Review: The Head That Won’t Stand

Kalpana Sharma| Jan 17, 2017,
* Title: The Head That Won’t Stand
* Author: Kavita Chandran
* Publisher: Wisdom Tree
* Pages: 200
* Price: 245 INR
Yoga is a personal journey for everyone with most people turning to it not for fitness alone, but for unison of both body and soul. The Head That Won’t Stand by Kavita Chandran is the month-long journey of the financial journalist, who leaves behind her two daughters and husband to attend a yoga teacher training session by Yogacharya Bharath Shetty in Mysore in search of respite from modern world obscurities.
This book is not a yoga journal but Kavita’s narrative of her four weeks stay at Gokulshala, Mysore. It has stories of fellow yoginis from across the world whom she meets on this journey. The book has personal life accounts of some of these women that she meets in the class and why they turned to yoga for self discovery. From Clara’s depression, Veronica’s broken relationship to Hanna’s disturbing past, their stories make them an intricate part of the plot.
The way Kavita sketches the whole journey in her words, you can actually imagine it all unfold in front of you. She describes the yoga teacher, Bharath, as someone who runs a tight ship and is a big disciplinarian. Every chuckle or casual banter in the class was treated with stern looks and harsher words. So when these grown-up women stole glances wary of his prying eyes, it makes for a refreshingly entertaining read.
Now if you were expecting some yoga gyaan when you picked this book, it won’t really disappoint you as it also has some interesting functional yoga tips that can prove useful in your yoga journey.
So what makes this book stand apart? If you fancy yoga but are scared because ‘your head won’t stand’, this book is for you. If you are struggling to twist your body to enter a supine twist, you should pick this book. Unlike other yoga books that insist more on perfecting your asanas, this book reassures you that it’s ok to fail. It tells you that in order to attain perfection, you will face struggles but your continuous efforts will help you conquer your fears and emerge as a winner.