Review: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF YOGA

The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu-devananda is a comprehensive guide to traditional Hatha yoga.

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I was impressed with how much information this book contains! In the first pages of the book, Vishnu-devananda enumerates the 8 limbs of yoga, and the succeeding chapters each focus on one of the different limbs. This book includes bodily cleansing, asana demonstrations, diet, meditation, pranayama, and MUCH more.

The first half of the book is mostly about physical preparation and technique, while the latter chapters focus more on philosophy, specifically that of Vedanta philosophy. Vishnu-devananda does an excellent job of illustrating his points. Personally, I was not familiar with a lot of the practices and philosophy but the author does a thorough job of explaining himself, in more than one way. Each new concept is enforced by others found in previous pages, and he provides ample metaphors and anecdotes for getting his point across.

Overall, this is a FANTASTIC book. I will definitely be revisiting it in my future. There is so much information, including photographic demonstrations of over 100 asanas and it even has training tables in the back that are organized by age and overall physical health.

Just for fun

Yoga is calming, centering. It's challenging. It takes a lot of commitment and concentration. But it's also one of the most fun and enjoyable activities out there (in my humble opinion). My sister-in-law and I constantly topple over in challenging poses and giggle when we practice together. Ah, bonding through yoga, how blissful!!

I found this article from FitSugar that showcases 10 fun and awesomely challenging poses:

Click!

I'll admit I can't do all of these, but I have tried most of them! I can vouch for the fun/challenging combination. Out of the ones listed I'd say that Crow, Firefly, and Standing Hand to Big Toe are my favorites. I can't wait to try Headstand Bow!

Try these out next time you practice and let me know how it goes!

what's your style?

I found this cute flow chart that's supposed to provide insight into which style of yoga is best for you. Who knows how accurate it is, really, but I liked the aesthetics of it and the idea behind it quite a bit. When I did it for me, it led me to Sivananda yoga. I thought this was funny because I'm currently reading The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu-devananda, the founder of Sivananda yoga. I think it only lead me to that because of my interest in diet philosophy. I've been vegetarian for 9 years already, and am adamant about practicing ahimsa in every aspect of my life. So I tried it again. Another option for me was Kundalini yoga. I haven't practiced that style much, maybe only 2 or 3 times, but I enjoy learning about and opening the chakras. So, what's my style? Who knows, I'm still searching.

Where did the flow chart lead you?

:)