5 Responses to “Ashtanga Yoga: The Practice Manual: An Illustrated Guide to Personal Practice”

1. Anonymous
   January 25th, 2010 @ 8:19 pm

   this book got very good yoga information and very good self taught book, but i rather prefer or recommand astanga yoga by john scott, reader maybe feel curious about my opinion, because the binding of this book is “spiral-bound” because the spiral-bound is too small and very easy distort, this is the reason i just give 3 star.
   Rating: 3 / 5

2. S. Bailey
   January 25th, 2010 @ 8:21 pm

   I ordered this book on February 17th,2009 and still have not received this book. When I e-mailed marketplace@superbookdeals to find out where my book was they told me it takes 21 business days emphasizing “business days” but not giving me a time frame on when to expect the book. I would not recommend ever ordering from this comapany unless you are someone who enjoys ordering and paying for something that you may or may never receive when you need it.
   Rating: 1 / 5

3. Lulu-Guru
   January 25th, 2010 @ 9:45 pm

   Do you look like this person on the cover? If not, you may want to rethink this book. I got it as a gift but plan on “regifting” it soon. It makes yoga a game of accomplishment rather than an honest practice for normal people. Interesting Asana is fine for those who are truly moved and have a body that is capible of accomplishing it, but the real goal of yoga is to help you do a practice that enhances your life, not to spend your life trying to accomplish gymnastics designed for young Indian boys. For a different view, take a look at “The Yoga of Heart” by Mark Whitwell.
   Rating: 2 / 5

4. H. Walker
   January 25th, 2010 @ 9:57 pm

   This book would be wonderful for someone who has been practicing yoga for 10 plus years. Definitely not for the beginner. It’s like trying to read a foreign language even though there are definitions in the early chapters. I’m going to try to send it back.

   Rating: 2 / 5

5. Anonymous
   January 25th, 2010 @ 10:15 pm

   Well, if you’re one of these ‘power’ yoga people and want a book with all the correct Hindi terms, descriptions and pictures, this is it. A large, oversize book that will likely daunt a beginner, and serve as perpetual reference for the would-be yoga teacher who finds personal satisfaction in likewise daunting beginners.

   It is WAY more than the average person wants (or needs) to know about yoga and, sadly, like so much of pop-yoga these days, seemed to emphasize the physical form over the spiritual and meditation limbs of Ashtanga yoga. (In case you didn’t know, the purpose of the physical postures and vinyasas are to strengthen the body so it can sustain the intensity of pranayama and meditation practices, which in turn lead to higher states of consciousness and eventually true liberation.)

   Instructors like David Swenson seem to regard yoga as a masochistic obstacle course where the goal is to be a kind of contortionist extrordinaire. While he lists all eight limbs and touches on some spiritual aspects, the vast majority of the material focuses obsessively on the physical form and thus fails to correctly provide the true purpose of yoga. Swenson apparently hasn’t yet realized he is much more than his physical body and that the aim of yoga is nothing less than the union of the limited Self with the Infinite.

   If you’re studying to be an Ashtanga yoga teacher in the Pattabhi Jois tradition, this is the ultimate reference to all the essential asanas, vinyasas, bandhas and their accompanying Hindi names. If you’re out to impress people with how many Ashtanga postures you can do, you’ll want this on your coffee table.

   For the rest though, it’s likely more than you ever wanted to know about the physical side of Ashtanga yoga.
   Rating: 3 / 5

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