At One for All we’re continually learning and opening our minds.  Study of the Self and study of the scriptures are both important – this applies whether you’re brand new to Yoga or if you’ve been practising for decades.  But with the thousands of Yoga books out there, it’s hard to know where to start.  We often find the best Yoga books are not necessarily books about Yoga.  With summer just around the corner you might be looking for a new book or two, so here are some of our favourites.

THE POWER OF NOW BY ECKHART TOLLE

This book will free you from the person you think you are and become free to live in the now.  It resonated with me because all of the proposals and suggestions in it were well written and easy to follow.  Topics include the art of listening, using and relinquishing negativity as well as whole chapters dedicated to portals into the unmanifested and enlightened relationships.

THE HEART OF YOGA BY T.K.V. DESIKACHAR

T.K.V. Desikachar’s father was Krishnamacharya whose teachings have become well known around the world through the work of B.K.S Iyengar, Pattabhi Jois and Indra Devi who all studied with him.  This book contains practical teachings to help you with your Yoga practice but also explains Yoga philosophy and meditation and how to manage your thoughts and reactions to everyday life.  This was the first Yoga book I read and I still believe it is the perfect book to learn about real Yoga.

THE YOGA SUTRAS OF PATANJALI BY SWAMI SATCHIDANANDA

This book takes you all the way through the Yoga Sutras and their translations.  It provides a complete manual for the study and practice of Raja Yoga, known as the path of concentration and meditation.  While Raja Yoga is a practical guide to healthy mind management and in gaining an insight into the true essence of oneself, it is mostly beneficial when adopted as a lifestyle.  Similarly, while the content of this book is understandable and not too technical, putting it into practice is of course the hard part.

KEEP IT MOVING: LESSONS FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE BY TWYLA THARP

This is one non-spiritual book I encourage you to try.  While Tharp is mostly recognised for her previous book, The Creative Habit, the question this 80-year-old choreographer most often gets asked when giving a talk is “how do you keep working?”  She is famed for religiously hitting the gym each morning at daybreak, and utilising that energy to propel her breakneck schedule as a teacher, writer, creator and lecturer.  Keep It Moving was written to encourage those who wish to maintain their prime for a very long time.

THE ALCHEMIST BY PAULO COELHO

Sometimes you want to read a book that helps you to re-centre yourself.  And that’s exactly what you’ll find with The Alchemist.  About the student-teacher relationship a shepherd boy has with an alchemist, at one point the boy confides, “my heart is afraid that it will have to suffer” and the alchemist replies, “tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself”, this book will resonate with you if you are aware of your own fear as an obstacle to living the life you want.