Let's slow down and ask some basic questions about the whole idea of a yoga assist - because offering and receiving great assists depends first on knowing what an assist is. Back in the old days of yoga assists were called 'corrections'. The idea was that the student was doing something wrong and the teacher could manipulate the wrongness away. Later came the word 'adjustment', which is a little better, conveying the student is on the right track and some adjustments are needed.

In this book, world renowned Jivamukti Yoga practitioners Sharon Gannon and David Life use the word 'assist' to communicate the idea that in yoga there are actually two beings interacting together on various levels of consciousness to foster a decrease in avidya, 'mis-knowing,' and an increase in vidya, or the knowing principle.

A yoga assist then, is action taken in a microcosmic relationship that reveals macrocosmic truths. It is action undertaken in mutuality with the best of intentions and the blessing of the teacher's teachers.

The giving of yoga is an art. Yoga assists are not static; they comprise a flowing dance of body, breath, and energy. They are based on continuous focus and awareness of the relationship between partners in the process. It takes two to Tango! As in Tango, in each encounter with yoga student and teacher there is an equation of reciprocity. Whether we receive or give an assist is an active process in the resolution of a relationship, a transmission, a dance. In this sense, the relationship between teacher and student is a microcosm of the flowing inter-relation among all people, all species, all living beings.

Through this book, with the 'assistance' of Sharon and David, practitioners will deepen their understanding of the fundamental principles of yoga assists and apply them in practice and in service to others.

Drawing on both the author's extensive studies of Vedic traditions and her longtime interest in animal rights, Yoga and Vegetarianism shows how the physical and spiritual practice of yoga is historically and structurally tied to a vegetarian lifestyle. When they are used in tandem, she argues, they form a strong framework for physical and spiritual attunement and promote an overall healthy life. Yoga and Vegetarianism emphasizes the importance of understanding of Ahimsa, the practice of non-harming and nonviolence, as the first step in marrying yoga and vegetarianism. All actions, says Gannon, originate as thoughts, so the 'perfection of action' that yoga strives for must come from a perfect thought. What is a perfect thought? According to the book, it is a thought free of selfish desire, anger, and hate. This brings us back to Ahimsa and to vegetarianism. Freeing oneself of needless cruelty, harm, and injustice ? which includes eating meat ? can transform both the individual and the world. This book shows how.