From the category archives:

books

Ashtanga Yoga First Series by David Swenson

June 29, 2009

I happily surfed my way into David Swenson’s Ashtanga Yoga First Series video on YouTube the other day. The whole thing! I enjoy reading and practicing with Swenson’s Ashtanga Yoga book, — it’s one of my favorite yoga books of all time — but have never had a chance to preview his yoga videos.

I haven’t watched the entire film yet, but so far I have a very favorable impression of both the video and Swenson as an instructor. That’s pretty much what I expected based on his book. Nothing flashy, but Swenson is very easy to listen to and his knowledge and wisdom of yoga seems to just kind float out of his mouth in a humble, yet authoritative way.

If you enjoy this first clip of instruction on breathing and bandhas, check out the rest of the video here in one convenient location.

Tagged as: ashtanga, david swenson, first series, product review, video, yoga

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Book: Hatha Yoga Pradipika

December 28, 2008

Find out what Hatha yoga is all about by reading the Hatha Yoga Pradipika.

From Wikipedia

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika (Sanskrit: Ha?hayoga Prad?pik?) is a classic Sanskrit manual on Hatha Yoga, written by Svami Svatmarama, a disciple of Svami Gorakhnath. Said to be the oldest surviving text on the Hatha Yoga, it is one of the three classic texts of Hatha Yoga, the other two being the Gheranda Samhita and the Shiva Samhita.

The text was written in 15th century CE. The work is derived from older Sanskrit texts and Svami Svatamarama’s own yogic experiences. Many modern English translations of the text are available.

The book consists of four Upadeshas (chapters) which include information about asanas, pranayama, chakras, kundalini, bandhas, kriyas, shakti, nadis and mudras among other topics. It runs in the line of Hindu yoga (to distinguish from Buddhist and Jain yoga) and is dedicated to Lord Adinath, a name for Lord Shiva (the Hindu god of destruction and renewal), who is alleged to have imparted the secret of Hatha Yoga to his divine consort Parvati.

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Tagged as: asana, books, hatha yoga, yoga

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Book: Illustrated Light on Yoga by BKS Iyengar

December 26, 2008

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Tagged as: books, iyengar, light on yoga, yoga

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Yoga for Men

January 21, 2008

I love books! I especially love free books! If you don’t mind reading books in PDF format, I ran across Yoga for Men by Thomas Claire on Scribd. It’s probably not the top book on my list of places to start reading about yoga, but it’s pretty hard to beat free! In perusing the book, I was surprised at how much information Yoga for Men contained, especially concerning different styles of yoga. While some of the information is targeted towards men, most of the book just deals with yoga subjects that would appeal to anyone interested in yoga. One of my favorite parts of the book was the depth of resources the author provided for further study. If you’re looking for a good list of yoga books to read, I highly recommend checking out the additional resources at the end of each chapter.

There are quite a few books uploaded on Scribd (some yoga related), making it a decent place to look if you want to preview a book. I also found Paramahansa Yogananda’s Autobiography of a Yogi, one of my all-time favorites. If you’ve never read it, you’ll eventually end up buying you’re own copy. I like the Scribd version because I can put it on my Pocket PC for reading late at night in bed. Good stuff!