his audience a simple, plain, engaging and very down-to-earth style. he also gracefully but directly deals with some hard yoga issues. for example:

"in my opinion, one of the things that makes a yogi a yogi is knowledge and faithful following of the yoga sutras. in the second chapter, it mentions the 8 limbs of yoga, the first of which is yama or restraints.

essentially yama depicts the relationship between a yogi and others as it pertains to non-violence, truthfulness, non-stealing, sexual restraints and non-greed. this alone will keep me out of this elite group.

even after i realized i and everyone else who practiced yoga weren't necessarily yogis, i still thought everyone who taught yoga was. . . anyway, i guess the only reason i approach this subject is because when i attend a public class, i can see in some students eyes that they too think every instructor is a yogi, and by discussing this subject openly, hopefully bad feelings and disappointment can be avoided.

. . .one of the things that disappointed me was how focused some of the instructors were towards money. and again, if i didn't think they were yogis, i wouldn't have given it a second thought."

i can't wait to read this book cover to cover. long-time readers know ashtanga makes me grumpy, but so far david byck makes me smile!

thank you muchly david byck! i think i can right away recommend this book to my fellow yoga students without reservation!

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