Customer Reviews

The Martial Artist's Book of Yoga: Improve Flexibility, Balance and Strength for Higher Kicks, Faster Strikes, Smoother Throws, Safer Falls, and Stronger Stances

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

 

 

While I'm not convinced by these materials that yoga was the genesis of all martial arts, the author does make a compelling case that yoga techniques can complement martial training. The routines described herein can help improve body control, balance, flexibility, and strength. Not surprising since many of these techniques are already found in most traditional martial arts training.

There's really nothing earth shattering in here, but there is some good stuff that can help you become a better martial artist if you add it to your daily routine. It's pretty well written and easy to follow, an interesting and creative blending of concepts not generally associated with each other. On the other hand, I certainly would not consider it a "must read" by any means.

Lawrence Kane

Author of Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction

Lily Chou is uniquely qualified to give us a guide to yoga specifically for martial arts. Her ten years of experience include cross training in Yongmudo, Taekwondo and over four years in Hatha yoga, coupled with her skills in editing numerous health and fitness books and participation in the UC Martial Arts Program is an exceptional combination for an author. Lily has divided her book not by the typical yoga poses, but by their application to specific martial arts skills. Thus, we find chapters on grappling and throws with the poses she and her co-author Kathe Rothacher (a yoga practitioner for over 30 years) see as most appropriate. The book is well illustrated with photographs of every position (including martial arts examples) and cross-referenced to other pertinent sections so that the reader may quickly move back and forth from the benefits of yoga to the details of each pose. While hardcore yoga practitioners may find the book too elementary, this is exactly the kind of guide practicing martial artists need to get them motivated to attempt something that is both beneficial and out of our comfort zone.

The Martial Artist Book of Yoga is one of the best books on yoga that I have found. It is a great way to really learn some of the yoga terms and how to perform them without an instructor. I've used it for a couple of weeks and have noticed vast improvement in my balance and I do not feel as tight when I exercise. The book does a great job of explaining each pose, what it stands for in yoga terms, and it helps in conditioning for Martial Arts. An excellent book for anyone looking to get into yoga or trained Martial artist trying to get an edge.

I'm a martial artist of 25 years and was first introduced to yoga after a martial arts injury. Coming to yoga from martial arts, I noticed how yoga slowed me down and taught me to observe my body - what it was doing, how it worked. And my wife is a certified yoga teacher, so I needed no convincing of the value of yoga in support of martial arts training. This book is excellent on several levels. As a stand alone yoga book it's comprehensive - there are enough yoga poses to spend a lifetime learning and mastering. I really liked the lack of dogma and preaching that is present in so many yoga and martial arts books. The poses are explained just enough to allow you to get into them, and then it's explained how the various poses apply to certain martial arts techniques. It's inspiring and fun. And the photography in this book is outstanding. I loved the frozen photos of the martial artists grappling with each other, occupying an amazing array of positions, locked up with each other or frozen in mid air in a fall - they're mesmerizing and offer a unique look at the intimacy between those who practice these arts with each other.

The yoga poses are inspirational and helpful, but I get the feeling that martial arts are Lily's real love. Taking her advice, I used Half-Moon pose and Warrior III to help improve the range of my sidekick, and they did just that. In fact, my favorite "pose" in the whole book, is a picture of Lily doing a sidekick on page 15 - legs at 90 degrees, her kicking foot - a perfect knife edge, the upper body focused, yet relaxed. I've posted this picture in my practice room and consider it my archetype for the perfect sidekick.

This book will always be in my library - 5 stars for conciseness, photography and capturing the spirit of these arts.

This is a good, but not great explanation of how yoga benefits a martial artist. Since a martial artist is about power, speed, balance, a bit more explanation of the kinetics would have been appreciated.

I've been studying karate for a while and yoga for longer, I know my personal yoga practice complements my karate. However, I don't know all the kinesthetics for why.

I am going to keep looking for a book that explains the why to me so that I can explain the why to my fellow karatekas.