Yoga Mat Companion 1: Anatomy for Vinyasa Flow and Standing Poses

first three volumes arrived before time at my door securely packed,with air bags, in perfect new condition, via amazon [to australia]..large magazine size, well bound paperback, printed in canada on quality acid-free paper, 220 pages.. nice slightly heavy feel, bound to lie flat, solid cover for paperback with understated interesting pencil anatomy of bodies in asana relevant to volume content, clearly titled in large enough print, eg 'anatomy for BACKBENDS and TWISTS' on colour coded lower half of cover..volumes look and feel good..difficult to adequately review such a superlative ground breaking series[!]everything is well laid out appropriately to learning and enjoyingthese unique books.. holding/looking thru a volume while writingthis, i cant get over the level of excellence in everything..example; section 'key concepts' repeated in each volume, clearly explains'agonist/antagonist relationships', 'reciprocal inhibition', 'the muscle spindle', 'facilitated stretches', 'key co-activations', 'bandhas',using specific asana with wonderfully clear large images together witheasily digestible text explanations of exactly how, these key conceptsand processes actually work in your body, and how to translate thisto your own practice and investigation of the asana and concepts..it isnt just the typical dry text, with inadequate illustrations of manyattempts at yoga and stretching texts.. the imagery alone, combined withwell thought out clear explanations and directions, creates or enhancesyour own in-brain imagery of your own muscles and joints in actionas you innervate them.. this is one unique standard setting featureor these standard setting volumes.. even 'bandhas' are describedand detailed in a way i have never come across before.. making bandhasinteresting and accessible to my mind as real and valuable practices..reason for ordering the four volumes was owning volI&II of 'scientific keys'by the same ray long md, orthopedic surgeon and student of bks.iyengar,shown on the website with ray long and said to have advised onthe contents etc of these volumes..i am a student of simon borg-olivier and his excellent yogasynergy teachersand also hold second dan black belt in traditional okinawa gojuryu karatewhich has refined stretching and so on.. im not easily impressed, yetcan recognise quality in teaching material when i see it..rather than describing everything with a long list of superlatives,my advice to anyone interested in stretching and refined body mechanicsand practices is to simply go to the website; bhandayoga.comwhere these volumes are available, together with specificand marvelous imagery of muscles and joints in motion, plus 3Drotating figures of yogis in various asanas from 'scientific keys'and as also included in these volumes..having attempted sanskrit i appreciate the use of sanskrit asana namestogether with the typical english versions, including nice sanskritscript with titles of asana sections, plus a page on pronunciations..the 25 page anatomy section is also superb and typical..back cover title; 'COMBINE MODERN WESTERN SCIENCE with the ANCIENTART of HATHA YOGA' gives an idea of [successful] intention here..without doubt one of the best works of its kind, probably the, best..these volumes cost me $23 each, plus postage :)this is a personal unreserved recommendation of this series and ofthe related 'scientific keys' for anyone with any interest inyoga, genuine martial arts, stretching and physiology, or,as a great gift for anyone with those interests..namastecarl

I have to say I was skeptical ordering this book. I don't know anatomy. I practice yoga in my own home. I have been to one semester of yoga classes while I was in college. I really liked it, and have practiced off and on since. Only recently have I developed a kind of serious interest in getting into the yoga poses correctly and making sure that I am using the correct muscles for the poses as opposed to just "flopping" into them. I find that when I know the pose inside and out, I can actually concentrate on proper alignment, breathing, and using the correct muscles as opposed to what is in my to do list. Which means that I am more "present" in my practice.I didn't get to look at this book through my library, one of the reasons why I was skeptical. I usually only get books that I have already decided are a worth while investment. So I threw caution to the wind and wound up with a wonderful book.It goes into how the book should be read and then breaks down poses like Mountain, Tree, Warrior 1 and 2 by:Telling you their joint position (Mountain = the knees are extended, hips neutral, . . .)How to prepare for the poseAnd what muscles you are using through various stages of the pose with some amazing muscular photos to go along with it.It also give you some example workouts for vinyasa yoga as well.Overall my impression: This is great, You can easily focus on proper alinement a pose or two at a time for a week until it becomes natural to your everyday practice. I am buying the rest of the set.

this series of books is the best detailed info i've seen on the postures. There are 3 ways I understand poses here. Names are given for each muscle that either stretches or flexes, also pictures of said muscles in different hues of blue and red to show where intensity is, also the joints involed and the direction the muscles move the ligements. While it could be overwhelming for some there is a lot of growing room and so many details to continue to work towards better posture. Even the sugested vinyasa flow has some weight to how to order poses and it gives reference to the chakras. But what I really like is how scientific it seems. It even gives several variations that can be used for injuries or preparation for each pose. What I really like is how it details how to use reciprocal inhibition and the golgi tendon to go deaper into poses- which I might call a simple shift of awareness to push into the pain without getting hurt. As well as a heap of detail about creating bandhas via co-activation for stabelization. One thing I dont see is much detail to get into the individual poses. But you can get that from a number of other good books. Once you're in the basic pose this book will provide much detail to continue to explore, play and increase awareness and form. The 4 books in the series have minimal overlap and the portions that do use different poses for the examples. Definately check these out!

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Love it!

Es una verdadera joya !. Si te interesa la anatomía del yoga debes leerlo !

Un ottimo testo. Ha soddisfatto in pieno le mie aspettative.

I originally bought this book in kindle form. This book relies a lot on the colour pictures, which are not available on kindle and the difficulty of flipping backwards and forwards to check certain details in other chapters is also difficult on kindle. The illustrations on kindle are small and it is difficult to see the detail. So I decided to spend the money to get a paperback version. It was pricey, but well worth the expense. This is a very detailed book, but easy to understand and very practical. I am amazed at how it explains the use of muscles and their control in the asanas. I have many yoga books, but this series is unique.. Excellent reference book and aid to achieving the postures and vinyasa. I will be getting the complete series, because these books are absolutely brilliant. I was put off initially by the price, and that is why I tried the kindle version first. Exceptionally good in paperback form, and well worth the expense.