Customer Reviews

Anatomy and Asana: Preventing Yoga Injuries

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

As a yoga instructor, I am always looking for books to assist my growth as a teacher. Anatomy can be a challenging aspect of teaching yoga - until now. "Anatomy and Asana: Preventing Yoga Injuries" by Susi Hately Aldous is a very accessible anatomy book for yoga instructors and practitioners alike. Unlike other similar books, which tend to be dry, boring reading, this book is written in an easy to understand fashion with clear illustrations. I felt more comfortable with my understanding of anatomy and how it relates to yoga after reading this book. It will be a very useful companion to my other anatomy books - and most likely, it will be the main one I turn to.

If your are conducting Yoga Asana training of any style consider this for one of your textbooks. If you teach Asana of any style this book is a must read. If you own a studio this should be required reading for every teacher before they are allowed to do hands-on corrections (alignments) in your studio. If you are a student you should consider buying this as a helpful guide for your own practise.

Well presented, readable, good illustrations, --highly recommended. Complements Coulters classic Anatomy and Hatha Yoga.

A book on injury prevention is definitely needed in the yoga community. Unfortunately, this book falls short. I think it has potential and a second edition would be great. However, the first 46 pages should be condensed in to about 5-10, fluff in general should be limited, and the diagrams in the asana section should be more informative.

Repetitively on each page in the asana section the author refers to muscle groups and provides a beautifully drawn diagram with too few good, useful labels. This style left me frustrated and confused. In general, it is a gorgeous book, but absolutely tedious at times.

Anatomy and Asana is quite an accomplishment. I took a university course on yoga, and recommended that this text be added to the required reading. Any serious student of yoga, and all instructors, should have this book as a resource. The information is clearly and concisely presented, with illustrations and brief meditative quotes throughout. I agree with the reader below that it complements Coulter's much larger book "The Anatomy of Hatha Yoga" well, and would add, that if you found his text daunting, start here. What makes "Anatomy and Asana" more accessible is that it was created to accompany a live workshop, and has more of a "workbook/presentation" feel. That said, it's amazing how much information is on these pages. You will refer to this yoga resource for years to come.

In the wake of hot power yoga classes being marketed to novices and weekend-certified yoga instructors, a quick anatomy of asana lesson via a simple read is a welcome tool! I don't believe that Susi is trying to compete with the more comprehensive anatomy texts available. I think she is simply trying to make important information accessible to all people in a practical manner. A beautifully, however simplistically, designed book is manageable and not intimidating for the average user. I applaud Susi's efforts and enjoy her work. --Dana Edison, author and creator of Dana Edison's Yoga Is Not One Size Fits All book and audio instruction series.

I am very disappointed in the book The book is written poorly, very dry and expensive for what you get. It really isn't a good reference guide there is no glossary or chapter listing. The best information I have on Anatomy is the DVD by Paul Grilley Anatomy for Yoga.

I was glad that this book was technical enough to help the serious yoga teacher. The drawing made it easy for me to learn. The spiral binding made it easy to use while watching students or myself. The author is clearly incredibly knowledgeable. The pictures and the format made the book fun to look at for a visual learner.

This comprehensive text is dense with information. Although only a few pages, the book is chock full of insightful tips on yoga practice. Aldous uses a multi-sensory approach that I found practical and enlightening. I recommend it for the practioner who needs to feed the brain a bit more information while struggling with "impossible" postures. The manual has a spiral binding for easy use while practicing asanas.

I'm heading up to Kripalu Yoga Center for a monthlong teacher training this summer. This is one of the texts we'll be using. It's layout, design, colors and most importantly, content, are superb! Two minutes after showing it to my yoga teacher she went online to Amazon and ordered a copy for herself.

Yoga anatomy books can put one to sleep. NOT THIS BOOK. It is practical and helpful. Definitely worth purchasing, reading, and keeping on one's reference shelf.