The Head That Won’t Stand is a story of one month that author Kavita Chandran, a Singapore based business journalist spent reflecting, rediscovering and rekindling her spirit – and yes, learning yoga too.
The book encapsulates her journey from day one to the end of a four-week intense training course at Mysore under yoga guru Bharath Shetty – but very early in the book, it becomes clear that this is not just a quintessential yoga journal, or a memoir, but has in fact, a much wider canvas.
In the 200 pages that follow, Kavita shares not just the basic principles of yoga, the philosophy of living a holistic life, some stories from mythology, and asanas in simple doable steps, but also life stories of a bunch of smart and enterprising women from different corners of the globe, including her own.
And this seamless braiding of yoga with the interesting lives of these women and the changes that yoga brings about in their lives is what transforms this book from being just a periodical (which most books about yoga end up being) to a book that hooks you and keeps you entertained.
A Desperate Latching on to Power
Now, everyone has their own reasons for wanting to learn yoga. And the author’s reason becomes clear in chapter one when she mentions that she needed something that would bind her forever to this ancient science that had helped turn a Type A perpetually-paranoid-personality (the author) into a calm and spiritually-inclined human being.
“I feared the person of the past may return. I desperately needed to latch on to the power that had kept her at bay,” she writes, explaining her reason for wanting to do a course to become a licensed yoga teacher.
There are many more yoginis on this journey with her: the stern Sonika, a new mother from Mysore Vijaya, Veronica, a fun loving Italian who carried a fat dictionary to the first yoga class, a young and shy Iranian girl Hanna, the curly haired and much pierced Maria from Spain… and a few more… making it a pretty diverse global group.
The first lesson Kavita learns and shares is that Ashtanga is not a style of asanas, but is in fact a yogic lifestyle, where a person chooses to adopt eight elements, or forms of discipline, in their daily lives – yoga postures being just one of the eight segments.
The other disciplines are: self-control, or Yama, Niyama or discipline, breathing or respect and realisation of the rhythmic breath called Pranayama, Dhyana or concentration. And once someone has attained all of the above, the final form of Ashtanga, is the liberation, or the Samadhi.
She explains all of these beautifully in the book.
Besides technical details – like why Surya Namaskara in the morning is one of the best exercises for the heart, and how kapalbhati, a breathing technique helps remove toxins from the brain cells and lungs – the author also weaves in strains of mythology. Thus, there is the story of lord Ganesha – as also interesting information about how Buddha, the enlightened one, took 108 breaths every day (because of how meditative each breath was).
She also repeats simple, practical advice that she learnt during her course, such as –when the alarm rings in the morning, go to the bathroom first and wash your face. Then, go and switch off the alarm. I tried it out – and I must say, it works wonders!
Side Note: The author takes care to mention, in detail, the difficulty in maintaining a headstand (the Sirsasana pose). Hence, the name of the book, I suppose!
Kavita – in the course of the narrative – travels back to her past and recalls how yoga helped her get her bearings after a particularly scary panic attack that shook her to the core.
The back stories of other women are interesting too. Like Hanna, who was a practising criminal lawyer in Iran, but left the country to come study in India, when she saw her father return a beaten man after being imprisoned for supporting a reformist movement. Or Clara, who was at the yoga shala to heal herself of depression. Or Sonika, who was disheartened after a failed romance and with how life was shaping up for her. Or Veronica – who was recovering from the shock of getting fired by her boss in Italy with whom she had had a passionate affair.
This book shows you how yoga can truly bring you purpose and help you move through life with grace, calm and positivity. Reading it might not bring life-altering changes, but it will, at least, make you very very curious about yoga.
The fact that it’s a spirited, sassy read is just an added bonus.
(Kavita Devgan is a weight management consultant, nutritionist, health columnist and author of ‘Don’t Diet! 50 Habits of Thin People’.)
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