Customer Reviews

Yoga: Awakening the Inner Body

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I am so grateful for this book. Donald is based in Berkeley, CA, at his studio, the Yoga Room and only occasionally makes it to the East Coast, where I live. This book is the next best thing to taking class with this extraordinary teacher. Donald was among the first of the current generation of teachers in the Iyengar Tradition to go to India and study with the Master. His sweet and uplifting nature permeates his style of teaching. His teachings are uncompromisingly sophisticated, but come from a place of enthusiasm and playfulness. He gives instruction designed to help you understand where your body fits in the great range of human variety and to help you work in such a way as to make the poses benefit your body and your situation. The same is true for his book.

Arranged in two sections, the first gives detailed instruction on Head Stand and Shoulder Stand, the two cornerstones of the Iyengar tradition, with their profound healing and meditative effects. In both poses he looks at the basic arrangement of the body and talks about how individuals may vary and what should be done in order to allow for those variations. He gives numerous prop modifications for the reader to adjust the poses to their bodies so that they may work in them safely and efficiently. For those who are not ready for the pose, he also provides alternative that, over time, will prepare the reader for the main pose itself.

In the second section he presents six different practice sequences addressing specific parts of the trunk and upper body. (He is hoping to follow this book up with a second volume dealing with the lower body.) The level of detail in these practices is remarkable. A basic sequence is presented for each which, depending on your familiarity with the poses, could take between an hour and 90 minutes to complete. He also provides many different related poses to flesh out each practice. The result is a vast number of variations possible with each chapter, depending on which kinds of poses the reader might wish to focus on. There is enough material here to keep even the most advanced practitioner busy for many, many months.

The most impressive aspect of this book is the level of detail. The market is riddled with introductory and beginner books. Even in the case of "Light on Yoga," by B. K. S. Iyengar, though it may feature extremely advanced poses, the actual instruction of how to work with the poses is minimal in comparison with Donald's book. I've only been using the book for a few weeks and I find that my understanding has deepened and my ability to perform the poses has improved immensely. This is an excellent and essential addition to anyone's yoga library.

This is a wonderful reference book. It is rich in detail, stressing not only verbally how to set up and execute the poses, but also it provides extensive visual imagery showing the proper alignment of the body. Several of the drawings look like they were lifted right out of "Gray's Anatomy" in order to make very clear how the body is impacted by specific movements. The prose, the photographs and the drawings are all connected in such a way as to give the reader a great deal of practical,down to earth advice, at once scholarly and accessible. The book is also aesthetically beautiful, a work that is both art and craft.

I've been puttering around with Moyer's book for a few sessions. Its rich material - alot of somatic food and food for thought. I'm a comparative neophyte but I know enough to know that this is how I want to practice yoga - with deep awareness, from the inside. This is the best of the Iyengar tradition - innovative, complex, deeply satisfying.

This is really a great book for students with some background in yoga. Each chapter begins with a discussion of the part(s) of the body that will be the focus of the chapter and then moves you through asana with a focus on exploring the topic more fully. I am what I would call an "advanced beginner" with about 3 years of yoga (2 years of Iyengar) experience and I really can say this approach has put my practice into another level. That is, it has moved me past just thinking about the current asana or a "canned" sequence to a point where I can start really understanding how things carry through various asana (or put another way, how the different asana are each windows to many themes). I have only had the book a few weeks, but have already read several of the chapters multiple times.

My only cavaet would be that a real beginner is likely to find this approach overwhelming. For those individuals, I would suggest some of Judith Lasater's books (I found her 30 poses for beginners useful and still refer back to it after most classes).

I discovered the joys of yoga a little over a year ago - which is to say that although I adore all there is involving yoga - poses, the breathing, the meditation, I am not an "old pro". When I started reading Yoga, Awakening the Inner Body, I got very excited. You don't have to be able to do headstands to put the techniques and suggestions offered in this book to good use.

First off, I have to say that this is a beautiful book. For anyone who adores the physical beauty of yoga, you will want to just go through all the pages first to take a look at all the poses that are considered part of the yoga practice. There are some beautiful pictures. Once this was completed, I started reading the preface which explains in detail the proper way to read and use the book. I must admit that this book is broken down in sections that were a little difficult to understand at first, so reading the preface is important.

Part 1 is entitled Finding Inner Balance and takes a detailed look at Salamba Sirsasana and Salamba Sarvangasana and the differences between them. They also carefully detail the props you will need when doing the poses and also outlines the areas in which you need to use caution.
This section was a tad confusing to me as I am still not all that well versed on the differences between the various schools of yoga, however, once I started reading the description of each pose (with the details about proper alignment and how to do the pose effectively) it was much clearer. There are some great pictures of each pose - which helps in making sure that you are practicing the pose correctly and effectively. I also appreciated the "variation" section which was offered for many of the poses. This book also offers a second section with detailed yoga poses for particular parts of the body what you may wish to work.
I must admit that I was not able to do all of the poses in the book. However, I was certainly capable of doing approximaly 80% of these. My yoga teacher, who is much more advanced, pretty well managed to do all of the poses. I would say that this book is best suited for intermediate to advanced yoga fans. I don't think that beginners will feel comfortable with most of these poses. This is a very comprehensive book and I loved it. I am still using it as a reference for some of my favorite poses, but it is also a beautiful coffee table book. Buy it, buy it and then enjoy it.