request for opinons on BBB's two boo

[Guest guest]

Although BBB is - to say the least - a

controversial figure in much of the ashtanga community

(including here!) I still think "Power Yoga" is a decent

textbook for beginners. <br><br>John Scott's "Ashtanga

Yoga" is better, but seems not to be widely available

in the States yet - try amazon.co.uk<br><br>I

haven't read BBB's other book.

[Guest guest]

Carissa,<br><br>Forget BBB and read John Scott.

[Guest guest]

carissa-<br>You are apparently (?) not aware of

the alternately hilarious, exasperating, relentless,

but never less than entertaining, comments in earlier

posts here by the notorious Senor Pinche Wey (and

others) regarding Ms. Birch and her writings. Take a

look.<br><br>I read her first book ("Power Yoga") and still

retain my affection for it, all the adverse comments

notwithstanding. I would say that it represents a genuine and

honest Western response to the Ashtanga practice, as

well as an attempt (pretty successful!) to popularize

it. It purports to present the primary series, mostly

accurately, but leaves out a few of the postures, which would

not be permitted in traditional ashtanga practice. I

found her explanation of the second series - which, she

explicitly states, does not include all the postures - to be

so incomplete as to be both unhelpful and

misleading.<br><br>It also appears, from what has been written here,

that she has not seriously studied with Pattabhi Jois,

while there are other teachers in the U.S. who have, so

that her writing might be viewed as apocryphal or even

false. But then, I doubt that anybody is going to look

to a book called "Power Yoga", with it's sort of

vapid-looking packaging, for final answers to life's mysteries.

<br><br>Bottom line, you can read it (it is well-written and

easy to follow and understand) and get some

preliminary idea about ashtanga yoga and the primary series.

[Guest guest]

Shining-Skull, I'm glad that you are still on

this board, and it's interesting to read your comments

(e.g. about Iyengar). - But with your last advise,

forget BBB, I don't agree. It's a little bit easy to say

so. If I were new to Ashtanga I would prefer in any

case the book "Power Yoga" from Beryl Bender-Birch.

The reason is, that there you find much more

information and details for the beginning of this yoga. Then,

if you are more and well informed in doing

Ashtanga-Yoga (...), you can profit from the book of John

Scott. The book of John is not one for learning it

byself, but it is good for deepening one's practice. To

start with this bones-crushing-exercise it is in my

oppinion better to start with a book, that gives you lots

of information about details and how to do

it.<br>And like the Pope from Rome I say now for all our

German Ashtangis: Frohe Ostern! Lu

[Guest guest]

Lu,<br><br>But why the heck shouldn't John Scott

be suitable for beginners?<br><br>I am a beginner, I

don't have a teacher, I practise all by myself - and I

use nothing but Scott's book. I never bought BBB's

"Power Yoga", just took a glance at the German edition I

found in a bookshop. <br><br>As far as I've seen, Scott

provides *much more* details on the practice of primary

series than BBB does, details which are all very helpful

to beginners. Asset II of Scott's book - the

illustrations! Almost every step of the series has its own

picture, clear & easy to follow!<br><br>And why should

John Scott be "bones-crushing"? If new to astanga, you

should start from scratch anyway: learn doing the sun

salutes first; and when you've mastered them properly, go

on with the standing sequence, adding a new posture

to your practice only if you have sufficiently

mastered the previous one etc., etc. Anyway, that's the

way I do it, and so far I'm still alive & kicking,

thanks.<br><br>Frohe Ostern.

[Guest guest]

Careful here, SS. With this subject you might loose your footing.<br>FBL