It’s not often we get to peek into the past and catch a glimpse of yoga history. We 21st century folk are lucky to have books, videos, personal accounts, and of course YouTube as valuable tools in modern day time travel.
So we’re especially grateful to experience the teachings of BKS Iyengar through the work of his student Noëlle Perez-Christiaens who gathered and compiled the material for this book from class notes and correspondence during the formative years of Iyengar’s international career. Sparks of Divinity: The Teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar from 1959 to 1975 takes us back in time so we can continue living the teachings today.
Lucky you, we’re giving it away!
WIN: THREE lucky winners will get a copy of Sparks of Divinity: The Teachings of B.K.S. Iyengar from 1959 to 1975, a collection of the teachings of yoga master B.K.S. Iyengar first published in a French-English bilingual edition in 1976, courtesy of Rodmell Press.
More about the book and Noëlle:
When Noëlle first studied with Iyengar in Pune in 1959, he was still teaching his pupils one-on-one at his home. During her stay in India, Noëlle was regarded virtually as one of the household, and this intimacy continued in their subsequent letters, where Iyengar wrote to her more as a colleague and friend than as a teacher. We are fortunate to include Noëlle’s Indian Journal for 1959 and her Early Life of B.K.S. Iyengar, translated into English especially for this edition, for the intimate glimpses they give of Iyengar’s personal life and family.
TO ENTER: Surely we live our lives with mentors and gurus waltzing in and out of the frame. Holding these lessons and memories in our brainy snapshots is difficult to do, but if we think back hard enough we can conjure up the images. Hop into your time machine to any point in your past and picture a special someone in your mind who helped you along your journey. Share in the comments in two sentences or less (no deductions for going over) what you might say to that person, OR what you might share with your younger self, knowing what you know now. Time machine travel sight is 20/20 after all. Couplets are fun. Rhyming is optional 🙂
Here’s ours to start you off: Take that risk, you’re just a kid. Thank you wise and prophetic cab driver, glad we did.
Giveaway open until end of Monday, May 28th. Winners will be chosen at random and announced soon after. Good luck!
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Earlier…
- YogaDork Ed: Navigating Abhyasa and Vairagya, Practice and Letting Go (of Desires, too)
- Know Your Anatomy? 6 Experts Weigh In On the Yoga Connection and Why You Should
- Guinness Book’s ‘World’s Oldest Yoga Teacher’ at 93, Tao Porchon-Lynch
- What Does Aum (Om) Mean To You? Infographic
- ‘An overly brief and incomplete history of yoga’ Flowchart! Updated!
Take heed of her words, but choose your own path of wisdom to follow.
Dear Mr. Blich –
You set a standard for on-the-job integrity that I’ve never since seen the equal of; and I owe you a debt for working my dumb, 17-year old ass into the ground to try to make a man of me.
Make time for your Yoga – it is all you need 🙂
Don’t be afraid. It gets better.
I would tell myself to try yoga sooner!
You will go through what you have to go through but try making better n’ healthier decisions.
You’re right, Mom, Life’s a Party–but younger me, sometimes that party is just you and a hot cup of tea. Life is longer if you slow down.
Thank you to Ms. Paye for encouraging me to write when I didn’t know or believe I had any talent for it and thank you for making me editor of our high school newspaper – I learned how to be a better writer and leader because of you.
Do not fear mistakes. They are what teach you and shape you into the amazing person you are to become.
Stop being so afraid to love. Simply, stop being afraid.
I would tell my young self that everything I need exists within.
“It doesn’t matter where you are, if you want to be somewhere else, be there now!” I’m not sure how, but this the number one most important, eye opening and life changing thing anyone has ever said to me.
To my younger self: Trust yourself more. Try to be aware of your closed-mindedness and react accordingly. Don’t go on that cross-country road trip with your girlfriend. Seriously.
If you haven’t failed yet, you haven’t worked hard.
keep breathing. breathe as if your life depended on it.
Stop trying to live up to some sort of expectation. Be who you are and experience true elation.
I would tell my younger self not to take out student loans.
And to start yoga straight away.
K, Thank you for encouraging me to view everything, especially yoga, as a paradox.
Everyone says that high school is the best time of your life, but the world is made for adults. Life just keeps getting better.
~from Ms. Weed, my high school French teacher, Colorado Springs~
Keep going forward, you’re on the right path!
Don’t allow the past to always dictate the present moment. Life is so short to let the past hold you back.
Glad to see this title is avalible for Kindle.
Hey Younger Self, you know that yoga class you took in college? You should have stayed on that path, but at least you are back on it now!
My sister Kelli was always so full of life, until she wasn’t. Live your life like she did-joyously.
I didn’t follow the path you chose for me, but you set me on the right path, nonetheless.
Thanks my mom and dad, for encouraging me to choose the path I believe in.
Btw, I just purchased 2 books from Rodmell, Yoga for fibromyalgia and yoga for computer users. Good read!
Love will find you if you love yourself first.
Dear Me @ 17,
Don’t worry about about the future, just trust your instinct and do what you feel is best. No matter what happens, everything is just as it should be, and I’m fine with that.
Also, buy stock in Google.
I Love You,
Me
Forgive quick, love til your toes curl, and trust your instincts.
“I think we can teach you how to yourself expand beyond the limits you experience now” was the meaning I took from a gentle shake of Mary Dunn’s head, and smile over 5 years ago. She was right, and then some!
True happiness and success will come by following the voice in your heart, not the voice of society.
Take it easy, girl! You are too hard on yourself!
Don’t be afraid of failure. Seek solutions to difficult situations rather than running away. Trust your body.
You will not change, and yet, you will.
You’re you. You know it. Just be still.
Dear Little Me,
Please don’t spend your whole life making a living & forget to make a life. Some people become so poor that all they have is money. And you don’t want that!
Love and Bliss,
Bigger me
When I was young I was worried about being perfect when I was a little older i was weak but when I started making changes I realized I was fearless! To the little me being Fearless is being perfect in the mind of the beholder! LOVE BIG MARGIE
“Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can.”
Dear Very Little Me,
I know it’s super hard but keep going because I am proof that you survive and thrive. Also, you (and by extension, me) are freakin’ awesome.
Little Me
In the unlikely event of a present moment depressurization, memories will fall from the overhead compartment.
Use those memories to support , defend, and embrace the present you then, simply let them go and look for their opposites. What is the opposite of memory?
Mrs. Wilson, 4th Grade catholic school teacher and boddhisatva, took my nerdy fourth grade self to see My Fair Lady with Rex Harrision and Audrey Hepburn.
Breathe, breathe, breathe and keep breathing…
Be ok with who you are and what you might find.
Trust your Wings
Let Go and Fly
Crashing is not so painful!
You are awesome –DO NOT EVER doubt your worthiness! Love yourself and make choices that nourish you!
Dear litte Me,
don’t try to look older and wiser than you are. Youth is a gift.
Thank you for standing next to me when everyone one else walked away. You always saw who I was, even when I was doing my best to hide that, you always saw the light inside and believed in me.
Trust those instincts to see the world, explore, experience. Looking back from the the thirty year vantage point – you did some pretty smart stuff for a kid.
It’s your own practice.
To my younger self: You are beautiful, perfect and wonderful just as you are. You have the capacity to be, do or have anything you desire. You are a divine gift, treat yourself as such. Never let anyone box you in or define you, you are a free bird, fly free 🙂
Love but don’t hate. Bend but don’t break.
Just be.
To my younger self:
Enough with the self-doubt! You judge yourself more harshly than anyone else, and it’s time to let that go.
Thank you, thank you, thank you to you my first yoga instructor. You passed to me the knowledge that your instructors passed to you–that is the essence of a boon for mankind.