As I’ve mentioned before, I have a serious weakness for yoga books. I mean, who doesn’t? Anyhow, in a moment of complete disclosure, here’s what I’ve added to my collection so far this year (in no particular order):
- Krishnamacharya: His Life and Teachings by A.G. Mohan
Learn more about A.G. Mohan at his website: Svastha Yoga and Ayurveda. - Teaching Yoga: Essential Foundations And Techniques by Mark Stephens
Read the author’s bio.
Uncover a ton of teaching and practice pointers on Vinyasa Flow Yoga with Mark Stephens. - The Yoga-Sutra Of Patanjali: A New Translation With Commentary (Shambhala Classics) by Chip Hartranft
Read Hartranft’s translation for free right here via the author’s On-line Companion. Excellent resource! - The Inner Tradition Of Yoga: A Guide To Yoga Philosophy For The Contemporary Practitionerby Michael Stone
To learn more about the author, Michael Stone, visit his website: Centre of Gravity. - Myths of The Asanas: The Ancient Origins of Yoga by Alanna Kaivalya, Arjuna van der Kooij
Visit the author’s website at JivaDiva.com. - Yoga Beneath The Surface: An American Student And His Indian Teacher Discuss Yoga Philosophy And Practice by Srivatsa Ramaswami, David Hurwitz
Learn more about Ramaswami at his website: Vinyasa Krama.
Read Ramaswami’s article, My Studies with Shri T. Krishnamacharya, published inNamarupa Magazine. - Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice by Mark Singleton
Book review and some good comments on mayaland. - The Subtle Body: The Story Of Yoga In America by Stefanie Syman
Book site: http://thesubtlebody.net/
Read an interview with author Stefanie Syman at YogaCityNYC.
Listen to author interview on On Point Radio. - The Yamas & Niyamas: Exploring Yoga’s Ethical Practice by Deborah Adele
Book site: http://www.theyamasandniyamas.com/.
Author’s blog. - Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life by Judith Hanson Lasater
Author’s website. - Ashtanga Yoga: The Definitive Step-By-Step Guide To Dynamic Yoga by John C. Scott
Check out a short, but inspiring, clip of the author demonstrating and explaining Ashtanga yoga. - Ashtanga Yoga: Practice And Philosophy by Gregor Maehle
Author’s website, 8limbs.com. - Yoga And The Path Of The Urban Mystic by Darren Main
Visit Darren Main’s companion website to the book. - The Seven Spiritual Laws of Yoga: A Practical Guide to Healing Body, Mind, and Spirit by Deepak Chopra
You gotta love Tara Stiles and Deepak Chopra’s “Authentic Yoga” iPhone/iPad app (I have both). - The Athlete’s Pocket Guide to Yoga: 50 Routines for Flexibility, Balance, and Focus by Sage Rountree
Take a look at Sage’s ‘Hip Flexor and Hamstring Stretch Yoga Routine’ on Runner’s World.
Sage also has a great website and blog. - The Subtle Body: An Encyclopedia of Your Energetic Anatomy by Cyndi Dale
I have yet to spend much time in this book since I’m not getting it until Christmas, but it has great reviews on Amazon.
Visit the author’s website for additional exploration. - The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: Commentary on the Raja Yoga Sutras by Sri Swami Satchidananda
Visit Sri Swami Satchidananda’s website. - The Living Gita: The Complete Bhagavad Gita – A Commentary for Modern Readersby Sri Swami Satchidananda
- Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation by Stephen Mitchell
- 27 Things to Know About Yoga by Victoria Klein
Check out Daily Cup of Yoga’s Review of 27 Things. This is really a great little yoga book!
You will also enjoy reading Victoria Klein’s great yoga blog. - The Mirror of Yoga: Awakening the Intelligence of Body and Mind by Richard Freeman
Author’s website: Yoga Workshop.
I’m also a HUGE fan of Richard Freeman’s course on yoga philosophy, “The Yoga Matrix,” which is a smoking hot deal on Amazon.com if you download the MP3 version of the course.
I’m sure I left a few books out and there will probably be a few more before the end of the year. Discriminating reader that I am, I pretty much love them all! Not all of these books came out in 2010, but this was definitely a standout year for yoga publishing. Hopefully next year will continue the trend.
Feel free to leave a comment about your favorite yoga book from 2010 (or whenever).
Daily Cup of Yoga 
Thank you so much for mentioning my book – there it is, at the top of the pile! 🙂
After all your great recommendations, I certainly have some new tomes to add to my to-read this.
Thank you for the great information!
Yoga books are great to solve the hunger to dig deeper into the magical world of yoga.
Have a nice weekend, among your books.
my fave read was mindfulness yoga by frank jude boccio! also enjoying michael stone’s newest, Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mind.
That’s a great book,I took a course with him out in California and he’s very good very sincere-combo of Buddhist practice and yoga blended together in a meaningful fashion.
The book highlight of the year for me was “Yoga: Your Home Practice Companion” by the Sivananda Yoga Centre, Dorling Kindersley. Great book!
I like “Yoga Beyond Belief” by Ganga White.
Kirsten, Yoga Beyond Belief is very good at poking holes in some of our rigid ideas, very refreshing. I’m a yoga teacher myself as well as an artist/intuitive and I put together an quick article called “7 Top Yoga, Buddhist Inspired Holiday Gifts” at http://bit.ly/iato4l, with links to stuff a yogi/ni or meditator might want for Christmas or Hanukkah. One item I really love that I tried is the spike or nail mat, it seems weird but it’s really relaxing-you lay on it for relaxation, insomnia back pain. It honestly felt like I was in a deep shavasana after like 3 min on it. And it wasn’t painful (for me at least!)
Namaste
Kala
Viv, I think I saw an advertisement for the nail mat somewhere, maybe Yoga Journal, maybe Yoga Magazine. I bet that does feel interesting to lay on. Thanks for the comments.
You listed several books I love! I am also really enjoying Freeing the Body, Freeing the Mind– Writings on the connections between Yoga & Buddhism. 🙂
Have you reviewed these books individually on this blog (I’m new to your blog, I could search through it but thought I’d ask first)? I’d be interested in finding out more about a few of them. More than just the Amazon blurb, I mean. I’d like to know what someone who has a weakness for these books says about them individually.
Tonya, I’m really happy you found Daily Cup of Yoga. Also curious how you came across the blog. I just like to know these sorts of things. Anyhow, I’m passionate about yoga, definitely love to read about the ancient practice, and I certainly wish I had time to review each and every one of these books, but that little thing called a day-job (I’m a lawyer) only leaves so many discretionary hours in the day. I’ve reviewed a few of the books, and unless someone asks about a specific book, I don’t usually read the book with the end goal of a book review in mind. Do you have any particular books that you’d be curious to know more about?
Namaste!
Brian
Hi Brian, I came across your blog through the Google Blog Search, I typed in Yoga Philosophy and yours was one of the top. I’d be interested to know what you thought specifically of #4, 6, and 10.
Looks like I’ll be adding a few more books to my 2010 yoga book collection before it’s all said and done… Thanks ALL for the great book recommendations!
This is great inspiration! Some of these will defintiely be going on the Christmas list!
I’ve just started a year long quest to practice yoga everyday (and write about the experience) so these are great books to give me some much needed inspiration and reference material!
Cheers
http://www.dailyyogajourney.wordpress.com
That sounds like a worthwhile quest Tabatharose! I added a link to the blogroll so we can follow your 365 day yoga journey. Best of luck!! Namaste, Brian
Thanks Brian! Thats what I love about yoga – such a great supportive community!
I’ve been thinking about enrolling to a yoga class recently and you really helped me a lot with this list of books.I’ve already noted some that I plan to start reading soon and hopefully my working out to inner peace will come true. You’ve got a really good collection. Since when did you start buying them?
Have you read ‘Carried by a Promise’ by Swami Radhananda (Timeless Books 2011)? It is a recent account of a western women learning from her Guru. Good read.