Totally Wonderfu!August 11, 2008 2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This text is a wonderful way to educate the patient's and families about the benefits of yoga to strengthen and sustain muscle mass and agility.
yoga anatomyAugust 5, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
A detailed book showing just what muscles are effected by each yoga movement. Alot of detail and excellent graphics
Yoga bookJuly 27, 2008 0 out of 4 found this review helpful
Not exactly what I spected but I supose If you have enough knowledge about yoga you will find it usefull.
Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff, Amy Matthews, and Sharon EllisJuly 25, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
This was the book I had wanted to write myself!
Having read Strength Training Anatomy by Frederic Delavier when I studied for a Gym Instructor's course, (ironically so that I could go on an Exercise Referral course which I felt would help me when I teach Hatha Yoga to people who have problems;) I was certain there was a need for a similar book that would show clearly the major muscles involved in different asanas.
It is clear. The diagrams are excellent and it will help any hatha yoga teacher who is seriously interested in helping students who have particular physical problems.
Well done and many thanks. I will certainly be recommending it to my students.
Helen Lloyd Jones Cardiff Wales
An excellent body of work for regular yoga practitioners or medical professionalsJuly 21, 2008 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This book strikes me as a labor of love - immense and incredible detail pours forth on every fully illustrated page.
Serious yoga practitioners will glean useful insights on joint actions, breathing, and the precise inner workings of their bodies, in poses from savasana to scorpion. Excellent color drawings show where your intestines curl up to in poses like shoulderstand (they take up a lot more room in the torso than we realize), what parts of the body hold up weight in inverted poses, and even what our illustrated musculature looks like from underneath, in, for example, turtle pose (the publishers photographed yogis underneath suspended glass slabs). There is a lot of neat stuff here.
The "Joint Action," "Working" and "Lengthening" paragraphs detail what parts of the body are under stress or responding to gravity. The arms, legs and spine are given extra attention.
"Obstacles and Notes" includes where one might feel restrictions, try variations or deal with bodily congestion.
"Breathing" offers tips on how the breath might be restricted and how to align each pose to more comfortably/fully breathe.
OVERALL RECOMMENDATION -
Beginners won't really know what to make of this book. Besides the "oh, cool!" factor, it's difficult to figure out what beginners could do with this information. It's not a pose book per se. It's not causal reading. It's a serious texbook for serious yogis.
While the top of each page provides both Sanskrit and English pose names, the text refers to the Sanskrit, forcing yoga beginners to fumble around between pages to catch what the references are.
Proper names of muscles, bones and tendons are used: if reading about adductors, flexors, rotators, erector spinae, multifidi and rhomboids that "work eccentrically" are confusing, this book might not be altogether helpful.
That said, this book is a must-have for the libraries of yoga instructors and yoga therapists. Doctors and medical professionals endorsing yoga for health/fitness will likely enjoy this reference tool.
Intermediate to advanced practitioners with a working knowledge of anatomy and Sanskrit names should find exploring Yoga Anatomy an - ahem - illuminating experience. :)
