You may not be a beginner in yoga practice because of the years of practice you’ve had. Yet, you cannot boast of having all the knowledge you need. The reason is that there is so much to learn in the world of yoga.
Beginners have a lot of catching up to do, while professionals still have a lot to learn. Therefore, it’s best to seek learning avenues continuously. Reading yoga books is one of the learning avenues available to the yogi.
Yoga books have a way of bridging the gap between what you’ve known and what you’re yet to know. Therefore, if you’re looking for quick suggestions on the best yoga books to read as a beginner yogi, to learn the needful, or to learn more as a professional. Here are two quick suggestions:
Why Buy Books on Yoga?
Aside from these two best selling yoga books, there are several others you should consider getting to become a part of your yoga library. That’s because you cannot and should not underestimate the role yoga for beginners books have to play in the journey to deepen your yoga practice.
Learning from teachers in your yoga class and sessions is great for your journey. You may need that kick start as a beginner and as an expert, going to classes and learning from teachers is also essential. However, you become better the more you practice. As you become better, you would need to cultivate the best way to move your body and form your yoga perspective.
Those are the two key factors that anchor your development in your yoga practice. However, the journey to formulate your best body movement and perspective is one you have to embark upon alone. With the help of good yoga books, you won’t find the journey difficult.
Therefore, the best beginner yoga books are beneficial tools that guide and give you the in-depth information you will not get in a yoga class.
Best Yoga Books to Read
Finding the best yoga book in 2020 can be challenging because there are many such books on the market.
You have two different types of yoga books in the market; one teaches the physical aspect of yoga and how to perform the various moves. These are yoga anatomy books.
The other yoga books teach the more spiritual aspect of yoga. They are the yoga philosophy books that aim to take deeper spiritual and philosophical underpinnings of yoga.
However, without disregard to the type of yoga you want to practice, here are a few suggestions of the must-read yoga books:
Guide to Iyengar Yoga Practice With Props -Author: Eyal Shifroni
This 4-Book Series Iyengar yoga book takes different approaches within the Iyengar yoga method. It separates its focus on the sitting asanas, standing pose, chair yoga, and inverted poses with each book focusing on each aspect. You will find all four books useful because they are full of unique and creative ways to adapt asanas using straps, blocks, walls, and chairs.
Explores different approaches to doing yoga
Helps explore asanas using props
Illustrates each pose using excellent photos
Let’s you enjoy experimenting with poses
Challenges you to deepen your yoga practice
It may be too complicated for beginners
Not all images are with color
Daily Reflection on the Path of Yoga – Meditation from the Mat
This book offers 365 days of meditations that help develop mindfulness in your everyday life. Consider this book as a yoga sutras book because it integrates remarkable growth and healing with Patanjali’s yoga sutras and offers moving explanations of how teaching yoga applies to real-life situations.
With this yoga sutra book, you begin each day with thought-provoking stories or quotes that explore various intriguing aspects of yoga philosophy.
Enjoy daily thought-provoking stories or quotes
Enjoy inner exploration
Helps to challenge your daily
Helps to seek deeper spiritual meaning
Challenges you to everyday mindfulness
Reading daily short stories and quotes can be boring
Only for those who care about daily mindful living
Insight Yoga: Restorative yoga book -Author: Sarah Powers
This book by Sarah Power is a synthesis of wisdom filled with helpful insights, photos, and information. Sarah’s description of yoga practice in this book is unique and refreshing, which is why the book fits perfectly into the restorative yoga books category.
The book focuses on yin yoga and the author offers several yoga sequences designed to help heal specific organs and pressurize certain meridians. She divided each yoga practice into a short and long version so that you can adapt them to your schedule quickly.
Helps you enjoy yin yoga
Teaches how to compress meridians using yoga
Learn how to heal specific organs using yoga
Splits your yoga session into short and long options
Uses simple explanations and photos
The photo is in black and white
Hatha Yoga Illustrated -Author: Martin Kirk, Brooke Boon, and Daniel DiTuro
Hatha yoga is a popular yoga today, making hatha yoga books one of the most popular yoga books on the market. Therefore, this book presents over 600 full-color photos that demonstrate over 70 standard poses from hatha yoga.
The book shows how to achieve individual poses from start to finish, achieve proper alignment, and ensure breathing challenges in a yet safe execution. It also offers eleven sample yoga routines that show how to assemble the poses to meet your difficulty, specific time, and intensity parameter.
Presents individual pose from start to finish
Shows how to achieve proper alignment
Increases both physical and mental effectiveness
Experience several pose vibration on personal preference
Minimal information on creating full flow
Yoga Whale: Simple Poses for Kids -Author: Sarah Jane Hinder
You have a yoga book for children in the suggestion to balance this list. Within the pages of this yoga book, parents can find simple yoga poses that are suitable for little ones and try them out with their kids.
Hinder employed several characters such as jellyfish, seahorses, crabs, dolphins, etc. to beautifully illustrate the poses in a bright and eye-catching color palette.
Easy-to-follow instructions
Employs accompanying illustrations of human children
Encourages parent’s supervision and incentive ways to encourage children
Great for parents looking to try something new with their children
Does not put a funny approach into consideration to interest children
Buying Guide
There are several yoga books available on the market in 2020. However, not all such books are relevant or useful to one. An essential aspect of buying yoga books online is to ensure that you buy a book that details your desired result. Set a goal and set out to find books to help you achieve your goal(s).
Secondly, buy only books with good reviews. There are several free yoga books available online, but you also need to be sure the free book on yoga you set out to download is relevant. Therefore, check out what others are saying. If you are paying for the book on Amazon, you need to read customer reviews to see if the book can deepen your yoga practice.
Frequently Asked Questions
The best yoga book for beginners has to feature an explicit instruction and illustration of the poses you need to know. Example of such yoga book includes the following:
- The Yoga Beginner’s Bible by TAI MORELLO
- Light On Yoga by B.K.S Iyengar
- Guide to Iyengar Yoga Practice With Props by Eyal Shifroni
- Daily Reflection on the Path of Yoga by Katrina Kenison
- Insight Yoga by Sarah Powers
To get prepared for yoga teacher training, get yourself acquainted with the concept of yoga by reading books, especially books centered on the type of yoga you’ll practice in class.
Consider reading Hatha Yoga Illustrated by Martin Kirk, Brooke Boon, and Daniel DiTuro because Hatha is one of today’s most popular yoga styles.
Patanjali, the author of Yoga Sutras, divided the book into four chapters, as they are popularly called. However, these chapters are books themselves as they contain 1966 aphorisms covering areas such as sadhana, Samadhi, kaivalya, and vibhuti.
The “Yoga Sutras of Patanjali” book offers the best yoga sutra translation available in 2020. To get the best yoga sutras translation, be in search of “The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali: A New Edition, Translation, and Commentary By Edwin Bryant Ph.D.”