Hi Fred,
Hope you don't mind me chiming in???
In some ways I think yoga asks you to become an observer of self...to deal with this aspect.
There are many different ways but I think this is one of its main practices for ego. Often you will read or/ in practise learn to decipher the true self which is often to be said under the veil of________. The different practises are to help let ego fall away as the principle of what you focus on or resist gets magnified through our attention to it. Iyengar yoga as I understand it holds the asana longer and uses props to help you from whatever level you are at. Thai yoga is great and is actually a real fun practise to do it is quite different than other forms. I really enjoyed that practise. Khundalini is a great form to do as well as breath is a huge focus and is more flowing. I did read a book on Khundalini that said you need your ego for the very practical reasoning of desire helps one to achieve and stay on task. As many speakers and self developemnet "gurus"attest to ego as something they
see and use as positive in that they do not practice certain " harmful acts" to others. Even many other masters say to have one "desire" to focus on your relationship with GOD is the rarest thing in human being. This is generally acknowledge among all (masters) of them in some form or another.
In my teacher training program for yoga. I explored many different styles of yoga. All of them were very good and I gained much from each one of them.
A great respect for each style of yoga practise. Each has an area of focus that in my opinion just adds a greater depth to that which is at the center of yoga "union" with God. Most yoga is designed to help you the student to modify and tayler it to your special needs in some way. Though Iyenger is a very strict methodology but still always uses props as a modification but in a principle that one should not go ahead of the train so to speak. But stay with it until resistence is gone through to its end point.
Here's series of book on ego...He's Buddhist but does touch on yoga, Christianity, and other religious practices too. David Hawkins...Truth vs. Falsehood, The Eye of the I, I, Transcending: The levels of consciousness
It's a hard read though for many...but I think you might benefit from these.
He is a psychologist too so he might appeal to you as he intergrates these two areas.
An easy read is Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
Anything by Mother Teresa...
Any autobigraphy by a Yogi!
Autobiography of A Yogi by Yogananda
Guaranteed Solutions by Nithyananda
RUMI
What style are you practicing now, Fred?
Hope that helps you!!!
