Customer Reviews

The Key Poses of Yoga: Scientific Keys, Volume II

5 star:		(30)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is fantastic! Have both Vol I & II, and they are invaluable for anyone wanting to learn about yoga, being healthier, or any nursing or med, or physical therapy student.
The book shows which muscles are involved in each yoga move - the ones working, being stretched, or supporting the body weight. For anyone in medicine, this also breaks down movements into steps and illustrates why the patient is in pain with that movement. For anyone in physical therapy, is illustrates why you need to do that excerise & shows how it will help you.
As a student in a yoga teacher training class, this helps me learn how to do the poses correctly and which muscles are working with each pose and how to avoid stressing injuried body parts. Fantastic reading and a great resource!

The book's design of using separate Theory and Practice sections has given me much more insight into how the mind and body work together when practicing Yoga. The author has turned an extremely detailed brain/anatomy lesson into something you really want to keep reading and explore further. The text combined with the illustrations in the Practice section help to tie it all together and get you towards the fullest extension of the pose while gaining knowledge of what is really working in your body at that time. Some mention and great illustration of the deep fibrous tissue are a plus. I would have liked more detail on that aspect but most books don't even address it. All around great guide, you will use it often.

As a massage therapist and a yoga instructor, I was delighted to discover "The Key Poses of Hatha Yoga," along with its partner "The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga." In "Key Poses" several representative yoga poses are described, detailing which muscles are contracting, which are being stretched, and how it affects the limbs and skeletal structure. What makes this book unique, however, are the jaw-dropping illustrations color-coding the contracting muscles in shades of blue and the stretching muscles in red and pink. Not only are they beautiful, but you can clearly see how the muscles balance and interact. These illustrations offer a "right brain approach" to understanding the poses, and serve as a guide for moving deeper into the poses. The practitioner then seeks to activate blue muscles and relax red ones, with the text explaining the actions.

The book also offers a clear explanation of the mechanics of stretching, utilizing the muscle spindle, Golgi tendon organ, and reciprocal inhibition in a practical way to attain deeper stretches in the yoga practice. Although not a beginner's "how to" book, it will deepen the understanding of the intermediate and advanced students with an interest in specific muscle actions. Overall, it is an auspicious pairing of western muscle physiology with eastern mind/body medicine.

My only complaint about these books is the proofreading. I have found numerous errors of the technical sort (misplaced quote marks, etc.) and a few fairly important ones (mislabeled diagram, and the misspelling of "rectus abdominis" throughout). In addition, I would have preferred the Sanskrit rendering of the asana names to allow the reader to pronounce them correctly: "shirshasana" rather than "sirsasana" since they opted not to use the written diacritical marks (quite a few misspellings here too.) But, if you are not particular about such things, I can highly recommend this book as a useful tool, a fabulous reference, and overall eye candy for those interested in either yoga or muscle anatomy--a splendid addition to either your yoga or myology collections.

As a yoga instructor, I am interested in learning the "hows" and "whys" behind the poses I teach in my classes. This book -- volume II behind "The Key Muscles of Hatha Yoga" -- is beautifully and extraordinarily illustrated, and strikes a perfect balance between the scientific and the metaphysical aspects of yoga practice. Well worth the money, it is an essential addition to any instructor's ( or student's) yoga library.

as a traditional karate instructor and yoga student i feel obliged to recommend this work to anyone seeking
a deeper understanding of interactions between muscles, joints, connective tissues and positions..
for me, aside from technical excellence and what you would expect at first glance, there is much more to this
learning tool than meets the eye.. the pelvic diaphragm for eg, and all pelvic floor muscles, which to most
people seem to be a virtual blank, are brought to life here.. not only may you understand the workings of
your muscles, how stretching actually works, and so on, but there may be with this excellent work
actual contact between the muscles and areas of the brain which ennervate them[!]
body images [not just dead diagrams] coded for tensing and relaxing muscles provide useable images for
your brain, ie, at that fundamental level where the brain knows what its body is doing, and which, you,
your intellect and visual centers can share a common body model, and use that brain image to help
identify your muscles etc, in use.. aside from all else its brain training..
aside from details of sanskrit spelling etc covered by others, this is a highly useable tool..
tho not usually easily impressed, i whole heartedly recommend this work to any yoga student
and especially instructor and, to any serious martial artist [okinawa gojuryu karateka]
namaste
carl

If you are a yoga instructor or practitioner, both volumes by Ray Long will help you to understand the interior body of yoga poses better. By remembering and visualizing the extremely clear illustrations during your practice, your poses will become more balanced and symmetrical--this is hugely beneficial. The narrative provides a clear understanding of how the body works--since muscles don't actually "stretch" an understanding of how the muscle spindle provides for what we call "flexibility" or "stiffness" is invaluable (and gives everyone HOPE), especially for those students who don't believe they can be successful yogis unless they can touch their toes. I can't wait for the next volumes to become available. These books are foundational, a "must" for anyone who is serious about practicing yoga. And--if you are interested in Iyengar yoga, they are even more important with their emphasis on alignment. As BKS Iyengar has said, "alignment IS enlightenment". The integration of all the koshas begins with an extremely precise physical alignment, and Long's volumes provide an excellent aid for all of us who struggle with asymmetrical bodies.

Bought this as a gift for my roommate and this is what she says:
"For someone who has limited knowledge of the body and how it works, this is a great and easy book to understand. As a training yoga teacher it helps me understand the 2 sides to the coin--how the spiritual and biomechanical work hand in hand."

This is the second in a series of books by Ray Long MD, and they are just amazing. If you are at all interested in how your body is put together, how it works and why, this is the answer. What I have found for myself is that when I struggle with a pose (why won't this leg go this way??) understanding how my joints and muscles work has made a HUGE difference in my capabilities. When you understand how it's all put together, and work within that system, your body will amaze you. I love how the book starts from the skeleton and adds layers of muscles one at a time so you truly have a picture of how the body is put together.

I love this book! Understanding what Yoga is, how to do the poses, the flow, and the total benefit is one thing. But, to take my practice far beyond that, I bought this book and the companion (Key Muscles of Yoga) and now I really understand and can feel the muscles and skeletal structure that I am working--or not working--as I move. It has made a world of difference in my practice!
I keep this book and its companion open on my coffee table for quick reference every morning. This provides me the opportunity to better visualize my movements and when I find a pose is harder to move into sometimes, I check the book to see which muscle might be the problem.
Many thanks to the author and illustrator for this series!

Is very detailed and very good pictures. I order this because I practice yoga and wanted to know more about anatomy to know more in depth about the yoga practice. I find both books very explicit and detailed.