Yoga Mind & Body

Rating:
Summary: Great for all levels
Review: Dorling Kindersley have produced a wonderful book on yoga from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centre in London, UK. The book covers exercise and breathing techniques, relaxation, a vegetarian diet (including some recipes) and meditation in a beautifully presented layout. There are 27 yoga exercises (asanas) in total from the sun salutation to the headstand, each set out with step by step pictures accompanied by tips as well as warnings and challenging variations for the more advanced. A great book for all levels.

Rating:
Summary: excellent for browsing and reference, beginner and beyond
Review: each topic treated at several levels, with lucid explanations, illustrations and beautiful photos. thorough and thoughtful overview of all major aspects of yoga practice, especially proper exercise, proper breathing, proper relaxation, proper diet, and positive thinking & meditation. It is the book I recommend most for beginning and intermediate students in courses I teach as a certified instructor. Om Shantih

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book - A Must for every Yoga Teacher /Student
Review: I am a Yoga Teacher from India and have been practising / teaching Yoga for the past 4 years and I use the Yoga Mind & Body from the Sivananda Yoga Centre as a guide book for my practice / teaching and I find it to be a very extrmely useful guide .Currently I am giving a Morning Yoga Class in a Private T.V Channel as part of its Morning Breakfast show and I use lots of inputs from this book for my T.V Show . It has made an excellent sepraration of the basic / advanced postures and also dealt every posture with very clear step by step instructions on how to come to a posture , how to hold it and how to come out of it and it also deals with the physical , mental and spiritual benefits of each major posture .The most imortant of all is the section of common errors for each major posture that I found it to be very useful .No other book discusses the common errors of the postures as in this book . Apart from postures it also deals with Pranayama , Relaxation,Diet and Meditation . On the whole a very very excellent book .A must for every Yoga Student and Teacher

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book - A Must for every Yoga Teacher /Student
Review: I am a Yoga Teacher from India and have been practising / teaching Yoga for the past 4 years and I use the Yoga Mind & Body from the Sivananda Yoga Centre as a guide book for my practice / teaching and I find it to be a very extrmely useful guide .Currently I am giving a Morning Yoga Class in a Private T.V Channel as part of its Morning Breakfast show and I use lots of inputs from this book for my T.V Show . It has made an excellent sepraration of the basic / advanced postures and also dealt every posture with very clear step by step instructions on how to come to a posture , how to hold it and how to come out of it and it also deals with the physical , mental and spiritual benefits of each major posture .The most imortant of all is the section of common errors for each major posture that I found it to be very useful .No other book discusses the common errors of the postures as in this book . Apart from postures it also deals with Pranayama , Relaxation,Diet and Meditation . On the whole a very very excellent book .A must for every Yoga Student and Teacher

Rating:
Summary: This was very helpful
Review: I am just a beginner in yoga and this book helped me to understand how I can benefit from yoga in so many ways. Each asana has a description of the physical, mental and pranic benefits. I had no idea I would be helping my digestion system so much! Each asana is described in detail, step-by-step and includes pictures and descriptions of how you could be doing it wrong. Some of the positions in this book were fairly difficult and others were impossible. The great thing about this book is it shows you exercises to bring you to the level where you can do the positions. It also has page holders on both sides so you can have the book stay open while you do the asanas.

Rating:
Summary: Truly awful!
Review: I can't understand all of the excellent reviews for this book. The poses shown are impossible for most people. I am relatively flexible (can do the splits easily, etc.), but I think I'd break in half if I tried to do these exercises. The average American soccer mom would run the other way if this was the first yoga book she picked up.

Along with the poses, the "spiritual" and dietary explanations and recommendations are extreme: the various "layers" of the body including the astral body, insistence on a vegetarian diet, fasting, setting up an altar, abdominal churning, stomach cleansing (which involves swallowing a length of gauze and then pulling it back out through the mouth - to be done twice a week!), and more.

The book also ridiculously claims to cure countless ailments through poses. "This position balances the function of the thyroid"... "relieves indigestion and diabetes"... "relieves insomnia"... "increases the capacity of the lungs"... "helps relieve problems of the uterus and ovaries."

I recommend Yoga Journal's Yoga Basics as a much more practical book.

Rating:
Summary: anatomy diagrams
Review: I chose this book because it showed many pictures of the anatomy. It shows the position, and superimposes a sketch of the ligaments/bones inside the person. This helps me to understand what is supposed to be happening inside.
I am a beginner, studying Ashtanga Vinyasa.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource for learning form and alignment
Review: I've been studying yoga for several years now, but I still found this book to be an excellent resource for providing me with information on form and alignment. The instructions for each asana (pose) are very clear, and the myraid of illustrations presented are extremely helpful. I particularly liked the illustrations of common mistakes, as these display what NOT to do when performing the poses. This is definitely a book for all levles of yoga students, and beginners would certainly find it useful in building a solid foundation to their yoga practice. However, I would caution beginners and others that some of the yogic customs presented in the final part of the book should probably not be attempted without the supervision of a yoga instructor. But on the whole, this is a well-done guide which provides effective and concise information about the practice of yoga.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent resource for learning form and alignment
Review: I've been studying yoga for several years now, but I still found this book to be an excellent resource for providing me with information on form and alignment. The instructions for each asana (pose) are very clear, and the myraid of illustrations presented are extremely helpful. I particularly liked the illustrations of common mistakes, as these display what NOT to do when performing the poses. This is definitely a book for all levles of yoga students, and beginners would certainly find it useful in building a solid foundation to their yoga practice. However, I would caution beginners and others that some of the yogic customs presented in the final part of the book should probably not be attempted without the supervision of a yoga instructor. But on the whole, this is a well-done guide which provides effective and concise information about the practice of yoga.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: The book is excellent for a beginner. This is my most used book in my collection. I would recommend it to anyone who is beginning yoga.