Namaste Jainarayan,

Some other thoughts -- you don't have to use a cross-legged position to settle and meditate. The level 1 Iyengar yoga class that I am going to has presented us with a few different possibilities, plus our teacher has asked us to tell her if anything hurts when we try the asanas. She usually has something to offer that will help.

Virasana can be a good meditating pose (and your legs don't cross at all). If, like me, you are too stiff to sit all the way back onto the floor, our teacher helps us to find a position using blankets that works. The level of the blankets varies from person to person and she helps each person find the way that helps them. Some people are very sore at the top of their feet when they attempt Virasana and she has ankle rolls for them. As you practice the asanas in good alignment, your body becomes more flexible over time. The key is good alignment + time!

I should have said more about the books I recommended. The Preliminary Course (Yoga in Action) book by Geeta Iyengar explains very basic ideas. The good thing is: a certified Iyengar teacher will teach those very principals in the class and the book can reinforce what you just did and help you remember better when you practice at home. I find yoga classes to be a bit like dreams -- hard to remember the specifics afterward. So this book helps with that.

Light on Life by BKS Iyengar ranges over all sorts of practical topics about being embodied and practicing Hatha yoga. He wrote this book about 50 years after he wrote Light on Yoga and he says that he could not have written Light on Life when he was younger because it took so many years of living to understand these things.

Light on Yoga is also essential -- but I didn't find it to be that useful (for me) until I'd practiced Hatha Yoga for about 2 years. Before then, too much of it was too far beyond me. Now I consult it constantly. It deals with a lot more than asana, too.

I have not read it yet, but people also highly recommend BKS Iyengar's Light on Pranayama. However, this one is for later, at least for me. Our teacher does not accept people into the pranayama class until they have completed at least 6 months of level 1, plus they must be able to hold an inversion for 5 minutes. I'm not there yet. BKS Iyengar says in Light on Life not to attempt Pranayama until the body is strong enough for it. So I look forward to all of this, but I am not ready for it yet.

Geeta Iyengar has written a book for women -- I think it's called Yoga a Treasure for Women or something similar. Some say that this book, not Light on Yoga, is the most important book for women. And the 2nd most important book for men! So another very useful book and one I'm planning on studying deeply.

My teacher has a spiritual approach to the world but does not teach her spirituality in the class. Her yoga room is clean, fresh, and spare. Every time I go there I'm ready for good things to happen there and they do.

Pranam