Anatomy, Stretching & Training for Yoga: A Step-by-Step Guide to Getting the Most from Your Yoga Practice

by Amy Auman, Lisa Purcell

With training tips, exercises, and injury remedies, this is an essential book for every yogi and instructor!

Yoga is more than just an exercise; it’s a way of spiritual living that has been growing in popularity throughout the years. But nothing ruins the tranquility of yoga faster than an unfortunate injury. Yoga focuses on almost every muscle in the body, from the core of the abdomen, to the muscles of the back, right down to the delicate muscles in the neck. All of these are prone to injury, and all of those injuries can keep you off the mat. That’s why every yogi needs Anatomy, Stretching & Training for Yoga . Amy Auman and Lisa Purcell provide expert advice on how to achieve perfect flexibility while minimizing injury, with tools and training on the following

• Finding the proper which mat works best for you
• Warm-up stretches and why they are important
• Corrective exercises to improve your balance and flexibility
• Step-by-step photos
• And much more!

Anatomy, Stretching & Training for Yoga details how to achieve each pose, or asana, and properly align your body to begin a daily routine that will provide you with a calm focus while improving your strength, flexibility, balance, and posture. A handy guide lets you know which muscles are the main targets of each asana, each asana’s benefits and cautions, and tips on perfecting your form. Here you’ll find all the information you need to help you avoid common injuries and become the best yogi you can be!

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Fitness, Reference

160 pages, Paperback

First published June 3, 2014

Reviews

[Camille Baird · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has wonderful pictures, explanations of how to do the pose, which muscles will be strengthened and stretched, how it will affect your body, how easy or difficult it is, cautions and how to perfect your form.
I found it to be extremely helpful in understanding yoga, learning poses, what to do and not do and how it affects my body.
An easy read and good reference book with easy to difficult poses.

[Eve Costarelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a nice companion to your yoga practice. It will heighten your anatomical understanding and how the highlighted muscle groups are affected by each asana. Using both a live model and computer generated one, which has muscles highlighted, this book enlightens the physical, mental and energetic connections to the poses. I really like the computer model's visual musculature and the side boxes that include benefits and contraindications of the effects of the poses and the insight into fostering inner peace throughout the practice. The descriptions are clear and helpful and a special side note, I really appreciated how the model had good eye position in the poses. That is such an important detail for me. A++! This is a very nice anatomy book with a yoga focus.

I highly recommend this book for learning the anatomy of yoga poses. It is well organized and clearly presented.

[Hannah Jane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Because of this book I now know about the side crow pose, which sadly, hasn't come up in my 10 years of exploring classes, videos and books. But rather humorously, this is perfect timing, because I’m just now getting the hang of the regular crow pose. This book also has super easy instructions and two different pictures of each pose (one anatomy, one real-life person). My favorite part, however, was the side panel for each pose, listing both benefits and cautions. There are days when I have small injuries or minor aches and pains from the sports I play and it’s nice to know what yoga poses to stay away from on those days. And in the back of the book are a handful of routines that are easy to modify based on whether the ol' knees can take it that day or not.

[Trudy Rosenberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Liked the pictures showing muscles involved in poses with good explanations! Good for all stages of yoga from beginner to intermediate to advanced

Liked the pictures showing which muscles are involved for all Poses..from beginning to intermediate to advanced..and how long to hold poses!

[Marilyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

clear directions, explanations, diagrams and photos

This book delivers on its title. Just what I wanted as a pictorial demonstration of poses and the musculature used in each, plus sanskrit and english names for each. Good directions for how to do the poses with breath. Thank you!

[Arron Boss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Useful for beginners with higher level options

Seems useful to me, a total beginner in my 50s. The book lays out cautions, benefits, and step-by-step moves with reference photos.

[Anna · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's a very good reference book. I like the tips howto perfect the forms and also the benefits and caution. I'll definitely use it as i get into practicing yoga

[Laurynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love yogaaaa.

[Judith Williams · Rating 2 out of 5]

Pretty Pictures

This book fails to deliver on its promise. There is not enough anatomy and insufficient discussion of adapting poses to accommodate e.g knee problems or shoulder issues.

[Louise Silk · Rating 5 out of 5]

Clear instruction- beautiful drawings showing the use of muscles- a great asset for the serious yogi

[HadiDee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great little book, diagrams really help with the poses.