> HATHA YOGA INTÉGRAL, de Swami Satchidananda, Éditions : Courrier du Livre. — Qu’est-ce que le yoga intégral ? ainsi débute la préface signée par notre grand ami Swami Satchidananda, bien connu des Fédérations Européennes et en particulier par tous ceux qui se rendent à la rencontre de Zinal en septembre où chaque année il est présent avec son bon et grand sourire qui fait la conquête de tous les cœurs.
« Le yoga intégral est une synthèse de tous les yogas, écrit Satchidananda. Son but est d’avoir un corps en parfaite santé et pleine vigueur, un mental tout en clarté, tranquillité et contrôle, une intelligence aussi aiguisée qu'un rasoir, une volonté d’acier, un cœur rempli d’amour et de compréhension, une vie dédiée au bien commun et la réalisation du vrai de Soi ».
Dans ce livre c’est le hatha-yoga qui est présenté, il contient très peu d’éléments théoriques, mais il est construit comme une sorte de répertoire du hatha-yoga, comprenant des détails techniques précis et simplifiés et des illustrations pour chaque pose.
Bien que de nombreux livres aient paru sur le hatha-yoga, nous nous devions de vous présenter ce livre de Swami Satchidananda : pure Existence -Conscience - Félicité.
—Carnets du Yoga, (49), Mai 1983, (p. 22)

Les principales postures décrites et illustrées par le sympathique guru le plus en vogue aux Etats-Unis. Ouvrage clair et bien présenté. Technique des kriyas (Purifications) et tableau de progression.

Before I start the review itself, I want to say that, as someone who hurt herself badly doing unsupervised yoga, I am emphatic in my conviction that no one should try to learn yoga from a book; some of the postures are too dangerous. Find a good teacher, at least to start, and then books can be valuable tools for refreshing your memory on postures or helping you refine old friends.

That said, I bought this book in the not too distant past because I am in a country where there is no decent yoga teacher of the school to which I belong and whose practices I have followed, off and on, from more than 30 years. The most popular forms of yoga in the US is, quite understandably given the culture, that of Iyengar and Ashtanga (power yoga). The latter especially emphasizes a certain urgency to performing the asanas--postures--a kind of athleticism that fits in perfectly with the predominant culture in the US. The focus is primarily on the physical,especially, in the case of Iyengar, on attaining and maintaining good health.

But yoga as taught by Sri Swami Satchidananda, whose method is known as Integral Yoga, is more traditional. This school of yoga emphasizes the more meditative function of yoga; the postures are meant to be performed slowly.

The preface of the book defines Integral Yoga, which is a combination of the 6 major types of yoga, all explained concisely. The Introduction incorporates Satchidananda's focus on health as one (but by no means the only or even principal) reason for doing yoga. On reading it, you also get a real feel for Satchidananda's basic outlook on life; not really surprisingly, he sounds a lot like Mother Teresa--her more public face, that is. The Introduction also gives advice on what to do (or not do) before, during and after yoga practice. An American with the usual life will find doing all of them a little difficult. Still, they're good guidelines; as in most such advice, I choose what seems to me to be valuable and what will fit in with my lifestyle. It's not everything but it's not nothing, either.

As in Integral Yoga classes, the main body of the book starts out with chants, in what I assume is a phoneticized Sanskrit, as well as in English.

The asana section itself is divided into eight parts; Eye Exercises; the Sun Salutation; Meditative Poses; Cultural Poses (which are the main asanas); Pranayamas (breathing exercises); Bandhas (exercises which directs and bind the energy released by the asanas); Mudras (concentration postures; Shat Kriyas (purification exercises).

Most people will be interested primarily in the Cultural Poses. All are explained simply and clearly; all have photos of Satchidananda himself performing the posture. for someone trying to refresh the memory of postures or looking for improvement, these are outstanding.

Many of he other sections are extemely useful. The eye exercises are simple and useful for maintaining the health of the eyes. You can choose the pose most comfortable for you from a variety of the meditative poses; the value is self-evident. Pranayama is outstanding for developing deep breathing; most American leading the typcial hectic life breathe too shallowly. In my opinion, the only problematical section is the Purification one; there are practices there that should not be undertaken without supervision of a trained yoga practitioner.

The appendix lists a course of study for beginners, intermediate and advanced students. I was highly amused at what Satchidananda considers "beginning" postures--I've never been able to do several of them!

If you have some knowledge and training in yoga, this book is excellent for an introduction to Integral Yoga and as a guide for practice. The layout of the book makes it easy to practice "cafeteria style"--picking and choosing what you wish to incorporate into your own practice. All in all, an excellent guidebook. ( )