Need Some Inspiration? 3 Books For Yoga Teachers

This week on Yoga Insider, I'm reflecting on summer holidays and sharing some book recommendations for yoga teachers from my personal collection. 

FOR NEW YOGA TEACHERS

The Yamas and Niyamas by Deborah Adele 

This is such an approachable & practical introduction to Classical yoga philosophy and it's applications to modern life and everyday challenges.

FOR YOGA TEACHERS WHO WANT TO FEEL INSPIRED

The Radiance Sutras by Lorin Roche

This is a poetic interpretation of a medieval Tantric text & the essence of these sutras is really about fully embracing the human experience rather than dissociating from it. I love the imagery that these sutras evoke!

MY FAVOURITE TRANSLATION OF THE BHAGAVAD GITA

The Bhagavad Gita Comes Alive: A Radical Translation by Jeffrey Amstrong

For yoga teachers seeking a decolonized translation of the Gita that preserves Sanskrit terms and encourages readers to study the deeper meanings behind them rather than defaulting to inadequate words that distort the original meaning. 

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Music & Production by Kyler Pierce

Photography featured in cover art by Colton Muma

Transcript

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Welcome back to Yoga Insider Podcast. I'm your host, Alex Wakott. If you're new here, I've been a yoga teacher for over 14 years, and today I run a completely independent yoga business that doesn't rely on studio classes. I offer pre-registered yoga series in my community, as well as continuing education for yoga teachers who want to refine their skills. Over the years, I've learned a lot about what it takes to build a yoga business that's actually sustainable. And part of my mission is to have real conversations with yoga teachers around the world about what it's actually like to work in the modern yoga industry. That is exactly what Yoga Insider Podcast is here for. Grab yourself a cup of coffee and let's dive in to today's episode. All right, welcome back to another week of Yoga Insider Podcast. I am so glad that you're here. I am technically on like holidays this week, which is really exciting. It is a long weekend here in British Columbia. Um, it's BC Day, so we get like a three-day weekend here. But I'm actually taking uh like 10 days off from teaching. I just got back from a few days of holidays and I'm home for like a day right now, and then I'm heading back out on a little bit more summer vacation. Um, it's super, super nice to have a little bit of a break right now, but I'm still here and I wanted to make sure that I showed up on the podcast. I just got back from a weekend of whitewater rafting. And this is actually a trip that my husband and I do every summer. We've been going for like almost the past eight years, and it was so much fun. It's a trip that like I look forward to every single year. And I never expected that I would be somebody that like gets excited about whitewater rafting because I'm definitely not an adrenaline junkie by any means. I don't get a kick out of like roller coaster rides. I have no desire to skydive or anything like that. Um, and in fact, like when it comes to water, like I, you know, I think water is beautiful and refreshing. Um, but I like to have my feet on the ground. Like I'm the kind of person where like I'm totally happy to go to the beach and like, I don't know, step in the water a little bit, but like spend most of the day just like tanning on the beach and reading a book. And like I'm not, I'm not like a fish. Um, but the the first time I went whitewater rafting, I was like, oh, this is so fun. Um and so every year we go to this resort where, you know, if you're interested in going, this isn't an ad, but we go to this resort um called Cum Sheen, spelt with a K, um, in Lytton, British Columbia. And there's this beautiful, like kind of like glamping resort there that is right on the Thompson River. And every year my husband gets hired to perform music at the resort, often with a band, um, as like evening entertainment at like their bar kind of pool area for the guests who are staying there. And it's just become this like tradition every year where they get hired to do this. And the resort is so generous, and they like you know, let partners come along and they put us all up at the resort and feed us and take us rafting, and like it's just it's such a great time. Um, so we did that this this year again, and um, it was definitely the craziest rafting year that we've ever had. Like, we always go around this time, and so at this point in the summer, like beginning of August, um, the water level is lower, even though the Thompson River is like a very high volume river, like there's tons of water and it's definitely really deep in some areas. But because the water level gets down low, it reveals like all of these cool features in the water, like whirlpools and rapids and waves and like all of this crazy stuff. Um and we had the absolute wildest time rafting yesterday. Um, we did like paddle rafting, so you can also do rafting where there's like um a motor on the boat as well because the water's deep enough to do that. But we always opt to do like the analog version of rafting. So like we paddle ourselves, and there's obviously like a trained um rafting guide who comes along with us, and we got the same rafting guide as last year, so he remembered us. And um, yeah, we just had such a wild day, and something that happened was that I ended up being like sucked out of the boat unexpectedly by this huge wave, and I got like sucked down into the river and pulled down the river, and I was underwater for a long time. Like, even though you have a life jacket on and a helmet on, like the water is just so powerful. And I was just like, okay, I guess this is happening. I guess I am out of the boat and under the water. Um, and one thing that I was thankful for was that, you know, I've been practicing yoga for a really long time. And I feel like you do develop good control of your breathing and you develop a good capacity to hold your breath for a while. And that's what I had to do in that moment. I was like, you know, under the water with my eyes open and I couldn't get up. And I was like, I know I'm gonna pop up eventually. And I did eventually like pop up because of my life jacket. But um, yeah, it was it was a very exciting time. I had to like swim into another boat and they had to pull me into the boat and then get over to my boat. Um, and at the same time that that happened, our uh rafting guide also got like ejected from the boat and like shot up into the air, and he was in the water, and we were in the rapids, and it was crazy. I was I don't know why I say like I wasn't expecting that to happen because like it's world-class whitewater rafting, that kind of stuff can obviously happen. Um, but it was it was so fun. It was so fun. I had such a good time. Can't wait to go back next year. Um, and then yeah, we are heading out shortly on another trip to one of the little Gulf Islands um just for like a few days of R. And that is the trip where I'm gonna be able to like sit on the beach and read my book. Um, and like speaking of books, just for today's episode, I have this bookshelf that is absolutely overflowing with yoga books, teaching resources, notebooks from like classes that I've taught over the years and trainings that I've taken. And like I have all of these things stuffed into this. It's actually like a record cabinet. Like you're supposed to store vinyl records in it, but I keep all my yoga stuff in there. And this shelf is so full that like I can barely even close the doors because there's so much stuff in it. Um, and so I was taking a peek through my bookshelf today, and I was kind of thinking that it would be fun for me to pull out a few recommendations from my collection for you. Um, and part of this is inspired by something that I've been seeing on Instagram quite a bit lately, is yoga teachers giving book recommendations. And I was like, oh, like I can give you some book recommendations. Um, so I'm gonna try to keep it relatively short. I've just picked out three different books that I want to share with you. Um, and I've put them each into a different category, kind of like depending on what you need, what your interests are. And I want to say that these books are so well loved. Um, a couple of these books I have had for, well, actually, most of the books in my shelf I've had for so long. And these books are like annotated, they're dog-eared, they're filled with little post-it notes and bookmarks and pieces of paper. Um and yeah, they're just like books that I go back to again and again, and I thought that it would be fun to just share a few of them with you today. So the first book that I want to kind of pull out for you today is the book that I would recommend for new yoga teachers. So, if you are a brand new yoga teacher, you're just starting your teaching journey, one of my favorite books that I would recommend to you is a book called The Yamas and Niyamas by Deborah Adele. Now, this book's been around for a while. It was published in 2009. And what I absolutely love about this book is that it is an incredibly approachable and practical introduction to classical yoga philosophy, specifically the yamas and niyamas, as they pertain to modern life. And I think that this book is just so sweet, it's so simple, it's not intimidating, it's not complicated. And within the book, every yama and niyama receives a dedicated chapter. The chapters are short and concise, and you don't necessarily have to like sit down and read this book front to back. Like you could just sit down with one chapter at a time and really sit with it and let it soak in. And I feel like this book has a really nice way of blending philosophy with anecdotes that are relatable. And it has a lot of real-world applications. And I feel like that's what people like about it. Um, all of the sections of the book also end with some like exploratory questions that you can, you know, ponder or sit with yourself in order to kind of facilitate your own personal contemplation. Now, what I consider this book to be is a really lovely companion text, even though I don't think it was necessarily like written as a companion text, but I see it as a companion text to Patanjali's Yoga Sutras. So uh Patanjali's Yoga Sutras is uh classical yoga philosophy. And I feel like if you're a new teacher and you're like just starting to familiarize yourself with classical yoga philosophy, this is just like such a great book that presents the yamas and the niyamas in a way that is like relevant to modern life and relevant to your everyday choices and how you live your life, your relationship with yourself and the way that you interact with the world and interact with other people. I have used this book so many times as a resource, as a source of inspiration when I'm theming classes. And I feel like you could also use this book and create like a whole yoga series based on this book. Um, so you could work with a different yama or niyama every week or every month, like depending on kind of like how deep you want to go with it. And it's just such a great way to familiarize yourself with these terms. I feel like every time I share a little like reading out of this book in a yoga class, for example, I always have students come up to me and ask if they can take a picture of the page, if I can tell them what book it is. Um, and in fact, like this isn't just a book that would be great for new yoga teachers. It would also be a wonderful, simple introduction for anyone who's a student of yoga and anyone who's curious about like classical yoga philosophy and how we can start to apply it to our regular lives as modern students of yoga. This is just like so sweet. It's such a special little book. Um, and I feel like because it's been around for a while and it's so loved by so many yoga teachers around the world, this is one of those ones that you'll probably have pretty good luck with finding in a used bookstore as well. Um, the copy that I have, like I've had it for years and it definitely came from a used bookstore. And so funny, like I said, all of these books are filled with little things. Um, this one has this little, if you're watching on um YouTube, it has this little like divination card inside that I was using as a bookmark. Um, it says, samadhi oneness. When you recognize your natural state as pure consciousness, the state of yoga is realized. And it has this little painting on it. I'll try to hold it up and see if the camera will um yeah, there we go. Get it into focus. I'm just gonna pull it up for you so you can see if you're watching on YouTube. Anyways, so cute. So, again, this would be my recommendation from my book collection for new yoga teachers or students of yoga. If you don't have it already, it's just so short and sweet and adorable. You can't go wrong. Now, the next book that I want to recommend is my favorite book, my go-to book if you want to feel inspired. And that book is The Radiant Sutras by Lauren Roche. Now, this is a book that I turn to often. It was initially introduced to me by Clara Robertsoss, and unlike the book that I just mentioned, this is not a book on classical yoga philosophy. This is a book inspired by tantric or non-dual philosophy. Now, the author actually just passed away very recently, so rest in peace. He was a very loved meditation teacher. And this book is so stunning, it's so beautiful. It is essentially a poetic interpretation of a medieval tantric text. And the essence of these sutras is really about embracing the human experience. So, unlike a lot of like sort of meditation traditions, for example, rather than dissociating from your experiences or trying to rise above them, I feel like the essence of this book is about embracing your humanness fully, like without reservation. Now, one of the recommendations from the author is that this is a text that is meant to be savored. So this is a text that is intended to be like enjoyed for years or for your entire lifetime. And I feel like with all of the the three books that I'm I'm recommending today, this is kind of like a thread that ties them all together, is that these are texts that are going to be relevant like forever and ever. These aren't books that you read to just like check it off a list. And they're not necessarily books that you have to read from front to back either. Um, they're books that, you know, depending on on when you return to them, you know, at certain points in your life, like different things or different meaning from the books might show up for you. Um, and another thing that he recommends is that if there is a sutra in the book that speaks to you, that you should memorize it. I have like a little dog-eared page in here, and I'll just see if I can read a little section to you. So he says, When you discover one sutra that resonates deeply, memorize it. Then you will, as they say, know it by heart. Something happens in the body. When you can say a sutra out loud or quietly to yourself, there is a relaxation and ease and confidence when you can rest your attention inside a sutra and the words flow effortlessly. He also mentions that you don't have to go through them in a sequence. Some of them will speak to you now, and others will only have meaning for you once you have explored them for a while. And I just feel like that is so true for like so many texts as well, just when it comes to yoga, that you know, if something doesn't resonate with you at this particular moment, like put it back on your shelf and then revisit it, like down the road. And then suddenly you might be like, oh, like this is so relevant. Um, I feel like the imagery in this book, like the like the imagery that that is conjured up in this book, um, is so beautiful. And I'll share a sutra with you just to like kind of give you an example of what I'm talking about. So I'll pull out one of my favorites. And again, I didn't even have to search for it because these books are full of like weird little notes and pieces of paper. Um, this one has a piece of paper from the Line Hotel in Austin, Texas. Shout out to the Line, nice place. Um, but but here's a sutra that I love. It goes like this You who have been seeking whatever path you are on, a moment will come when divine pulsation grabs you and carries you into its dance. In the midst of ecstatic motion, your body dissolves into light, leaving only the softly glowing benediction of the bones. You become the face of fury, yet serene within. Eyes fly open in amazement, seeing the unseen vastness, or you become a tongue tasting upward into the nectar of eternity. The soul reveals itself to itself through movement, energy-infused undulations and gestures of hand, foot, spine, face, and form. The invisible loves the visible. I love it. I like honestly go to this book so often, and I love to share a sutra at the beginning of a class and honestly just tell my students to pay attention to what resonates with them, if there's a particular like image or feeling that is invoked to go with that, um, and to kind of like connect to the meaning that shows up for them. And so I'll often share a sutra at the beginning of class and then um kind of revisit it at the end too. So The Radiance Sutras by Lauren Roche. If you need a book to help you feel inspired, this is for you.

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Okay.

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Last one from my collection that I'm gonna recommend today. I feel like we could do a 100-part series. Um, I want to recommend my favorite translation of the Bhagavad Gita. And this is something that like I've thought long and hard about when I was actually before I even was like creating the curriculum for my 200-hour yoga teacher training. Um I had come across this particular translation of Bhagavad Gita, and I knew that this was going to be part of the like required reading list for my 200 hour trainings. So the book that I want to recommend is The Bhagavad Gita comes alive. By Jeffrey Armstrong. And if you are watching on YouTube, you can see this beautiful, beautiful cover here. Again, it's absolutely a stunning book. It is also filled with post-it notes and annotations and writing. Very, very well loved, very well used. I'm noticing, like I mentioned earlier, yoga teachers online are making their book recommendations, which I absolutely love. And I've seen a couple of really popular videos going around of yoga teachers recommending their favorite translations of the Bhagavad Gita, but I have not seen anybody recommending this version by Jeffrey Armstrong, and it blows my mind. So one of the common issues with translation, especially when translating from Sanskrit to English, is that often the English equivalent words are inadequate and they end up distorting the original deeper meaning of the Sanskrit words. A lot of the translations that are available to us in the English language of the Bhagavad Gita are somewhat Christianized. And a lot of the key meanings of like really important Sanskrit words that make the text what it is are lost, and their like historical, cultural, philosophical significance is erased. And so, in a very sincere effort to decolonize the language that is often used to translate the Bhagavad Gita, Jeffrey Armstrong has actually left a lot of the original Sanskrit language in the text. So rather than trying to find like an you know inadequate English word to like describe what he wants to describe, he's just left the Sanskrit words there as they are. So you're gonna see words like dharma, karma, maya, purusha, etc. in the text. And then what he's done is he's included a really in-depth glossary of those words in the back of the book, and he encourages the readers to go and learn the meaning of those Sanskrit words. So rather than Christianizing the language and essentially taking it out of context for the sake of easier understanding or for the sake of like readers being lazy, he has left it in its original form and encourages you to go learn on your own, like even if it's kind of inconvenient. Um, and he says kind of like in the um introduction to this translation that like you know, there are so many gifts for you as the reader if you take the time to really understand the depth and the meaning behind these Sanskrit terms that like we just don't have an adequate translation for in the English language. And so to me, this is an incredibly profound resource. It reads so smoothly, it's so simple to understand, and it doesn't really have any commentary or interpretation, it's just this like very clear translation of the text, and I feel like that's what makes it so profound. That is what makes it stand out among all of these other translations and interpretations, and there's obviously a difference between like a translation and an interpretation as well. Um but yeah, this book was published in the year 2020, and I still don't hear a lot of people talking about it. Like, I don't know if it's I don't know what it is. Like maybe I'm wrong, but I feel like this translation is not getting the attention that it deserves. Um, this is a book that you can absolutely return to for the rest of your life. And if you are looking for like a stunning translation of Bhagavad Gita that is like clear and concise, and there's just like so much thought that's been put into this, um, you should absolutely order yourself a copy of this. When I was pulling these three books off of my shelf today, I realized that, again, the thing that these books have in common is that they are books that I return to over and over again. They are like some of my most absolutely well-loved resources. And there's obviously so many more that I could pull from, but these were the three that were speaking to me today. And I hope that, you know, they're books that'll speak to you as well. Um, I'm a harsh critic when it comes to any type of lit, like I'm an English major, and I would never recommend a book to you that I hadn't spent some serious time with. So I hope that you enjoy these recommendations and let me know if you like have any of these books or if you've read them already. Uh, you know, I love hearing from you. Um, yeah, I want to thank you so much for spending this time with me today. If you enjoyed this episode, definitely send it to a yoga teacher friend or tell a yoga teacher friend about Yoga Insider Podcast. It just helps the algorithm kind of push the podcast out to more people around the world so that more yoga teachers can benefit from these conversations. As always, thank you so much for being here. I'm Alex Wake, and I will see you next time.