Yoga: The Iyengar Way: The New Definitive Illustrated Guide

Wonderful yoga book. Easy to understand.

I have been studying Iyengar yoga for some time, but never really paid attention to the names of the poses. Now I am studying with instructors who use the Sanskrit names for the asanas. I had to do something; boy, am I fortunate this book was available. I have it right by my yoga mat at home. It beats the heck out of stick figures, and it's well-written and very easy to understand. Best of all, the photographs are of real people, not skinny Yoga Magazine cover models. It's real, it's explanatory, and it's the only book you really need your first few years as an Iyengar (or any other yoga) student. I also bought "Light on Yoga" to round out my understanding of Iyengar himself and his philosophy and methods. Those two books gave me the tools I needed to improve and understand my yoga practice better. Beyond these two books, a trip to India is the only other thing you'll need!

So glad this book is still in print! In my view it is one of the best texts on yoga around. Beautifully illustrated, it explains the postures in terms of energetic directions and how the muscles are working to be able to work deeply and safely whatever your level.

Taking my first college yoga course and so far I'm hooked! This book is extremely helpful both in and out of the classroom. It's compact enough to carry with you in a tote, not bulky at all. The book itself has a great array of pictures with detailed pictographs imbedded showing step by step processes to guide you. The descriptions are effective and very conscience, nicely gets straight to the point. I definitely recommend this book for anyone, I believe newbies and even those with a bit more experience can benefit from this text. Even if you are aware of the moves and have a foundation, this text can definitely serve to avoid injury or serve as a good read for developing a great understanding of this long lasting practice!

This is an excellent book for home practice of yoga, provided you have moderate experience through classes and previous home study. The photos and explanations of asanas are very clear, though the practitioner may not possess the same degree of flexibility as the models. The asanas cover a reasonable range of difficulty: there's some challenge, but a diligent student would have hopes of learning all of them. The scattered "reflections" are extremely helpful. The textual explanation of underlying yoga principles, though good, could be expanded somewhat, but one can't expect everything in a book this size.Comparing with Iyengar's "Light on Yoga", the present book is shorter, more user-friendly, has a more modern look, contains fewer asanas, and has less (but more easily readable) discussions of yoga principles. Serious students will likely purchase both in the long run, but the present book is a better first buy.

Great information and probably this is a classic of Iyengar yoga but when you look at the sequences suggested for beginners are way above what a very beginner can truly do. Additionally, this books really need to start proposing modifications and addressing the fact that not everyone can look as perfect as the models (for goodness sake, even her braid is aligned!).

I can see why my yoga teacher trainer pick out this book to be required reading. It is very well assembled with great picture of well respected Yogi's. The form of the positions leave nothing to be desired. The descriptions of the positions and the subtleties of what the pose requires was well written. It isn't unusual for me to use the same phrasing as they do in the book because some cues can't be better said. Perhaps I'll out grow this book, but as a beginning teacher, I learned a lot from it. I love the amount of detail that the book gives because there is always more that you can accomplish in any Yoga pose, and you must work at the level of the students you're teaching and remind them of things that may be automatic for you.

Finally, Indians are teaching and demonstrating Yoga for a change :)Beautiful photos, very easy to follow, nice to flip and try new postures. It's detailed enough, but not overly complicated--great for beginner to intermediate.