There are many books on yoga that have been written with the intention of transmitting the knowledge of this ancient practice to anyone who wants to learn it.
The boom that yoga has undergone in recent years has encouraged more and more people to try it and enjoy its benefits.
In an increasingly absorbing and stressful society, it is excellent that there is a practice that at the same time improves your anxiety, reduces stress, improves your health, your concentration and your posture, giving you a state of harmony that you could hardly achieve otherwise. .
But, among so many yoga books out there? Which one to read? To help you, we have selected 10 of the best books on yoga so that you can start practicing now.
Light on yoga
- Author : BKS Iyengar
- Number of pages: 470
- ISBN: 978-8472455955
- Edition year: 2005
Iyengar yoga is one of the most popular styles of yoga today, based on alignment of the body: the head, spine, hips, and feet must be correctly aligned for energy to flow.
It owes its name to its founder, Bellur Krishnamachar Sundararaja Iyengar, one of the greatest internationally recognized teachers. He has been practicing and teaching yoga for over 70 years and is one of the first to bring the discipline to the West.
This particular method has three essential characteristics:
- Intensity : a total commitment, both physical and mental, is necessary
- Technique : Each pose must be performed with proper form.
- Sequence : The order in which you move from one pose to another is important for achieving different effects on the body.
Light on Yoga is an ideal book for beginners of any age, gender, and physical condition. Full of precise instructions on how to perform more than 200 reinforced postures with illustrations and photos.
The anatomy of yoga
- Author : Leslie Kaminow and Amy Matthews
- Number of pages: 284
- ISBN: 978-8479029340
- Edition year: 2018
One of the best-selling yoga books in the world, with more than 300,000 copies spread across different countries. It is an authentic manual of yoga asanas, with information on everything related to the different postures.
Leslie Kaminow and Amy Matthews are two internationally recognized teachers for their work on anatomy, breathing, and bodywork. Two of the best yoga experts today.
With this book they have achieved the definitive reference work, useful whether you are starting out or if you have been practicing yoga for years, even being an excellent resource for doctors and physical therapists.
In the latest edition of The Anatomy of Yoga, more illustrations, information, and explanations have been added that will allow the reader to delve into the principles of this practice.
Keys of Yoga
- Author : Danilo Hernandez
- Number of pages: 376
- ISBN: 978-8487403279
- Edition year: 2017
If you’ve been practicing yoga for a while and want to go a step further, Yoga Keys is the book you need. It is a basic book to learn the keys to this discipline, both theoretical and practical.
It is an excellent learning guide that addresses the theoretical foundations of yoga in a simple and entertaining way. In practice, he explains the main postures such as energy keys -Bandhas-, gestures and psychic attitudes -mudras- and breathing techniques -Pranayama-.
Danilo Hernandez Swami Digambarananda Saraswati, is a Spanish yoga teacher and practitioner since he began self-taught when he was only 16 years old.
Dedicated to teaching yoga since 1975, he obtained his knowledge in India from his teachers Swami Satyananda and Swami Niranjanananda. He was appointed as a Yogacharya -yoga teacher- by the International Yoga Fellowship Movement and the Bihar School of Yoga in 1993.
Claves del Yoga is a good way to get even more involved with this discipline at the hands of a rigorous, objective and very complete book.
The strength of Ashtanga yoga
- Author : Kino McGregor
- Number of pages: 280
- ISBN: 978-8416579037
- Edition year: 2016
The author Kino McGregor is one of the best Ashtanga Yoga teachers in the world. She is a disciple of Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, the creator of the vinyasa style of yoga, known throughout the world as Ashtanga Yoga.
Being the youngest person to receive authorization to teach this style at only 29 years of age, he explains the bases of it, based on the connection that exists between breathing, posture and gaze.
It begins with a short introduction to what yoga is and its history, going through the eight branches of the discipline and then delving into the history of Ashtanga, its principles, foundations and origin.
Each of the postures shown in the book is explained in detail, from the first series to the last, accompanied by illustrations to give the reader a visual aid and to achieve the movements and positions to perfection.
A basic book to delve into the vinyasa style and start the method at home.
The wisdom of Yoga
- Author : Stephen Cope
- Number of pages: 382
- ISBN: 978-8484452218
- Edition year: 2009
The great dissemination of Yoga in recent years has brought enormous benefits to many people, both for their physical and mental health. But such expansion has also meant excessive commercialization that has diluted the spiritual teachings of Yoga.
Because of this, many people believe that yoga is just a sequence of movements, postures, and breathing to keep the body healthy. Like it’s Pilates.
But nothing could be further from the truth, although it is true that practicing yoga gives you a series of physical benefits, it is only part of a discipline that has been practiced for millennia and has an ancestral and spiritual basis.
What are the causes for which we suffer? How can we get happiness? How many things could we achieve if our mind worked at its maximum potential?
All these questions and more are collected in this work written by Stephen Cope, psychotherapist, professor at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, in Lenox, Massachusetts (USA) and one of the most renowned experts in this art in the West. .
Autobiography of a Yogi
- Author : Paramahansa Yogananda
- Number of pages: 574
- ISBN: 978-8493729073
- Edition year: 2016
We are facing the main book of the man in charge of bringing the culture and teaching of yoga to the West . Yogananda was a kind of Hindu monk, yogi and guru -authentic- who knew how to introduce many people to the teachings of meditation and particularly his style, Kriya Yoga.
In the work he tells us about his life, his beliefs and his way of seeing the world, a universal religion that could unite people of all cultures, religions and lifestyles. A way of living in peace and harmony.
He also tells us a little about the history of his teacher, Sri Yukteswar, and the teachers who came before him. Demonstrating a very interesting chain of spirituality to know.
Highly recommended book for anyone interested in Yoga and the history behind it. With your reading you can learn about Hindu culture, spirituality, the union between your spirit and a superior essence.
And to give you an idea of ​​its importance, it was considered one of the 100 most important books of the 20th century by the Harper Collins publishing house, it was given as a gift at the funeral of the great Steve Jobs on his orders, and nothing more and none other than Mahatma Gandhi was a disciple of Yogananda.
The tradition of yoga
- Author : Georg Feuerstein
- Number of pages: 880
- ISBN: 978-8425427435
- Edition year: 2013
We go from practice to theory with the book written by one of the greatest Yoga authorities. An excellent work that serves as both a guide and an essay on the phenomenon that this discipline has brought to the world and the great meaning behind it.
In The Yoga Tradition, Georg Feuerstein talks about all the aspects that involve yoga: the spiritual, philosophical, cultural, historical, psychological and practical, starting from its history, from the paths it has traveled to the present day.
A book that serves as a reference both for newbies who are starting out and for teachers who disseminate this practice. It is a wonderful contribution of the studies of the Hindu culture for the western peoples.
Excellent for people who want to know more about the origin of yoga and what is the meaning and purpose of it.
Yoga, pregnancy and birth
- Author : Janet Balaskas
- Number of pages: 254
- ISBN: 978-8472453586
- Edition year: 1996
Now let’s look at yoga from a different perspective. Practicing yoga is one of the best ways for a woman to maintain health before, during and after pregnancy.
It is an excellent guide on how to use this discipline during pregnancy. Written in a clear and practical way, with illustrations that reinforce reading, it is very useful to help women adapt to internal and external changes.
Thanks to the excellent work of Janet Balaskas, this beautiful act of nature will be seen in a more spiritual way, of the deep cosmic energies that affect every moment of our lives and how to use it to our advantage.
With the help of this book, a pregnant woman or a woman who has just had the joy of being a mother, will be able to get in touch with herself and the practice of yoga, breathing, body and mind, will make her enter a state Harmony with your child.
The yoga tree
- Author : BKS Iyengar
- Number of pages: 238
- ISBN: 978-8472454132
- Edition year: 2000
Another inclusion of the great BKS Iyengar with one of his most popular works where he explains in a simple, entertaining and clear way what he understands as Yoga, its most fundamental aspects and the deep meaning of the practice.
Using a beautiful metaphor, using the structure of a tree to compare yoga with its possibilities. The first part of the book is used to explain how yoga is for everyone, that it can be used and practiced by anyone regardless of their lifestyle.
In the second segment, he explains each of the parts of the yoga tree, uniting and incorporating the practice of discipline to the execution of the asanas and these to aspects of life.
After explaining the tree of yoga, Iyengar warns us about the abuse of yoga and the correct way to practice and teach it. In this part he makes it very clear that experience and knowledge count, and that if you want to teach you must first know , know very well.
An excellent book that goes into depth in the teaching, learning and experimentation of a wonderful art, a discipline that seeks the integration of body and mind, mind and spirit. Of harmony with the universe.
Teaching yoga
- Author : Mark Stephens
- Number of pages: 504
- ISBN: 978-8416233199
- Edition year: 2014
For the author, a good teacher should always listen to his students, respect them and encourage them to trust themselves and their personal practice. That is the spirit that he instills with his book From him The teaching of yoga, one of the most complete guides on the discipline.
Although it can be read by anyone interested in the subject, it is largely aimed at yoga teachers and trainers. In the work he explains the processes that a person must follow to become a professional in the discipline.
It covers aspects of the history and philosophy of yoga, anatomy, meditation techniques and the fundamentals behind the sequences in the execution of the 108 asanas, supported by more than 200 illustrations.
The teaching of yoga could easily be considered a yoga bible , which can be consulted at any time.