30 Essential Yoga Poses: For Beginning Students and Their Teachers

by Judith Hanson Lasater

A yoga teacher and student of B.K.S. Iyengar offers guidance on how to develop a yoga practice—from poses and sequencing to creating targeted routines for pain relief, relaxation, and more

Judith Hanson Lasater draws on her wealth of yoga practice and teaching experience, as well as her training as a physical therapist, to present this comprehensive resource for beginning students and their teachers. 

Several pages are devoted to each of the yoga poses or asana, including photos and charts, introductory steps and variations, benefits, which props to use, and more. Teachers will find guidance on adjustments for beginners learning new poses as well as how to help students more fully realize the pose. Lasater also helps practitioners with notes on how to go inward and what to explore when holding each pose. 

You’ll also learn how to put poses together in sequences, and Lasater provides several to get you started. You’ll find quick sequences for busy days, for areas of tightness such as the lower back or the hamstrings, and even routines to remedy fatigue, or foster relaxation, or just for strength and balance. Sequences are presented with photographic charts for easy visual reference, as well as a “Mantra for Daily Practice". A glossary of anatomical terms and resources for further study are also included.

Genres: Reference, Nonfiction, Health, Self Help

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2003

Reviews

[Nichole]

I have tried to reference this book over and over but I’ve learned I personally can’t do yoga asana from a book. I much prefer reading about the philosophy of yoga such as in the book Living Your Yoga, and using the down dog app or a YouTube video or attending a class in person for asana instruction.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful book with good nuts and bolts of yoga poses, how to get into them and a lot of variations.

[Leah · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great overall for reference. Breaks down the most popular poses and offers decent variations.

[Liz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Essential reading for the yoga teacher or practitioner. The text is extremely thorough and explains clearly the benefits, cautions and variations of the pose. My one critique is that while the accompanying photos show variations and modifications and props being used to support the postures, the poses are generally depicted in their fullest expression by an extremely advanced practitioner with an extremely lean, fit body. As a yoga teacher in training, it would be helpful to me to see these full expressions of essential poses alongside photos of yogis with more diverse body types demonstrating available expressions of the poses that I am more likely to see in my students so I can cue any yogi to safely access the benefits of the poses.

[Isabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book is a treasure. will be reviewing it on my yoga blog.

[Jacy · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a joy! As always, Judith Hanson Lasater is inspiring, refreshing, and on point. Her "Especially for Teachers" sections were helpful for me as a yoga teacher--and make me long for the pre-COVID-19 days when touch and adjustments were a big part of the yoga toolkit. I would give it 5 stars except there were some typos (in the e-book) that made it occasionally difficult to follow and I disagreed with her interpretation/instruction of a few poses. The sequences she offers are wonderful and the intentions/themes are very helpful to me as a teacher. JHL is truly a teacher of teachers.

[Lori · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the aspects I appreciate about yoga is its focus on body alignment, which is why I love this book from 1990. It provides full-page photos of the 30 basic yoga poses, accompanied by detailed explanations. I also enjoy that the author offers various sequences that target specific body parts and needs.

Over the years, yoga has significantly improved my balance, joint health, flexibility, and muscle strength. I always feel more relaxed and centered after completing a session, and I continue to discover new benefits with every practice.

[Jessi Waugh · Rating 4 out of 5]

A rare yoga book directed at least partially at teachers, with useful cues and mind-body connections, and good photos. Rarely will you find the basic poses so well described that you could spend a day fine-tuning each just from the text. However, I found the sequences hard to follow, as they didn't seem to move easily from pose to pose, but I wouldn't have used them anyways.

[Johnny Pea · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author is writing about something she has very limited knowledge on. She isn't even capable of doing the pose on the front cover yet she tries to sell it to you.

[AvidReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good reference for teaching beginners. Unfortunately I can not seem to comprehend the sequencing logic in the last part.

[Emily Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

30 Essential Poses was recommended to me by my yoga instructor before I left for Peace Corps, as a way of building my own personal practice while in service. Lasater studied under Iyengar, and you can see that influence both in her spiritual approach to yoga, and in her asana instructions. She writes with a great clarity, addressing alignment and modifications. It is a book slanted towards beginners, so she offers a lot of modifications and variations with a broad variety of props. Reading the sections for teachers is helpful in correcting your own poses during personal practice. Along with an in-depth profile on each of the 30 poses, she also includes about a dozen different sequences (7 different daily practices and a handful of sequences targeting body parts/needs). Lasater has a focus on restorative practice, which has been great in tempering my background in power ashtanga/vinyasa. The pictures are very clear, even on the Kindle.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've only just started using this book; already it is a wonderful reference. Lasater goes through 30 poses, all with modifications then provides the readers with several series - daily, various moods, various body parts, various lengths. Each series contains the photograph of the pose and the reference to its description. Easy to follow with just enough information to inspire the yoga practitioner without being overwhelming.

[Melinda · Rating 3 out of 5]

The images of the poses were big and I felt like I had a better since of how to do the poses. The descriptions seemed easy and straightforward. Definitely a reference book I would keep to refresh my understanding of poses as a student and a teacher.

[Arye · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great beginner book. I had to buy it for my yoga teacher training. The explanations and pictures made it easy to learn the poses and generate ideas for sequencing. I would recommend this book for any teacher or beginner.

[Kimberly K · Rating 3 out of 5]

Informative book with photographs of Yoga postures. The photos mirror the descriptions... which I found a little silly and sometimes confusing.

[Del · Rating 3 out of 5]

My favorite yoga poses book. I'm too cheap to continue going to classes and this book explains everything in terms I can understand.

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's just to hard to do Yoga from a book.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful for yoga practitioners and incredibly useful for teachers. A comprehensive must-have for any yoga library; Lasater, as usual, does not disappoint.

[Larissa Lyons · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid book I find myself referring to time and again. Her descriptions on how to do the poses, what muscles to engage etc., are some of the best I've read.

[Nita]

Miles' momma! So far this is great. Spent 90 minutes with this book, my yoga mat, a water bottle, and my grotesquely-dimpled aging-lady ass today and I feel fantastic.

[Liz Whiston-Dean · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of my favorites. Excellent instruction and beautiful photographs.

[Julie · Rating 4 out of 5]

great resource and required reading for my certification

[Diane Ives]

very good resource

[Jane · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great reference book complete with sequences for various purposes.

[Lorinda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book for tips on poses.

[Vrinda Kumar]

A wonderful tool for anyone who practices or teaches yoga. The intelligent and insightful cues help to get the best in you in each asana.