What are the all time best yoga books? What book
has helped you the most? I am not necessarily
restricting this to ashtanga books, but any book that can
help newbies, intermediate level or advanced
practitioners.

Light on Yoga<br>Yoga Sutras<br>The Heart of Yoga<br>Health, Healing &
Beyond<br>The Yoga Tradition<br>All Ram Dass books

The books that I gain inspiration from
are:<br><br>1. Bhagavad Gita<br>2. The Upanishads<br>3. Raja
Yoga Sutras-Patanjali<br>4. Autobiography of a Yogi-
Paramahansa Yogananda<br>5. Kundalini, the Evolutionary
Energy in Man-Gopi Krishna<br>6. Yoga Mind &
Body-Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Center (arguably the best book for
beginners because it highlights common problems)<br>7.
Light on Yoga-B.K.S. Iyengar<br>8. The Complete
Illustrated Book of Yoga-Swami Vishnu Devananda<br>9. The
Heart of Yoga-T.K.V. Desikachar<br>10. The Complete
Idiot's Guide to Yoga (despite the title)<br>11. The
Complete Idiot's Guide to Meditation (also despite the
title)<br>12. Yoga & Ayurveda-David Frawley<br>13. Meditation
and Mantra-Swami Vishnu Devananda<br>14. Awakening
the Spine-Vanda Scaravelli

My top-5 book list:<br><br>- The Bhagavad
Gita<br><br>- John Scott: Ashtanga Yoga<br><br>- Sri K Pattabhi
Jois: Yoga Mala<br><br>- Lino Miele: Astanga
Yoga<br><br>- B.K.S. Iyengar: Light on Yoga.<br><br>Not that I
have read them all. But those are the books I want to
focus on in future, and which I consider most useful.

Today I picked up "The Yoga Tradition" by Georg
Feuerstein, which I can't recommend because I haven't read
it. But it appears to be a fascinating and more
comprehensive study of yoga from an historical perspective than
I have seen.

I have both the John Scott book and BBB's Power
Yoga. They are both wonderful.<br><br>While Scott's
book may be more technically complete, correct, BBB's
book is great for beginners, gives lots of background
info on this system and how to approach it,
modifications for beginners, tips for dealing with various
injuries, as well as a peek at second series work. "Power
Yoga" is the one I always mention to people who seem
interested, but know nothing/little about yoga, or this style
of yoga. Part of that has to do with availability,
they can easily pick it up at a local bookstore, but I
also think it gives a fairly full look at the
practice, beyond the presentation of asanas, basic
yamas/niyamas.<br><br>jmho...

Best yoga books, eh? What a fun topic. Here's
some:<br><br>15 Minute Yoga - Godfrey Devereux - not so much for
the 15-minute routines, but for the wealth of general
practical info on yoga asana practice. Aimed at beginners
but helpful advice for anyone. All of his books are
great. Dynamic Yoga has lots more "technical"
info.<br><br>Yoga For Wellness - Gary Kraftsow - Great info on
therapeutic yoga. Lots of specific info on conditions such as
spinal curvatures.<br><br>Awakening the Spine - Vanda
Scaravelli - Almost more of an art book. Beautiful and
inspirational.<br><br>ExTension - Sam Dworkis - Lots of info on the physiology
of
yoga and stretching. Explains concepts such as
stretching into the belly of the muscle instead of into
joints/tendons/ligaments, the role of the fascia, and the importance of
practicing appropriate yoga (some people at some times need
a more gentle approach). The program presented in
this book is based on breaking down the sun
salutation.<br><br>Recovery Yoga - Sam Dworkis - subtitled " A Practical
Guide for Chronically Ill, Injured and Post-Operative
People". So anyone can do yoga.<br><br>Yogi Bare - Philip
Self - Interviews with 20 yoga teachers.<br><br>Yoga -
The Spirit and Practice of Moving Into Stillness -
Erich Schiffman. Just really liked reading the first
part of this book.<br><br>Moola Bandha - The Master
Key - I like it when books cover a subject in great
depth. This is the one for info on mula
bandha.<br><br>Be Here Now - Ram Dass - haven't looked at this much
for many years, but got me into it all long ago.
Still very magic. And as malsag points out, includes an
exceptional bibliography.<br><br>And a few not-exactly yoga
books:<br><br>Conquering Carpal Tunnel Syndrome and Other Repetitive
Strain Injuries - Sharon Butler - The best explanation I
have seen of soft tissue injuries and how to heal
them, using focused gentle stretching. She emphasizes
notgoing too far - finding the stretch point and waiting
for release before going farther. Lots of info about
fascia. A very empowering manual of
self-healing.<br><br>Mindful Spontaneity - Ruthy Alon - Totally fascinating
book by a master Feldenkrais teacher. Also anything by
Moshe Feldenkrais. <br><br>Pain Free - Pete Egoscue -
How to reengineer your musculo-skeletal system (like
yoga). Interesting to read whether you do the exercises
or not. Egoscue is the king of
kinesiology.<br><br>Also, any good atlas of human anatomy (Clemente,
Netter, Sobotta, maybe Grant's)<br><br>Why no Ashtanga
books? I have them all and they are pretty much all
good. But I think I learned way more about Ashtanga
yoga from practicing (going to classes daily) than
from books. Whereas, the other yoga books bring
different perspectives to the practice. But I would
definitely recommend get one or two or all of these four -
Yoga Mala, John Scott's book, Lino Miele's book, David
Swenson's book. <br><br>Being a book maniac, I have a list
of yoga books on the web here:
<a href=http://www.ionet.net/~tslade/yogabook.htm
target=new>http://www.ionet.net/~tslade/yogabook.htm</a> with more info on the
above and many other
favorite and recommended yoga books, mainly dealing with
asana practice.

Here's 2 more to add to the list -- they're not
books about asana but they are definitely about the
yogic path.<br><br>The Razor's Edge -- by Somerset
Maugham -- it's a work of fiction but the main character
is definitely a yogi. This is one of those books
that has stuck with me years after reading
it.<br><br>It's Still Here...Are YOU? by Bhagavan Das -- I just
finished reading this and in some ways it blew me away.
Bhagavan Das was the great American yogi Ram Dass writes
about in BE HERE NOW. The book is really interesting.
Bhagavan spends 7 years in India having every spiritual
experience you can imagine, getting exposed to every
spiritual traditon on the planet, and having the grace of a
real live guru. On his return to America he totally
loses his way. It just really makes you think how easy
it is to lose your way. I guess that's why they call
the spiritual path the razor's edge.

typo: the book is IT's HERE NOW...Are YOU???

two books that shead some light on the yogic
practices in Tibet.<br><br>1)<br>Tibetan Yoga and Secret
Doctrines or Seven Books of Wisdom of the Great Path <br>by
W. Y. Evans-Wentz(Editor), Donald S., Jr. Lopez
(Paperback - September 2000) <br>First published in 1926,
Evans-Wentz presents translations and commentary on very
detailed yogic techniques. This new edition comes with a
forward by Buddhist scholor, Donald Lopez Jr. that sheds
some light on the life of Evans-Wentz and his very
specific focus on esoteric Buddhism. Evans-Wentz was the
first to translate The Tibetan Book of the Dead for
western readers.<br><br>2)<br>The Dalai Lama's Secret
Temple: Tantric Wall Paintings from Tibet <br>by Ian A.
Baker, et al (Hardcover - October 2000) <br>A glorious
coffee-table art book of tantric wall paintings from a small
temple located in the center of a lake behind the Potala
Palace. A good visual companion to the above book
illustrating visualization and breathing techniques of secret
Tibetan practices that embodies Dzogchen.

Speaking of which, "The Tibetan Book of the Dead" really ought to be on this
collective list.

O child of noble family....<br>Get the book on
tape.<br><br> The Tibetan Book of the Dead : The Great
Liberation Through Hearing in the Bardo<br>by Francesca
Fremantle (Translator), Chogyam Trungpa (Translator),
Richard Gere (Narrator)<br><br>The relationship between
Ashtanga & TBotD is they both serve as a guide for living
and a preparation for dying. Facing and overcoming
fears in a controlled enviroment on the mat is a fine
practice for what the TBotD calls for in terms of "yogic
abilities".

I did just look up this book at Amazon, found
about 3 different translations, any recs. on which is
best, any to avoid? I've got this one in my shopping
cart:<br><a
href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0195133129/102-8975477-0045702
target=new>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...75477-0045702\
</a><br><br>I'm not looking to get an audio version.<br><br>E.

And as diet is so important may I suggest:<br><br>The Ayurvedic Cookbook by
Amadea Morningstar with Urmila Desai

These same authors also have a book on Ayurvedic
Cooking for westerners, which according to the Amazon
info, uses ingredients more common in the west, with
the same Ayurvedic principals. Have you seen that
one, know if it's any good?<br><br>The Sivananda
people also have put out a cookbook, it's: The Yoga
Cookbook : Vegetarian Food for Body and Mind : Recipes
from the Sivananda Yoga Vedanta Centers by The
International Sivananoa Yoga Center, Swami Vishnu-Devananda,
<a
href=http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684856417/qid=986839056/sr=1-3/ref=\
sc_b_4/102-8975477-0045702
target=new>http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/AS...6839056/sr=1-\
3/ref=sc_b_
4/102-8975477-0045702</a>

&gt;found about 3 different translations, any
recs.<br><br>I would go with the Trungpa version, the
Evens-Wentz is a bit heavy due to clumsy tranlsation.
<br><br>&gt;I'm not looking to get an audio
version.<br><br>Traditionally the Bardo Thodhol is read aloud to the dead or
dying person... so with that in mind it makes perfect
sense to lay back with headphones on and let Richard
Gere read it to you.<br><br>3~*