Best Yoga Books to Deepen Your Practice

  • Light On Yoga: The Best Overall Book about Yoga -Author: B.K.S Iyengar
    light on yoga - iyengar

    The Light on Yoga book is a 1966 classic and essential yoga book to read. Though it’s an old book written by B.K.S Iyengar, it’s still an integral yoga book for the present-day yogi.

    The book is described as the encyclopedia of many breathing techniques and hundreds of yoga poses. It is a detailed and comprehensive book on yoga philosophy and a step-by-step guide to various asanas.

    This book projects yoga’s concepts as though it has been carried through from the origins. You can ascribe the reason for this to the fact that Light on Yoga is a work of art from a master yogi and a classic.

    It uses images to depict the various yoga poses, but the photos are mildly grainy; of course, it’s an ancient but classic book.

    Light on yoga is, without doubt, a must-have in any yoga library and any yogi’s collection because it covers everything from beginners’ poses to advance and then tops it with curative asana and yoga courses for various diseases. Its new edition’s subtitle is “The Bible of Modern Yoga,” available on Amazon with over 1100 customer reviews and 4.7 out of star customer ratings.

    Best choice
  • The Yoga Beginner’s Bible: Best for Beginners -Author: TAI MORELLO
    The Yoga Beginner's Bible

    The religious book called the Bible guides the Christian faithful on tenets of the faith. So does The Yoga Beginner’s Bible guides you, as a beginner yogi, into the practice of yoga to deepen your practice.

    It is one of the best books on yoga for beginners as it features explicit instruction and illustrations of the poses you need to know. 

    As a beginner, one of the problems you’ll encounter is that you’ll have challenges with flexibility. The Yoga Beginner’s Bible includes creative modification of poses, so you’ll find them easy to do. 

    As a bonus, the book offers various breathing exercises and procedures because they are significant to your yoga practice. Little wonder the book has a 4.3 out of 5-star rating on Amazon from over 400 customers.

    Best choice

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.

Pros

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

Cons

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.

Pros

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

Cons

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.

Pros

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

Cons

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.

Pros

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

Cons

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.

Pros

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

Cons

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

What is the best yoga book for beginners?

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
What should I read before yoga teacher training?

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.

How many books are in the Yoga Sutras?

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.

What is the best yoga sutra translation?

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.”

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