Product Description

A practical introduction to hatha yoga which shows how to combine yoga with meditation to achieve healthy beauty and inner peace. 100 yoga poses are illustrated for beginners and experienced practitioners alike.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #10887 in Books
• Published on: 1997-09-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

A rich explanation of hatha yoga to read and re-read.
This book was one of the first hatha yoga books I bought and it continues to delight and inspire me. In the Introduction, Eric Schiffmann describes his own yoga journey and the development of his personal yoga, which few teachers explain. Then the book goes into the reasons for practicing yoga in all its facets - the principles behind it, the breathing, ways of meditating and, most helpful of all, extremely detailed explanations of the asanas, including breaking some down into achievable stages. The photographs are large enough to be useful when practising too. There are practice routines at the back that I still turn to five years later. My only very minor criticism is that an index of both English and (anglicised) Sanskrit names would have been useful. And I'd like to know when he's going to write another book!

What a lovely book
This book is great. If you are looking for a yoga book to provide you with clear,understandable information on this vast subject then this book is a very good choice. Unlike some books, you feel very secure with mr schiffmann, and are confident that this book is 'from the horses mouth' and that he really knows what he is talking about. At the start,he explains his personal yoga journey, which I found interesting, before going on to show and explain a whole variety of yoga asanas, breathing and meditation exericses. The pictures, although black and white, are very clear and peaceful.He explains the exercises with step by step instructions and phases, so you can work upon a posture and build up to doing the full version. He also explains the benefits of each exercise in a little section following each one.

This book is very readable. It has a very easy style, and everything looks calm and in control, unlike B.K.S Iyengars Light on Yoga, when he looks very strained and likely to cause himself an injury at any moment! This book inspires confidence. You get the feeling that this is the book that will lead you to the state of quiet inner contentment that Yoga is meant to be all about, where you not only will have a fantastic lean and supple body so you exude outer confidance, but it will also help to condition your mind and help you to be happy from the inside out.

Wonderful, uplifting book.

the best yoga book ever published!!!
There are yoga books being published every day, and most of them are not worth the paper they are printed on. This one is special! I bought this book a few years ago when I first started doing yoga, and even though I have bought many many yoga titles since (including 'the tree of yoga', 'light on yoga' and John Scott's "ashtanga manual" which are also excellent), this is my favourite that I keep dipping in and out of. It quite simply is a very inspiring and informative read! Suitable for a complete beginner and an experienced student, or even just for the curious who want to know just what is this thing called yoga? In fact if you ever find yourself in LA seek out Erich Schiffmann (he teaches at yogaworks, santa monica) as he is a remarkable teacher. (His classes are not geared for complete beginners) And if you are used to practising Ashtanga or a similarly 'dynamic' form of yoga prepare to be surprised... All is not what it seems!