Product Description: Completely restructured to focus more on the how-to components of yoga, this step-by-step guide replaces photos with all-new two-color line illustrations that not only show readers what the various yoga postures look like, but how to get in and out of them easily and painlessly. Non- intimidating and easy-to-follow exercises show readers just how fun and relaxing yoga can be.
Fantastic introductory book for those interested in yoga Where to begin? This is the most comprehensive guide to Yoga for beginners I've ever seen. It delves into background, history, breathwork, meditation, spirituality (not religion--it explains the difference), and, of course, the asanas, or poses. The information is interesting and lively, striking a nice balance between depth and simplicity. It's straightforward and clear, but with a playful tone.
Key to any good yoga book is a wide variety of asanas, or poses, to keep you interested. This book has several chapters including standing poses, balance poses, bends, inversions, and more. The information it provides is extensive and impressive.
Each posture includes at least one drawing of the properly-performed posture, and sometimes more than one showing it from different sides or angles. Often there are illustrations of posture variations, and sometimes there are ones showing you what not to do.
The asanas include warnings about things to watch out for and contra-indicated conditions, as well as variations for easing into the postures, or simpler/less stressful variations in case you simply can't do the full asana. Many of them also include more challenging variations as well, for once you've mastered the standard pose.
The authors' vinyasanas include a warming series, a high-energy series, and a mild/calming series. There are also several series for workouts of a particular length, including three five-minute sessions for when you only have a few minutes here or there, three 15-minute sessions, and a 30-minute and one hour session. Even better, the book includes instructions to help you construct your own vinyasanas!
All in all I'd say this is the perfect book for the beginner, or for someone who wants a full and thorough introduction to the world of yoga.
Everything you always wanted to know. . . i read this book for my book club, and the meeting of the club included a yoga class. It is VERY thorough. I liked the "ouch" boxes, which remind the reader that the goal is not to hurt oneself, or to push beyond one's limits. There is perhaps more of the philosophy than I might have wanted, but this would be a reader's personal preference. Photos very helpful.
Great for beginners I recently got the urge to try yoga and figured a good place to start would be this book. I was right! It's written for anyone, it's instructions are easy to read and follow and the illustrations are great. They also sprinkle it with a little humor to lighten things up. They make learning yoga less intimidating and make it more likely for you to actually try it and keep doing it. If you're wondering about yoga and don't know where to start, then this is for you.
Does not meet expectations I picked up this book with great expectations. The book does not necessarily shatter all that, but must say am not much impressed. Some breathing techniques appeared to be inaccurate while most yoga postures are not for real starters. Also, step-by-step posture with better and more pictures would be really good. In general, I think this deserves average rating.
A complete guide to take you from Beginner to Intermediate!! I recently read this book and I must say it was a pleasure. This series is written as a "Complete Idiot's Guide," meaning the material is not only supposed to be easy to understand, it's also supposed to be comprehensive. This book is both, and it is nicely put together to boot.
For starters, I thought the pictures and illustrations were pretty good considering the difficulty of capturing certain Yoga poses. The good quality of the paper stock and clarity of the pictures get extra bonus points.
In addition, the book does have extensive comments on the meaning behind the Yoga poses. Some people may not be as interested in this kind of information, but for me knowing the names of the poses and some of the meaning behind them helps me to remember them better. So I enjoyed that extra research. For those who don't want that level of detail, there are a number of nice picture guides that simply show you the basic routines.
What I really like about this book is that it not only helps you get your feet wet as a beginner, it can take you up to intermediate and perhaps even advanced understanding of Yoga. The book is so full of good info that after you read it the first time, you can continue turning back to it for a long time to come. As a beginner, it's good for me to know that my investment in a book will become a nice reference when I'm done reading it.
Anything Goes Trivia
Trevor
Megaton Man
