Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1625 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-30
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 221 pages

Synopsis
Following on from the worldwide success of "Strength Training Anatomy", with over half a million copies sold worldwide, this series has been expanded to include bodybuilding, stretching and now yoga. It is aimed at yoga enthusiasts and instructors, as well as a reference for fitness professionals and personal trainers. It provides detailed anatomical illustrations of all standard yoga poses used by the majority of yoga practices. It includes sections on breathing anatomy and describes the anatomical changes that occur in variations of standard poses. Readers will learn how to perform each pose correctly, how to balance flexibility with instability and how the spine, breathing and body position are fundamentally linked. It features training sequences to boost energy, reduce stress, improve mental focus and body balance.

Customer Reviews

Yoga Anatomy
I guess I'm one of those people that likes to understand the how and why of everything I do. Therefore, whenever I workout, I find myself wondering about the purpose of each particular exercise. Am I actually working, strengthen, or stretching my muscles in a way that is beneficial to my body or am I just wasting my time? Am I doing the exercises correctly or am I setting myself up for an injury? Perhaps that's why I love the Anatomy series from Human Kinetics. They have a number of different books that take a deeper look at Stretch Training, Stretching, and Yoga exercises.

Yoga Anatomy has full coloured pictures of the body for a wide variety of movements: breathing, standing poses, sitting poses, kneeling poses, supine poses, prone poses, and arm support poses. These pictures show which muscles are in use during a particular motion. Extra information is then included about which joints are involved and which muscles are lengthening and working during the process. Each entry also notes proper breathing as well as information on any challenges associated with the pose.

In this way, there is no guess work involved. I know exactly what each posture is meant to do, which muscles I'll be working, and how to prevent injuries. I can then take full responsibility for my health and fitness.

See "Inside" Your Yoga Poses
Yoga Anatomy is a book that gives the reader a look inside the human body as it is put in various yoga positions.

Chapter 1 covers the dynamics of breathing and actually covers some breathing physiology as well. Chapter 2 talks about the spine and gives some pretty detailed spinal information. Chapter 3 is short and covers the asanas.

The rest of the book, Chapters 4 through 9, make up the "meat" of the book and contains most of the anatomy information most readers probably bought the book for- what muscles are used in what poses. The way the book gives you the information is quite handy- it has a section on standing poses, sitting poses, kneeling poses, on-your-stomach poses, on-your-back poses, and arm supported poses. Sooo, all you have to do is pick a position/pose, and there you'll find pictures of what muscles are involved (and let me say, they show you some great angles of the poses to make sure the reader can see ALL the muscles that are involved). In addition to learing what muscles are involved, the book also tells you what joint actions are involved, as well as what body parts are working AND which ones are lengthening- neat!

A great reference book, its simply perfect for the yoga enthusiast that has become acquainted over time with muscles they never knew they had- but will now after reading this book! Also recommend The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution if plantar fasciitis pain keeps you from doing your yoga.

Great resource
This is a brilliant book for those studying yoga. It has plenty of detail which would come in handy during study.If you need help on joint movements and muscles being used during postures the this is the book you need to buy- very clear, interesting and brilliantly illustrated.