Customer Reviews

The Complete Yoga Book: " Yoga of Breathing " , " Yoga of Posture " , " Yoga of Meditation " (A Rider Book)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book has helped me begin a lifetime of Yoga practice. Not to follow the trend (if there is one) but for my health, for I suffer from migraines caused by stress and anxiety. And to think I am only 20 years old, and feel like I am 40. So far my health has changed for the better. I didn't have a clue about Yoga until I read the book, and now I feel like a smarty-pants. Only one complaint about this book...not enough pictures.

This book contains just about everything you'll ever need to know. the author has done exhaustive research, and it pays off. the descriptions are very clear for the most part, although the illustrations could stand some reworking. a really excellent book for beginners, but with lots of new information for the more advanced, too. a really highly recommended manual!

and was used as part of the required reading and foundation of a yoga fitness instructor certification that I took. As a group fitness instructor and instructor trainer, I found the information provided by James Hewitt to be a comprehensive background into the three focus areas of yoga and the information provided was very helpful during class with my students. There were only two drawbacks to this introductory book in my point of view. One was the quality of the illustrations which reminded me of something that had been photocopied and the second was that while interesting, I will say most of the Yoga of Meditation section's information was very foreign in concept to grasp.Perhaps it designed that way on purpose to provide a spark of interest in the reader to pursue further indepth study. Overall, an excellent primer into Yoga theory and practice.

As a newby to yoga one can get lost in the large aray of yoga books available. The complete yoga book is just that "complete". From someone who started out with little knowledge of this art i found the book very easy to read, very informative and very easy to employ the techniques. I would highly recomend this book for one to recieve a thorough grounding in the art that is Yoga.

I purchased this book several years ago and thumbed thru it a few times but this morning I really got value out of it. Today I really focused and closely read this book and learned so much.

I was not feeling too great and decided I wanted to stretch but not do anything strenuous so I chose the "warm ups" from this book and did them one by one.

I did each one slowly, and mindfully, trying to breathe correctly. Most of the postures were very unique...postures that I could only find in this book.

I found them to be very fun/interesting to do AND I felt sublime at the end.

I really had a very nice, slow, mindful yoga practice using this book and only practicing a small fraction of the poses. I cannot wait to try more "warm up" poses and venture into the other main poses.

The book is full of information on all aspects of yoga...from meditation, to karma, to pranayama.

Today I learned all about the "bandas" and how they are beneficial for the nerves, internal organs, circulation, and digestive fire. No book explained it to me before as well as this one. Now I understand what the purpose of this exercise is and want to practice it several times a week.

This is an excellent complete yoga books. It has tons of postures (many you wont' see in other books) as well as every variation. Information on meditation, breathing, karma, diet, etc.

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It's October 2010 and I want to add to this review. I pick up this book from time to time and I did so today with excellent results. I realized what I love about this book. I love the 400 postures, and the details on how to do them. Every time I open up the book I come across postures/stretches I have never seen before. Often they are very simple but also very effective. Like today, I did the "door" posture...it looked like nothing on paper but when I did it it stretched my arms in a wonderful way. It will be a posture I will do a lot of in the future. I don't think I have learned so many "all over body postures" as I have from this book.

Plus, even though there are limited illustrations...I really enjoy reading it. I like the descriptions of each posture and figuring out what the posture is, is kind of fun, like a puzzle. Often when I take the time to do it...I am rewarded with a great and new posture I never knew about before. Like today...when I learned "the door" posture and it felt wonderful.

I love exercise DVD's, however, there is something to be said for picking your own practice as you go along. Books allow you to do that. You can choose whatever postures you want and hold them for as long as you want.

My copy is totally dog eared. It's a worthwhile addition to your yoga library. I am sure I will discover more and more with this book as I go along.

I don't understand why this book isn't more popular. Perhaps it's the title, not sexy enough? Perhaps it covers too many areas of yoga? I can't figure it out. But this is a scholarly, dispassionately written, and, as the title suggests, complete book about the wild and wonderful world of yoga. James Hewitt does a marvelous job of covering EVERYTHING yoga. Okay, maybe it could be easier to navigate with a more comprehensive index, but that's quibbling. This is a great book, written by someone who clearly knows his yoga. It should be on every serious yoga-doers book shelf.

At our Yoga studio we have hundreds of books and videos. This book is referenced by every teacher on our staff. This is one of the top ten Yoga books I have ever read.

This is not my first purchase of this book. I bought a soft cover about 20 years ago and it died from a broken spine. It is the most complete book on Yoga that I have found. As I age, I tend more now to the exercises to offset aging impediments and the breathing and meditation sections are, in my opinion, without peer. I recommend this book to anyone that wishes to push the envelope. Thank you for the opportunity to express my support for this book.

Like the other reviewers, I think this is an amazing book, with an exhaustive amount of information. However, for people new to Yoga, or just looking for some routines to try, I believe this book can be a bit intimidating and confusing.

The book, as indicated, is divided into sections on breathing, postures and meditation. The prose is fairly dry, and and reads more like an encyclopedia of techniques than a Yoga manual. I also find the division of poses into Group B, and Group A, kind of cumbersome and confusing. There are Group A reclining postures, standing, kneeling, sitting, etc, then the same divisions into more advanced Group B postures. At the end of each section, there is a brief section on designing a program, based on a numerical system assigned to the poses. If you want to mix postures from the two groups, you're kind of on your own as to how to mix them and progress. I think this would be a pretty confusing and difficult format for someone new to yoga to depend upon to design his or her own program. Ditto with the other sections.

There is also a brief section on which poses might help different maladies, but again, these aren't put into any kind of balanced program, so you'd be on your own as to how to incorporate them.

With all this, I use is as a reference book for poses and their benefits, and to put new ideas into programs I already do. But I think of it as more of a "dictionary", or "encyclopedia" of Yoga, as opposed to an instruction manual. A beginner, or even an experienced intermediate practicioner, would find they realistically need a fraction of this information, and in the format it's presented, I find it kind of difficult to navigate. It's a great book if you're willing to put in a lot of time and effort, but for someone just looking for the basics, and a bit beyond, with some good routines, this book would be a bit of overkill.

The book is informative and contains practically everything needed for anyone who is interested in beginning yoga.