Yoga Is as Yoga Does…

Elizabeth Kadetsky’s First There Is a Mountain is described in the subtitle as a “yoga romance,” and her yoga practice spanning nearly two decades features prominently. She took her first yoga class in a dojo at UC Santa Cruz because, she writes, “I’d already tried Tai Chi and Frisbee in New York.” Something about the way that first class left her feeling kept her coming back for more but, she admits, that wasn’t entirely a good thing, and she goes on over the course of the book to rigorously examine how doing the poses tied in to an anorexic-like desire to destroy her body in order to attain a more “pure” level of existence.

Kadetsky also had the opportunity to study in India under B. K. S. Iyengar, and therein hangs another tale.

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10 January 2004 | read this |

Read This: Vintage Murakami

Popped into Posman Books on my way through Grand Central tonight, just to see what was to be seen, and my eye was caught by Vintage Murakami, which is apparently part of a plot by Vintage to attract readers to some of the imprint’s best writers by putting together something like a ‘greatest hits’ collection with at least one never-before-in-book piece. Not a bad idea, and priced reasonably well at $9.95.

9 January 2004 | read this |