Yoga was created as a science for liberation, but in modern times it is used by many to improve physical and mental health, helping us become more productive at work, more caring in relationships, more responsible contributors to society, and better inhabitants of this planet. If yoga does accomplish all that--as many practitioners report--how exactly does yoga do it? How does yoga work? Believe it or not, the answers lie in how the human body and mind function. Eddie Stern's One Simple Thing: A New Look at the Science of Yoga and How It Can Transform Your Life explains from both a yogic and a scientific perspective how the human nervous system is wired. It describes the mechanics taking place beneath the surface of our bodies and shows how we can consciously use yogic practices to direct and change our lives in positive ways. Drawing on modern neuroscience, ancient wisdom, and decades of practice and teaching, Eddie Stern reveals how what we do--from diet to chanting, from postures to meditation, from ethical practices to breathing techniques--affects who we become, and how a steady routine of activities and attitudes can transform our bodies, our brain functions, our emotions, and our experience of life.

It is a rare and remarkable soul who becomes legendary during the course of his life by virtue of great service to others. Sri K. Pattabhi Jois was such a soul, and through his teaching of yoga, he transformed the lives of countless people. The school in Mysore that he founded and ran for more than sixty years trained students who, through the knowledge they received and their devotion, have helped to spread the daily practice of traditional Ashtanga yoga to tens of thousands around the world. Guruji paints a unique portrait of a unique man, revealed through the accounts of his students. Among the thirty men and women interviewed here are Indian students from Jois' early teaching days, intrepid Americans and Europeans who travelled to Mysore to learn yoga in the 1970s, and important family members who studied as well as lived with Jois and continue to practice and teach abroad or run the Ashtanga Yoga Institute today. Many of the contributors (as well as the authors) are influential teachers who convey their experience of Jois every day to students in many different parts of the globe.