AFTER – Summer Book Club 2026

May 14, 2026/Jennie Williford CIYT
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It is “suddenly” summer, and for The Yoga Place community, that means our Summer Book Club is here. The last couple of years we have taken on Yoga tradition and Iyengar Yoga specific books, so it’s time to explore a more yoga-adjacent choice. Pam recently read this year’s pick and suggested it. Since then, other ideas and questions of “consciousness” have shown up in a few other books I have come across – not to mention always in discussions around yoga philosophy.

AFTER by Bruce Greyson, M.D : A Doctor Explores What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about Life and Beyond.

“Dr. Greyson’s work has the potential to completely change our fractured and confused world, offering insights that may lead to an explanation of the nature of consciousness” Eben Alexander, M.D.

The subject of what happens to the consciousness when we die is a great parallel to the study of our own consciousness as we live and practice in yoga! In the description of After, Dr. Greyson shows how scientific revelations from four decades of research support a theory that dying is more a threshold between one form of consciousness and another – not an ending, but a transition. This is similar to the overall philosophy of yoga. If some of you read along for our 2024 Summer Book Club, the idea that our True Self does not die with our body shows up in Chapter 2, Verse 20 of the yogic text, The Bhagavad Gita : “The soul is neither born, nor does it ever die; nor having once existed, does it ever cease to be. The soul is without birth, eternal, immortal, and ageless. It is not destroyed when the body is destroyed”.

I am excited to read and explore this new book along with you. As usual, the schedule for reading is loose, so read at your own pace! I blog at the end of each week of reading to tie in the book with topics of yoga and our practice. At the end of the summer, we schedule a discussion of the book amongst The Yoga Place community. Stay tuned for that date and time as we get closer.

Join in reading the book as a whole, or just the weekly updates, and give yourself some great points of discussion with your fellow classmates and yoga enthusiasts!

  • BEGIN READING June 1 : Introduction and Chapter 1
  • June 8 : Chapters 2 and 3
  • June 15 : Chapters 4 and 5
  • June 22 : Chapters 6 and 7
  • June 29 : Chapter 8 and 9
  • July 6 : Chapters 10 and 11
  • July 13 : Chapters 12 and 13
  • July 20 : Chapters 14 and 15
  • July 27-Aug 8 : I am gone and will take a pause in blogging
  • Aug 10 : Chapters 16 and 17
  • Aug 17 : Chapters 18 and 19
  • Aug 24 : Chapter 20 – THE END

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Jennie Williford CIYT

Jennie Williford (CIYT Level 3) is a transplant to LaCrosse via Montana, Illinois, and originally Texas. Throughout her life moves and 5 trips to India, Jennie has acquired a well-rounded and multi-faceted approach to Iyengar Yoga since her start in 1998. Jennie loves the experimental and explorative nature of yoga in accessing deeper knowledge of the Self on every level. The practice of yoga can be intense and introspective, however as practitioners we can be light-hearted and open-minded in our discipline. Jennie is intrigued by the philosophy of yoga and hopes to share this depth of subject while teaching the physical and mental benefits that come from the practice of posture.