cover image LIGHTING THE LAMP OF WISDOM: A Week Inside a Yoga Ashram

LIGHTING THE LAMP OF WISDOM: A Week Inside a Yoga Ashram

John Ittner, . . SkyLight Paths, $24.95 (224pp) ISBN 978-1-893361-52-2

This installment in SkyLight Paths' "Week Inside" series opens the doors of an ashram, introducing a community of yoga practitioners as taught by venerable Indian guru Swami Sivananda. The author is himself a yoga teacher, freelance journalist and veteran of the New York Post, who offers testimony from his experience of the healing and cleansing power of yoga practice. As serious students know, yoga is the Sanskrit word for "yoke," implying discipline. The sets of postures that many Americans know as yoga are only one part of a comprehensive system of mind-body training, which Ittner outlines by explaining key concepts and activities that characterize yoga practice. Chapters explore different aspects of the disciplined life, including diet and work, making for an appropriately holistic approach. The personal frame of reference and Ittner's everyday-guy voice (with a discernible New York accent) are the greatest virtues of the book, offering you-can-do-it-too encouragement to curious beginners who don't know asana (yoga posture) from ahimsa (the principle of non-harming). These and other commonly used Sanskrit terms are defined in a helpful glossary. The reading list is a little short; there are plenty more doors offering access to this vast spiritual mine. On the whole, however, the book is a competent, friendly introduction to a complex and ancient spiritual tradition that was exotic to Americans little more than 100 years ago. (Nov.)