The 10 Best Iyengar Yoga Books
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The Best Iyengar Yoga Books
There are many good yoga books on all different aspects of yoga. I've accumulated a number of excellent Iyengar Yoga books that help me with my study, practice, and teaching of Iyengar Yoga. It was difficult paring down my list to "The 10 Best Iyengar Yoga Books" but these ten books will give you a place to start if you're interested in Iyengar Yoga, or yoga in general.
This Iyengar Yoga book list is of the 10 books that I think are most useful and important to the practice of yoga as taught by B.K.S. Iyengar and his daughter Geeta, and son Prashant.
I chose books on Iyengar Yoga that represent different facets of the study and practice of yoga, including good all-purpose books for learning and practicing yoga asanas (poses) and pranayama (breathing exercises), books that focus on health-related issues and different segments of the population, and books on the philosophy of yoga.
My Top 10 Picks for Iyengar Yoga Books
- Yoga: The Iyengar Way
- Light on Yoga
- Yoga: A Gem For Women
- The Tree of Yoga
- The Woman's Book of Yoga and Health
- The New Yoga for Healthy Aging
- Yoga for Wimps: Poses for the Flexibility-Impaired
- Light on LIfe
- Light on Pranayama
- Yoga Wisdom & Practice
- Honorable Mentions -- Iyengar Yoga Books
- Yoga and Anatomy Books
- Iyengar Yoga in the News
Yoga: The Iyengar Way
by Silva, Mira, and Shyam Mehta
Yoga: The Iyengar Way includes about 100 poses with step-by-step instructions on how to do the poses, and accompanied by detailed, beautiful photos. The poses shown are inspiring and exquisitely executed! Instructions include modifications, including the use of props, to safely work toward the full poses. Poses are rated for their difficulty level, from one diamond for easy, to four diamonds for very difficult.
Besides the detailed information on how to do the yoga asanas (poses) there also sections on pranayama, relaxation, and meditation techniques, and the philosophy of yoga. At the end, there are lists of suggested sequences of poses to follow.
Yoga: The Iyengar Way
Amazon Price: $14.74 (as of 02/23/2012)
Product Description
A comprehensive, practical, and authoritative guide to the method developed by Iyengar. 100 key postures with detailed step-by-step instructions and photographs. This is our most recently published yoga book and has quickly become a backlist bestseller.
Light on Yoga
by B.K.S. Iyengar
The name Light on Yoga refers to the book's purpose of "shedding light" on the subject of yoga.
The book includes over 200 poses, with at least one photo per pose, and often more than one photo to show different stages of the poses. The first 50 pages or so of the book defines what yoga is, and gives a summary of the philosophy of Patanjali's yoga, which is the basis of Iyengar yoga (and some of the other yoga methods).
Light on Yoga is required reading for anyone looking to become certified in the Iyengar Yoga method. I'm currently wearing out my third copy of this book!
Light on Yoga: Yoga Dipika
Amazon Price: $11.46 (as of 02/23/2012)
Product Description
The definitive guide to the philosophy and practice of Yoga--the ancient healing discipline for body and mind--by its greatest living teacher. Light on Yoga provides complete descriptions and illustrations of all the positions and breathing exercises. Features a foreword by Yehudi Menuhin. Illustrations throughout.
Yoga: A Gem For Women
by Geeta Iyengar
Geeta Iyengar is the daughter of B.K.S. Iyengar, and a world-respected yoga teacher and writer. This book contains less poses than Light on Yoga, but more description of the techniques for doing the poses, including variations if the classical pose is too difficult. Geeta Iyengar also includes a section on practicing yoga poses safely during pregnancy, and segments on what to practice and what to avoid during certain stages of a woman's life.
Yoga: A Gem for Women
Amazon Price: $14.94 (as of 02/23/2012)
Product Description
Yoga, A Gem for Women presents a detailed, practical guide for the yoga student who wants to go deeper with her practice of Hatha Yoga. The book is divided into three sections that create an integrated path of yoga suitable for both the beginner and advanced student:
1. Theory--Yoga and Women
A natural bridge to health and well-being
2. Practice--Knowing Your Body
Techniques and benefits of over 80 asanas complete with photographs and detailed instructions
3. Experience--On the Threshold of Peace
Relaxation, breathing and the practice of meditation
The Tree of Yoga
by B.K.S. Iyengar
Most of my students start yoga for the physical health benefits that the practice of asanas (poses) can give them, and for relief from stress. These are great reasons to start yoga. But there is so much more to yoga than the poses and relaxation techniques.
When my students start to become more interested in the "big picture" of yoga, this is a great book to introduce them to the philosophy of yoga. The Tree of Yoga refers to the eight different parts of Patanjali's yoga, which include ethical concerns, physical postures, breath work, and practices leading to meditative states. Mr. Iyengar also includes his essays on various aspects of yoga and life.
The Tree of Yoga (Shambhala Classics)
Amazon Price: $8.70 (as of 02/23/2012)
Product Description
Iyengar developed a form of yoga that focuses on developing strength, endurance, correct body alignment, as well as flexibility and relaxation. The Iyengar method integrates philosophy, spirituality, and the practice of yoga into everyday living. In The Tree of Yoga, Iyengar offers his thoughts on many practical and philosophical subjects including family life, love and sexuality, health and the healing arts, meditation, death, and Pata%uFFFDjali's Yoga Sutras.
The Woman's Book of Yoga and Health
by Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden
Sections include:
- Essential yoga sequences
- Entering puberty and the menstrual cycle
- Pregancy and post-partum
- Menopausal issues
- Aging issues (post-menopausal)
The Woman's Book of Yoga and Health: A Lifelong Guide to Wellness
Amazon Price: $14.43 (as of 02/23/2012)
From Booklist
Sparrowe, former editor of Yoga Journal, has teamed up with one of the most preeminent yoga instructors in the country, Walden, to put together a comprehensive guide to yoga for women. The book contains numerous yoga sequences and photos and is designed to be a lifelong reference guide for female practitioners.
The New Yoga for Healthy Aging
by Suza Francina
The New Yoga for Healthy Aging is illustrated by inspiring photos of older yoga students doing poses that require strength and grace, and tips are given to show how the more challenging poses can be done through the use of props and modifications. This book also addresses common ailments of aging including osteoporosis, arthritis, hip replacements, heart health, and Parkinson's disease. The book includes sequences for "healthy aging"
The New Yoga for Healthy Aging: Living Longer, Living Stronger and Loving Every Day
Amazon Price: $7.27 (as of 02/23/2012)
Excerpt from Product Description
One in five Americans is now moving toward the age bracket of "sixty and beyond," .... ...readers can reap the benefits of yoga with this gentle and clear guide written specifically with today's baby boomers in mind. Filled with clear instructions, including the use of yoga props and modified poses, plus crisp follow-along photographs, The New Yoga for Healthy Aging takes readers step by step through the asanas (poses) that can prevent or lessen [many age-related] ailments...
Yoga for Wimps: Poses for the Flexibility-Impaired
by Miriam Austin
The models in this book are all "real" students, and are shown doing poses and modifications that most people will be able to approximate. Common household items (chairs, belts, ties, walls) are used as props to help do the poses better. Easy sequences are given for quick "fix-its" for simple aches and pains, and for stress-reduction.
Yoga For Wimps: Poses for The Flexibly Impaired
Amazon Price: $3.50 (as of 02/23/2012)
Product Description
Crave yoga's benefits--but feel afraid to look "weird?" Think yoga requires you to look like a pretzel? Now there's a friendly, full-color, hand-holding, one-step-at-a-time, few-minutes-a-day way to get started. It meets you right where you are, with three different approaches to fit your needs. Instant Yoga gets you going immediately with 15 practice sessions for any time of the day, even when there's only a few minutes to spare. Run through a sequence and the workout's over! FixIts offer solutions to specific problems, such as a sore neck, back pain, those aching feet, or stress. In the Glossary, the author demonstrates every pose correctly, with instructions for improving technique. The changes you experience will amaze and delight you so much you'll never want to wimp out on your workout!
Light on LIfe
by B.K.S. Iyengar
To find this core, we explore our different "sheaths" of being; our different layers, or bodies of existence, including our physical, energetic, mental, intellectual, and divine layers. All these layers need to be integrated in order for us to achieve wholeness.
I don't recommend it for those who are just starting their study and practice of yoga (I recommend starting with the physical practice and reading Tree of Yoga before reading Light on Life), but it's an excellent book for those who are already familiar with the philosophy of yoga.
Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom
Amazon Price: $8.59 (as of 02/23/2012)
Excerpted from Publisher's Weekly
"Chapters elaborate on aspects of yoga-the physical, energetic, mental, intellectual and divine, showing the architecture of the comprehensive system of spiritual teachings that lead to samadhi, the state of blissful absorption. Yoga is about health and purity, flexibility and divinity. While this book underlines the intellectual aspect of yoga, it is insufficient for a new yoga student, no substitute for yoga sadhana, practice that requires and integrates body and mind. Not the book with which to begin the yoga journey, it is highly recommended for those advanced on the path and interested in learning from a master of flexibility and wisdom."
Light on Pranayama
This isn't a book for beginners though. In the Iyengar Yoga system, the formal practice of pranayama isn't started until the student has a strong background in the physical poses, to build up the strength to sit well and to build greater awareness in the body and mind. Before formal instruction in pranayama we do some practice on breath awareness, and are reminded not to hold the breath, or to breathe heavily while in poses. Then when the body and mind are prepared, we're taught more formal breathing techniques.
Light on Pranayama: The Yogic Art of Breathing
Amazon Price: $11.51 (as of 02/23/2012)
Product Description
In this classic yoga best-seller a world-renowned yoga master shares the techniques of breathing together with a comprehensive background of yoga philosophy. B. K. S. Iyengar is a legend who has practiced yoga in a unique way, and today "Iyengar Yoga" is taught around the world by certified instructors.
Yoga Wisdom & Practice
by B.K.S. Iyengar
- Reflections on My Life
- Light on Daily Practice
- A Yogic Approach to Life
- How Yoga Transformed Me
- On Using Props
- The Supple and the Stiff Body
- The Art of Teaching
- Yoga and Ethical Living
- Yoga For a Better LIfe
Yoga Wisdom & Practice
Amazon Price: $13.69 (as of 02/23/2012)
Product Description
Iyengar Yoga Wisdom & Practice is a practical and an inspiring anthology of Iyengar's insights into yoga, life and the path to peace and happiness. Yoga practice lies at the heart of the book, and it is illustrated with over 60 new step-by-step sequences of yoga postures specially shot in India and accompanied by Iyengar's illuminating observations on technique, their significance, and their benefits. This book not only presents Iyengar's practical advice on how to perform key yoga postures, but also draws on a wide range of other material taken from interviews and world lecture tours, to the many texts Iyengar has written about yoga and about his own life's journey.
Honorable Mentions -- Iyengar Yoga Books
Yoga and Anatomy Books
Best Books for Learning Yoga Anatomy
Anyone who practices yoga will benefit from learning more about the anatomy of their own body. With a better understanding of how the body works, we can bring the body into a better alignment in the yoga asanas (poses) with less chance of injury.
Yoga Books and Yoga Gifts
Buy Iyengar Yoga books on eBay
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Iyengar Yoga in the News
- Mad Yogis: Is That an Oxymoron (Or a New Twist On an Ancient Practice)?
- On a positive note, a 2009 study at the University of Pennsylvania found that this very same slowing-down yoga phenomenon was good for heart health. Blood pressure declined, they found, among 26 volunteers doing Iyengar yoga -- a slow sort of practice.
- GOOD FOR THE SOUL: Finding your centre
- Watching Gudrun von Wimmersperg practise and teach Iyengar yoga is an inspiration. She calmly instructs and demonstrates various asanas (postures). Some of them are harder than others but she always tells her students to be cautious.
- A yogi sets off a chain reaction of kidney donors
- At the time of his decision, Rick was enrolled in the teacher training program at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of Los Angeles. Rick credits much of his growth as a yoga student to his teacher Debra Ann Robinson, with whom he studied in Los Angeles.
- The Yoga Center of Lawrence
- Anne Underwood leads a class at The Yoga Center of Lawrence. The Yoga Center focuses on a type of yoga called Iyengar yoga, which focuses on balancing strength, flexibility, and endurance. The Yoga Center of Lawrence is located at 920 Massachusetts ...
- Health Benefits of Yoga
- The practice of yoga benefits our health on all levels of our being -- physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.
- Yoga for Seniors - Aging Well With Yoga
- Yoga for Seniors, Gentle Yoga, and Ageless Yoga classes are becoming more popular now that the first baby-boomers are turning 65.
Do You Have a Favorite Iyengar Yoga Book?
I'd love to hear from you! Do you have a favorite Iyengar Yoga book? What about another yoga book?
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bloomingrose
Oct 24, 2011 @ 4:32 pm | delete
- I appreciate the work you put into this because I think you really know what you are talking about . All of these books sound good.
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markg961
Sep 21, 2011 @ 4:10 am | delete
- Great posting, lots of good reading! As an Asthanga practitioner its interesting to note the difference between the two styles, that both go back to one great teacher.
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maryctucker
May 7, 2011 @ 4:11 am | delete
- Thanks for this posting.I satisfied with your sharing...
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sfauthor
Feb 17, 2011 @ 8:32 pm | delete
- Nice posting. Do you know about these yoga books?
http://www.yogavidya.com/freepdfs.html
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sonia5880 Oct 20, 2010 @ 8:26 pm | delete
- Check out my lens on some of the a> with most outfits (Top & Foldover yoga pants) UNDER $20
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I'm a certified Iyengar yoga teacher, and love to read and write and talk about yoga (as well as practice and teach!).
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