YOGA: Bibliography - Books

1. Baptiste, Baron Journey into Power Beautiful photos of author, excellent instructions and loved the spiritual focus associated with the poses
2. Christensen, Alice Yoga of the Heart: Ten Ethical Principles for Gaining Limitless Growth, Confidence, and Achievement. A Yoga philosophy only book. No asanas or anatomy here, just thoughtful writing about the spiritual side of creating a yogic outlook on life. Interesting excerpts from author’s dialogues with her teacher. Also, lots of interesting snippets from the experiences in her life and the lives of her students.
3. Coulter, David Anatomy of Hatha Yoga © 2001 Drawings are excellent. Helpful to visualize what’s going on in the body while we practice various postures.
4. Desikachar, T.K.V. The Heart of Yoga. © 1995 Written by the son and a principle student of the influential Krishnamacharya, this book has an excellent introduction about his teacher’s life. Excellent and easy-to-understand description of traditional yogic concepts and terminology. Asanas described but not emphasized which felt very traditional. An excellent translation and transliteration of the complete Yoga Sutra of Patanjali – one of the definitive ancient works in Yoga literature. Great photos of famous yogis. The book was blessed by Indra Devi.
5. Devi, Indra Yoga for Americans (or any of her books.) This is style of yoga in which I did my first teacher training.
6. Feuerstein, Georg Yoga Gems © 2002 A delightful book edited by one of the preeminent yoga scholars of our day (at least in my opinion). Quotes on a variety of yoga subjects from a variety of wise teachers. Thanks for this gift, yogini / teacher Karen H.
7. Folan, Lilias Lilias, Yoga, & Your Life © 1981 Lots of suggestions for special areas of yoga emphasis such as: with children, during pregnancy, with partners and in various sports.
8. Francina, Suza The New Yoga for People Over 50 © 1997 A lot of photos of older people doing yoga really inspires me and reinforces my belief that you can start yoga at any age. I plan to be practicing beyond my 100th birthday.
9. Gates, Rolf and Katrina Gates Meditations from the Mat. © 2002 The focus of this book is yoga philosophy and contains quotes from a wide variety of philosophical, religious and secular leaders. Quotes are followed by the author’s interesting and insightful commentaries. The chapters and readings are divided along the 8-fold path of Patanjali. There is a reading for each day of the year. Easy reading and very thought provoking.
10. Iyengar, B.K.S. Light on Yoga I liked especially liked the way the asanas are photographed from a variety of angles so it is possible to see the precision which is the hallmark of Iyengar style of yoga.
11. Kogler, Aladar, Yoga for Every Athlete © 1995 The author is a Hungarian-born psychologist who defected to the United States after the Moscow Olympics. He has coached athletes in fencing, resulting in an impressive array of champions from NCAA, through Pan-American, and up to Olympics. He attributes up to 40% of his coaching success to yoga. His book has an excellent description of Asanas, but is unusual in the presentation of a variety of mental exercises, discussion of self regulation, self-awareness and autogenic training.
12. Lidell, Lucy, Narayani and Giris Rabinovitch, The Sivananda Companion to Yoga. © 1983 Very thorough and detailed, yet concisely presented. Interesting photography of yogis and yoginis in fairly extreme versions of the asanas. The drawings are especially beautiful –anatomical, asanas and Indian motiphs. One chapter asanas divided into cycles (forward bend cycle, sitting cycle, etc) Included are discussions on Breathing, Diet, meditation and Anatomy. Very well rounded reference.
13. Miller, Olivia The Yoga Deck , 50 Poses for Body, Mind and Spirit This is actually a deck of cards describing yoga postures. I really loved the meditations and affirmations included with the deck and postures. (You might even some of them in class!)
14. Mittra, Dharma Asanas 608 Postures Amazing photos of some unusual postures, some demonstrated in later years of author’s life. Interesting note: he held camera remote in his mouth to photograph himself.
15. Patanjali The Yoga Sutras Ancient oral yogic wisdom and tradition reduced to written form about 2,000 years ago. Discussion of the 8-fold path of yoga. Numerous translations available. Interesting to pick up more than one and compare how each verse sometimes varies in translation from one author/translator to the next. Not much on the postures – mostly philosophy. Here are some excellent translations:

• Satchidananda, Sri Swami. The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Excellent annotated translations of the sutras.
• Iyengar, B.K.S. Light on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
• Stiles, Mukunda Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: With Great Respect and Love
• Desikachar, T.K.V. The Heart of Yoga
• http://www.swamij.com/yoga-sutras.htm

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