An impassioned but meandering guide that blends theory with practice.
An experiential guide to unpack yoga for newbies.
“Our world does not seem to be the superficial and shallow one that I had understood before,” writes author Osirian, a yoga practitioner born and raised in Japan. Believing that he needed a complete break from the materialistic world to pursue a higher calling, Osirian became a monk, although he eventually left monastic life. Osirian began practicing yoga in 1992, exploring its theories almost entirely on his own. The author notes that he’s “not a highly accomplished yoga practitioner” and bases the book on his personal experiences and insights, giving the work a memoirlike voice and feel. The book also draws on the wisdom of spiritual masters, such as the Buddha, Jesus Christ, Kukai, Dogen, Linji, and Patrul Rinpoche. The guide will be an eye-opener for readers accustomed to viewing yoga as merely a set of physical exercises intended to help them lose weight, improve stamina, strengthen muscles, and increase flexibility. The author presents a conceptual framework and vocabulary to facilitate understanding of yoga’s effects on the body and mind. He defines the “subtle body” as a body made of energy that is closely related to both the mind and physical body. Yoga can alter this subtle body, improving one’s physical health. Osirian writes about energy channels, called nadis, which run throughout the subtle body, carrying prana, “an energy fluid that carries life force and can be viewed as something like wind,” and introduces readers to chakras, or energy centers (Osirian cautions against mistaking chakras for the nerve plexuses of the autonomic nervous system).
Readers are encouraged to explore ways of knowing that may challenge their belief systems. “It seems to me that things and spaces carry something more subtle than what we can easily perceive with our five senses,” he writes. He notes that he once viewed science as “absolute truth” and didn’t believe “in the existence of God, gods, goddesses, or spiritual worlds.” He proposes that one can catch a glimpse of heaven, described as “a bright place” directly above the human world, in the here and now by practicing yoga rather than waiting for it in the afterlife. After leaving the evangelical church, Osirian explored the Buddhist idea of heaven, which he describes as having six levels that “are incorporated as orders into the human world on earth where we live.” Written for new yoga practitioners, the manual aims to be “a yoga textbook” that will enable readers “to easily grasp the basic essence of yoga, which is often omitted in other books on the market.” However, this claim is a bit misleading. The book doesn’t discuss The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, a foundational text for yoga practitioners, in detail. Also, the multiple references to Hindu, Buddhist, Indian, Tibetan, and Japanese knowledge systems and practices can feel like an information overload. Throughout, Osirian emphasizes that “the altruistic heart” has a significant place in yoga, highlighting an important aspect of a practice that nurtures collective well-being. Copious endnotes lead readers to various helpful primary texts.
An impassioned but meandering guide that blends theory with practice.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9784991435324
Page Count: 207
Publisher: Olympus Yoga House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.
All right, all right, all right: The affable, laconic actor delivers a combination of memoir and self-help book.
“This is an approach book,” writes McConaughey, adding that it contains “philosophies that can be objectively understood, and if you choose, subjectively adopted, by either changing your reality, or changing how you see it. This is a playbook, based on adventures in my life.” Some of those philosophies come in the form of apothegms: “When you can design your own weather, blow in the breeze”; “Simplify, focus, conserve to liberate.” Others come in the form of sometimes rambling stories that never take the shortest route from point A to point B, as when he recounts a dream-spurred, challenging visit to the Malian musician Ali Farka Touré, who offered a significant lesson in how disagreement can be expressed politely and without rancor. Fans of McConaughey will enjoy his memories—which line up squarely with other accounts in Melissa Maerz’s recent oral history, Alright, Alright, Alright—of his debut in Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused, to which he contributed not just that signature phrase, but also a kind of too-cool-for-school hipness that dissolves a bit upon realizing that he’s an older guy on the prowl for teenage girls. McConaughey’s prep to settle into the role of Wooderson involved inhabiting the mind of a dude who digs cars, rock ’n’ roll, and “chicks,” and he ran with it, reminding readers that the film originally had only three scripted scenes for his character. The lesson: “Do one thing well, then another. Once, then once more.” It’s clear that the author is a thoughtful man, even an intellectual of sorts, though without the earnestness of Ethan Hawke or James Franco. Though some of the sentiments are greeting card–ish, this book is entertaining and full of good lessons.
A conversational, pleasurable look into McConaughey’s life and thought.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-593-13913-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Oct. 27, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.
The chef, rapper, and TV host serves up a blustery memoir with lashings of self-help.
“I’ve always had a sick confidence,” writes Bronson, ne Ariyan Arslani. The confidence, he adds, comes from numerous sources: being a New Yorker, and more specifically a New Yorker from Queens; being “short and fucking husky” and still game for a standoff on the basketball court; having strength, stamina, and seemingly no fear. All these things serve him well in the rough-and-tumble youth he describes, all stickball and steroids. Yet another confidence-builder: In the big city, you’ve got to sink or swim. “No one is just accepted—you have to fucking show that you’re able to roll,” he writes. In a narrative steeped in language that would make Lenny Bruce blush, Bronson recounts his sentimental education, schooled by immigrant Italian and Albanian family members and the mean streets, building habits good and bad. The virtue of those habits will depend on your take on modern mores. Bronson writes, for example, of “getting my dick pierced” down in the West Village, then grabbing a pizza and smoking weed. “I always smoke weed freely, always have and always will,” he writes. “I’ll just light a blunt anywhere.” Though he’s gone through the classic experiences of the latter-day stoner, flunking out and getting arrested numerous times, Bronson is a hard charger who’s not afraid to face nearly any challenge—especially, given his physique and genes, the necessity of losing weight: “If you’re husky, you’re always dieting in your mind,” he writes. Though vulgar and boastful, Bronson serves up a model that has plenty of good points, including his growing interest in nature, creativity, and the desire to “leave a legacy for everybody.”
The lessons to draw are obvious: Smoke more dope, eat less meat. Like-minded readers will dig it.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-4197-4478-5
Page Count: 184
Publisher: Abrams
Review Posted Online: May 5, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2021
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