7 Yoga Books you want to consider

1. Light on Yoga by B. K. S. Iyengar. A great book written by one of the foremost teachers of yoga in the world. You will find all the yoga poses going from beginner to advanced, with pictures and details description and cues on how to safely arrive in it. At the end Iyengar offers the sequences of poses that will help you build your practice. The book is required for yoga teachers to read during Yoga Teacher Training.

2. Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews. Are you curious about your body? Do you want to know what muscles are involved in different yoga poses? You have no idea what happens to your bones, joints, connective tissue when you create shapes with your body Even if you struggle to understand the language of the book, there are plenty of colorful detailed pictures that will shed the light and answer a lot of those questions.

3. Meditation from the mat: Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison. Now that you learnt a little more about the physical part of yoga, you can discover yoga for your mind and that's the meditation. This book is a pretty easy read. Every day there is a short personal story that help you understand the philosophy of yoga. 8 Limbs of Yoga is broken down in a very approachable way that is easier to process for the Western World. The content of the book can be a reference for you for many years to come and a source of motivation on a bad day.

4. Yoga Pretzels (Yoga Cards) by Tara Guber and Leah Kalish. What a fun way to teach yoga to your kids! 50 Colorful cards to give activities ideas for kids and grownups. The cards are broken down to different categories, such as: Breath (learning new breathing techniques and focusing), Game (being playful and creative with friends), Balance, Standing poses, Back bends, Forward bends, Twist & Stretch, Partner, Time in (unwinding and resting). Illustration on each card is unique and fun, cards are nice and thick and come in a box to store them. Hide them around the house, play to find each card, practice reading the detailed description and have fun!

5. The Heart of Yoga: Developing a Personal Practice by T. K. V. Desikachar. Have you read the yoga sutras or attempted like myself and struggled with them? The word sutra means a thread, that will lead you to your true nature. We will all understand this ancient very life applicable philosophy but at our time and at our own pace. I personally found T.K.V. Desikachar's commentary easier to understand then the very respectable and really thorough ones by Sri Swami Satchidananda or B.K.S. Iyengar. The best part about studying yoga sutras is if you are really interested in understanding the way our minds work, you can re-read any book that you liked and dig deeper. Don't be discouraged if you still have a hard time, just keep on searching for the one that will touch your heart and mind.

6. The Bhagavad Gita, 2nd Edition by Eknath Easwaran. How can someone live a life spiritually meaningful without withdrawing from society? The Gita opens, dramatically, on a battlefield, as the warrior Arjuna turns in anguish to his spiritual guide, Sri Krishna, for answers to the fundamental questions of life. The plot of the Gita is based on two sets of cousins competing for the throne: The Pandavas and the Kauravas. Diplomacy has failed, so these two clans' armies meet on a battlefield in order to settle the conflict and decide which side will gain the throne. This is a major battle and it takes place in Kurukshetra, “the field of the Kurus”, in the modern state of Haryana in India.Arjuna, the great archer and leader of the Pandavas, is a member of the Kshatriyas caste (the warrior rulers caste). He looks out towards his opponents and recognizes friends, relatives, former teachers, and finally reasons that controlling the kingdom is not worth the blood of all his loved ones. Emotionally overwhelmed, Arjuna drops down, casting aside his bow and arrows and decides to quit. He prefers to withdraw from battle; he prefers inaction instead of being responsible for the death of the people he loves.PandavasHis chariot driver is the god Vishnu, who has taken the form of Krishna. Krishna sees Arjuna quitting and begins to persuade Arjuna that he should stick to his duty as a warrior and engage the enemy. The Bhagavad Gita is presented as a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna, a man and a god, a seeker and a knower. Yet the Gita is not what it seems – it’s not a dialogue between two mythical figures at the dawn of Indian history. “The battlefield is a perfect backdrop, but the Gita’s subject is the war within, the struggle for self-mastery that every human being must wage if he or she is to emerge from life victorious."

7. Yoga Girl by Rachel Brathen. If you are looking for a modern interpretation of yoga with some beautiful pictures and they way yogis of today apply this ancient practice in their life, check out Rachel's book. She is also known as Yoga Girl and is very involved in her community in Aruba, offering yoga classes at her studio, and is currently in the process of building an an orphanage and an animal shelter on the island.

What you will also find in the book are spectacular photos of Brathen practicing yoga with breathtaking tropical backdrops, along with step-by-step yoga sequences and simple recipes for a healthy, happy, and fearless lifestyle.

HAPPY READING!

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