Customer Reviews

Yoga Mind And Body (DK Living)

5 star:		(25)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am a Yoga Teacher from India and have been practising / teaching Yoga for the past 4 years and I use the Yoga Mind & Body from the Sivananda Yoga Centre as a guide book for my practice / teaching and I find it to be a very extrmely useful guide .Currently I am giving a Morning Yoga Class in a Private T.V Channel as part of its Morning Breakfast show and I use lots of inputs from this book for my T.V Show . It has made an excellent sepraration of the basic / advanced postures and also dealt every posture with very clear step by step instructions on how to come to a posture , how to hold it and how to come out of it and it also deals with the physical , mental and spiritual benefits of each major posture .The most imortant of all is the section of common errors for each major posture that I found it to be very useful .No other book discusses the common errors of the postures as in this book . Apart from postures it also deals with Pranayama , Relaxation,Diet and Meditation . On the whole a very very excellent book .A must for every Yoga Student and Teacher

This book is easily the best beginning book on yoga I've ever seen.

One of the difficulties of finding a good yoga book is that there are so many levels of difficulty at which yoga can be practiced - how do you get one at exactly your level? Plus, you will find some positions easier than others, and be at different levels on different types of positions. And, besides, if a book's good enough to get you to practice a position the right way, then you quickly improve to the point that you need something more.

The appeal of this book is that it can span several levels. It explains things thoroughly, and starts with positionsthat are simple enough for beginners. But it also gives several more advanced variations on each position. This lets you take each position according to your present ability, and gives you somewhere to go as you get better.

I've been studying yoga for several years now, but I still found this book to be an excellent resource for providing me with information on form and alignment. The instructions for each asana (pose) are very clear, and the myraid of illustrations presented are extremely helpful. I particularly liked the illustrations of common mistakes, as these display what NOT to do when performing the poses. This is definitely a book for all levles of yoga students, and beginners would certainly find it useful in building a solid foundation to their yoga practice. However, I would caution beginners and others that some of the yogic customs presented in the final part of the book should probably not be attempted without the supervision of a yoga instructor. But on the whole, this is a well-done guide which provides effective and concise information about the practice of yoga.

If you are like me, you devour information on yoga. I've read both Power Yoga books by Beryl Bender Birch, the Yoga for beginner's and Power Yoga for beginner's series and all the Idiots/KISS/Dummies tomes. Also, those by Baron Baptiste & Rodney Yee, and Hatha Yoga Illustrated. Even with all of those in my collection, this book was very informative. The illustrations are great and I really enjoyed the more advanced versions of common asanas that it presents.
As with most yoga books, it covers nutrition & meditation very thoroughly.
A great addition to your library.

As always, thank you to Amazon.com for the excellent service. And, thank you for reading my review.

Namaste,

I've been doing yoga for 2 years and bought this book 1.5 years ago. It has been a big help to me with finding new asanas to do and how to do them. It also discusses other aspects of Yoga - what yoga means, the various levels, what meditation means and how to meditate. The photos are excellent and show you step by step how to do both beginner asanas as well as advanced postures.

I highly recommend this book not only for a beginner, but also for someone who is familiar with practicing yoga.

I've compared to several other books, and I like this one best. Clearly some of the poses are not for beginners (headstand and shoulderstand are the first asanas after the salutations, and drive home that point nicely!), but many of them work nicely for a beginner, with enough scope to grow that I remain interested.

I particularly like the fact that this covers quite a lot of asana variations. It's not a substitute for classes, or even videos, but it's a worthwhile adjunct to home practice. It's not a book I've been tempted to leave on a shelf; there's always another thing to try (and sometimes succeed at).

This book also touches on other parts of Yogic practice, which I like to see even though I chose this book (from about two dozen others in a good bricks'n'mortar store :-) because I wanted to work first on the physical disciplines of asanas.

I am just a beginner in yoga and this book helped me to understand how I can benefit from yoga in so many ways. Each asana has a description of the physical, mental and pranic benefits. I had no idea I would be helping my digestion system so much! Each asana is described in detail, step-by-step and includes pictures and descriptions of how you could be doing it wrong. Some of the positions in this book were fairly difficult and others were impossible. The great thing about this book is it shows you exercises to bring you to the level where you can do the positions. It also has page holders on both sides so you can have the book stay open while you do the asanas.

This is the best, most appealing Yoga book I've ever seen. It's complete but minimalist, telling only what you need to hear and showing only what you need to see without a lot of junk.

each topic treated at several levels, with lucid explanations, illustrations and beautiful photos. thorough and thoughtful overview of all major aspects of yoga practice, especially proper exercise, proper breathing, proper relaxation, proper diet, and positive thinking & meditation. It is the book I recommend most for beginning and intermediate students in courses I teach as a certified instructor. Om Shantih

This book is more a reference book for the advanced yoga student, or students who learn yoga with instructors. Although it explains poses from easy to difficult, it is too confusing for a beginner who would need a more structured approach. It's a nice book to have in your library, but for learning yoga from scratch you need others. For beginners I recommend Richard Hittleman's "Yoga - 28-day exercise plan".

Although I like the book and its beautiful (hundreds of) pictures that show individual poses, most asanas are too extreme for adult beginners, or anyone who started yoga as an adult. To achieve those poses you need to start as a child, or be an adult with a gymnastics or ballet background. But for those who are already flexible, the poses are well explained, and the authors also show and explain common problems.

What distinguishes this book from other yoga books is its benefit list: For each pose, the authors describe in detail its physical, mental, and pranic benefits. They also provide excellent breathing and purification exercises.

I did not care too much for their dietary advice. None of the recipes I tried tasted good, and a purely sattvic lifestyle is out of reach for the average working person. I see no purpose in following a lifestyle that suits a professional yogi in a hot Indian country when I live through snowy winters and a highly enjoyable but stressful job.