December 16, 2007
Recommended Reading: Yoga
Recommended Reading: A Spiritual Reading List
Selected Topics
Selected Topics
Yoga
Yoga means union. Although many in the West automatically assume that yoga means Hatha Yoga and that it is primarily for physical fitness and health, the purpose of all yoga is to enable the practitioner to realize wholeness by reuniting body, mind, heart, and soul, ultimately awakening to enlightenment. Hatha Yoga is a physical, energetic, and spiritual practice suitable to any age, health status, or fitness level. Most styles of Hatha Yoga emphasize relaxing into the physical movements rather than straining to go further than your body is comfortable with. Generally speaking, don’t bother with yoga unless you intend to slow down. One exception is Astanga Yoga, a vigorous workout quite suitable for training athletes.
Beryl Bender Birch. Power Yoga: The Total Strength and Flexibility Workout. ISBN: 0020583516
Astanga Yoga is an active form of Hatha Yoga designed to build fitness, strength, flexibility, and endurance for athletes.
Astanga Yoga is an active form of Hatha Yoga designed to build fitness, strength, flexibility, and endurance for athletes.
Laurent de Brunhoff. Babar’s Yoga for Elephants. ISBN: 0810910217
Get this for your kids. Get them started with yoga now. Obesity in children is becoming an epidemic. Clear, easy, simple, fun. As Babar explains, yoga “helps us all to relax and draw strength from our inner elephant.” Watercolor illustrations by Brunhoff.
Get this for your kids. Get them started with yoga now. Obesity in children is becoming an epidemic. Clear, easy, simple, fun. As Babar explains, yoga “helps us all to relax and draw strength from our inner elephant.” Watercolor illustrations by Brunhoff.
H. David Coulter. Anatomy of Hatha Yoga: A Manual for Students, Teachers, and Practitioners. ISBN: 0970700601
Coulter’s Ph.D. is in anatomy. His book presents an authoritative correlation between the practices of Hatha Yoga (asanas, breathing, relaxation, meditation) and physiology. Featuring 230 black and white photographs and more than 120 diagrams and anatomical illustrations, this book won the 2002 Benjamin Franklin Award for Health, Wellness, and Nutrition from the Publishers Marketing Association.
Coulter’s Ph.D. is in anatomy. His book presents an authoritative correlation between the practices of Hatha Yoga (asanas, breathing, relaxation, meditation) and physiology. Featuring 230 black and white photographs and more than 120 diagrams and anatomical illustrations, this book won the 2002 Benjamin Franklin Award for Health, Wellness, and Nutrition from the Publishers Marketing Association.
T. K. V. Desikachar and R. H. Cravens. Health, Healing and Beyond: Yoga and the Living Tradition of Krishnamacharya. ISBN: 0893817317According to some authorities, Krishnamacharya, who lived more than 100 years, is the source for nearly all modern yoga practices. Written by his son Desikachar, this book is a biographical profile of Krishnamacharya’s life and work. Tirumalai Krishnamacharya (1888-1989), considered a saint by some, was a guru to thousands. His guiding principle as a teacher was, “Teach what is inside you.” In the 1930s, American and European medical experts reported the yogi’s astonishing ability to stop both his heartbeat and his breath, essentially to control the life process itself.
Georg Feuerstein. The Yoga Tradition: Its History, Literature, Philosophy and Practice. ISBN: 1890772186
In this scholarly exploration of yoga, Feuerstein, author of more than two dozen books on yoga, presents a substantial overview of yogic traditions and styles, in terms of history, philosophy, literature, psychology, and practice. Included also are the translations of twenty classic yoga texts.
Suza Francina. The New Yoga for People Over 50: A Comprehensive Guide for Midlife and Older Beginners. ISBN: 1558744533
It’s never too late to start your practice of yoga. This book presents the Iyengar style of Hatha Yoga with asanas (postures) specially adapted for people between 50 and 70 years old. For example, the author shows how to use chairs, walls, wall ropes, bolsters, back-bending benches, and straps to aid in the exercises. Illustrated with over 100 easy-to-follow instructional photos. Yoga is widely credited with slowing down and even reversing the aging process.
It’s never too late to start your practice of yoga. This book presents the Iyengar style of Hatha Yoga with asanas (postures) specially adapted for people between 50 and 70 years old. For example, the author shows how to use chairs, walls, wall ropes, bolsters, back-bending benches, and straps to aid in the exercises. Illustrated with over 100 easy-to-follow instructional photos. Yoga is widely credited with slowing down and even reversing the aging process.
Sharon Gannon and David Life. Jivamukti Yoga : Practices for Liberating Body and Soul. ISBN: 0345442083
The word jivamukti refers to a liberated or enlightened being. This book presents the Vinyassa style of Hatha Yoga, sometimes referred to as “flow” yoga because the postures smoothly flow into one another. It emphasizes the integration of breathing, movement, and postures. Like Astanga Yoga, this approach is much more vigorous than regular Hatha Yoga.
Richard Hittleman. Richard Hittleman’s Yoga: 28 Day Exercise Plan. ISBN: 0911104216
Illustrated with over 500 photographs. Hittleman tells you exactly what to do each day. In 28 days you will be physically renewed.
B. K. S. Iyengar and Yehudi Menuhin. Light on Yoga: The Bible of Modern Yoga. ISBN: 0805210318
Considered by many authorities to be the definitive book on Hatha Yoga and used as a reference text by innumerable professional yoga teachers, Light on Yoga details step-by-step instructions for the selected asanas (postures) and three important pranayam (breathing) exercises. The book includes over 600 photos of Iyengar demonstrating the practices.
John McAfee. The Secret of the Yamas: A Spiritual Guide to Yoga. ISBN: 0971156905John McAfee is the founder of the Relational Yoga Mandiram in Woodland Park, Colorado, and organizer of the annual Sidha Silence retreats in the Rocky Mountains. This book presents the relationship between yoga asanas (physical postures) and the yogic philosophy of Pantanjali, who is widely credited with first documenting the practice and philosophy of yoga over 2,000 years ago. The author explores the integration of yogic practice with an open heart and clear mind. According to McAfee, the source of all problems, as well as the answers, lies within each of us. Yamas provide guidelines to changing our behaviors as we take responsibility for what we are creating in our lives.
Erich Schiffmann. Yoga: The Spirit And Practice Of Moving Into Stillness. ISBN: 0671534807
An excellent exploration of Hatha Yoga, this book supplies detailed descriptions of the asana physical postures, explanations of how they affect the physical and energetic (qi or prana) bodies, and details about breathing, relaxation, and meditation. Schiffman is schooled in the Iyengar and Desikachar approaches to yoga.
An excellent exploration of Hatha Yoga, this book supplies detailed descriptions of the asana physical postures, explanations of how they affect the physical and energetic (qi or prana) bodies, and details about breathing, relaxation, and meditation. Schiffman is schooled in the Iyengar and Desikachar approaches to yoga.
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