Book Review : Kino's new book The Power of Ashtanga Yoga

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When the book arrived I showed it to a colleague at work who asked "Is this the one every makes a fuss about for wearing shorts?" In Black and White it's hard to see what all the fuss was about.

I like the b and w, this isn't a glossy picture book but a serious treatment of the nature, attainment and purpose of asana in the Ashtanga practice of the Krishnamachaya/Jois lineage. It has a very strong focus on the spiritual dimension of the practice, of the energetics of practice, of the breath and the bandhas (and how to actually engage and employ them).

"When I arrived in mysore, far from my own culture, I had no idea what to expect. A student of 2001 academe, I was skeptical of the idea of a guru. The nearly thirty-hour journey took me across two continents, through three airports, and down old dirt roads where cows wandered freely. A taxi finally dropped me off at the Ashtanga Yoga Nilayam in an old neighbourhood of lakshmipuram. I walked up the steps to the back-alley entrance and found Sri K. Pattabhi Jois teaching a group of twelve sweaty yogis; many more were waiting their turn. He turned, looked me in the eyes, and asked if I was there to practice. Before doubt surfaced, my heart opened, I fell to my knees, saying, "Yes, I'm here to practice. Thank you Guruji". I knew I had met my teacher- not only because I had seen him in a dream but because his very presence opened my heart, eased my pain, and brought me peace. From that day forward, I called him Guruji, an honorific title that students use to indicate acceptance of their teacher as their spiritual guru. For the remainder of this book, I will refer to him as Jois for the sake of clarity, but in my heart, he will always be Guruji". p. xvi

OK. we'll give her that, but how about the Index, I love index's why do so many books not bother to include one these days.

I'm scraping the barrel to think of things to complain about here but really, what's not to like, they've done a good job.

 The strength chapter also includes a section on The Quiet Strength of a Woman's body, here's a taste of it.





This is how I've come to see this practice myself, each asana, each vinyasa, entails a number of elements and we need to employ all of them effectively. Thing is we all pick up or more naturally employ one or more those elements at different stages of our practice, we all end up with a different missing piece or pieces. Kino lays out all the pieces, it might be nothing more than a lean forward at just the right time that makes the difference for you in a particular asana or a reminder to keep the pelvis level to help with your balance or the drawing up of the bandhas in an already, naturally stable posture that actually activates and (en)lightens it.

This enabling feeds through the whole book, every posture has a wealth of tips and hints for engaging X, facilitating Y and achieving Z. It's very much a hands-on book, the focus is on helping you not just to get into an asana but to achieve greater comfort and steadiness (in life as well as in practice). As such I find myself asking 'Who isn't this book for?' It's perfect for the beginner whether starting at in a shala with a teacher or at home with a book and a dvd (she mentions the home practitioner. But it's also for somebody who has practiced for a number of years and wants to not just tidy up the alignment of a posture but to achieve greater facility at every stage of the practice. Many of the instructions or rather suggestions that Kino includes I've come across before, most no doubt from her own Youtube channel and all it's tutorials but never so many in one place and in and for every posture. As such this is also strikes me as an excellent resource for the teacher.

But then it would be, Kino has been conducting hundreds of workshops all over the world over the last, what, seven years or so. The workshop environment strikes me as very different from adjusting in a Mysore room. I'm sure Kino could produce a book on silent Mysore adjustments but this book is a dialogue with the student. She's listened to her own body in her own practice of course but also to all those workshopee's she has worked with over the years and and then of course also to her own students in Miami with whom she's worked no doubt for a number of years, watching and assisting as their practice flourishes.

Amazon.com gives a good preview of the first part of the book. Here's the contents page.


"If you focus solely on attaining the asanas when you practice, you will most likely sacrifice the breath for the form, but the ends do not justify the means in Yoga. In fact, the means themselves are the ends. Yoga is about the journey and the process and if there is no space to allow a deep inhalation and exhalation to be your guide, there may never be space for you to be calm in your life" p27


"Each breath has four distinct components; the inhalations, the space between the inhalation and exhalation, the exhalation and the space between the exhalation and inhalation. It is important to give a gentle pause between the breaths so you float effortlessly for a moment between each inhalation and exhalation. When you advance to more in-depth breath work that includes holding or retaining the breath the space between breaths will be crucial." p28








I'm till struggling to find something to frown at with the book but mostly I found myself saying "Yes" again and again as I would find Kino presenting approaches to aspects of the practice that I've come to settle on in my own path. This book is very much part of and of the tradition and yet not in anyway dogmatic, that's a neat trick. There is a lot going on in the book, it's smart but approachable. Kino seems to have a knack for presenting the practice in a way that draws you in but without dumbing it down.

I'll be coming back again and again to the asana descriptions of course (sure there'll be more posts to come on it), can't flick through it without wanting to jump on the mat to try something, and as soon as I finish my practice I want to grab the book to check how she approaches a particular asana or vinyasa.

On my next day off I want to work through it posture by posture while on the mat, perhaps a post to come on that.

But I'll also be coming back to it for the ideas around the physical elements of practice, many of them will strike you as obvious as if they are things we've known all along but never verbalised , but timely reminders all the same and nicely put.

"If you approach your practice from the perspective of attaining the perfect asana, sooner or later you will fail. even the strongest and most flexible person will get injured or grow older one day. Eventually a new generation of stronger, more flexible students come through. When all this happens, it is not time to quit or punish yourself. Moments of perceived failure are often when the most yoga happens. Sometimes we have to gain the perfect yoga body and the perfect yoga poses just to 'lose" it to injury or age; thus, we see that the whole point of the journey has nothing to do with asana after all. Yoga asks you to tap into a place within yourself that has faith in results that are not immediately evident. " p52

(I did know that didn't I?)