Instructional
The Yoga Asana Index
A complete index of hatha yoga postures
by Bruce Bowditch
As
the title suggests, this book is all about asana, the physical
postures of yoga. It's a fantastic reference for yogis interested
in the Sanksrit names of 486 poses and mudras. Plus, it's organized
so the postures tend to flow one into the other, making it
great for practice.
While the author, Bruce Bowditch, is a certified Anusara instructor, his index spans many styles. After a few words of introduction he dives directly into postures. The Yoga Asana Index contains hundreds of straightforward pose and mudra illustrations. Asanas are grouped into categories such as standing poses, floor poses, seated twists, arm balances and poses for meditation. (A complete list appears after the buy button.) Within each section, the poses are sequenced to create a fluid progression that makes the book suitable as a practice manual.
This book is all about practice. It's even
spiral bound to lay flat for easy reference while you are doing the postures.
And for those who want to practice the Sanskrit names for each of the poses
this book and accompanying CD is the perfect resource. The names of the
positions
are printed beneath each illustration. In the back of the book there
is a pronunciation guide and an accompanying audio CD has all of the
names, correctly pronounced. There are full glossaries for both English
to Sanskrit
and Sanskrit to English titles for all of the poses, just in case you forgot
that karnapidanasana means ear pressure pose or maybe, like me, didn't
know it in the first place.
For those interested in an easy to work with
posture reference, indexed in English and Sanskrit, with clear pose illustrations,
organized in helpful ways to create sequences of poses that also has lots
of support for correct Sanskrit pronunciation, this unique book and CD set
is just the thing!
Bruce Bowditch is a seasoned student and teacher of the Anusara technique and has apprenticed directly with John Friend. He specializes in yoga therapeutics and biomechanics. He lives in Arizona and conducts workshops across the United States and internationally. |
