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squid_vicious 's review for:
Yoga Anatomy
by Amy Matthews, Leslie Kaminoff
If you are curious to understand exactly what your body is doing when you practice yoga, a book like this one is an invaluable reference. Most yoga books include a brief descriptions of the effect of various asanas on the body, but rarely do they do in great details; “Yoga Anatomy” focuses specifically on the effects of yoga on breathing and spinal health, but they also give detailed information on all the musculoskeletal actions, as well as plenty of notes on how to get into the poses and work on them safely.
It must be said that the first 70 or so pages of the book are extremely technical: if you aren’t familiar with anatomical terms, it can quickly get overwhelming. While reading that part of the book, I often probed my back or flexed my arms and legs in order to identify the vertebrae or movement described so I could understand the explanations a little bit better. I also thought the image of “an accordion on top of a water balloon” to understand how the thoracic and abdominal cavities work when you are breathing to be really helpful to keep in mind during practice. But once you are over that section, the fun begins!
Asanas are organized by “base” (standing, sitting, kneeling, etc.), and each pose has a detailed illustration (or a few, to show you what the body is doing from different angles) showing you which group of muscles and joints are working and how. I found the accompanying notes and breathing technique recommendations very useful to get a more complete understanding of what exactly it is that I am doing when I am working on crow pose.
Of course, they had to choose which asanas to explore, so the ones featured in this book are the basics and the classics – but the information can help anyone make educated and informed guesses about what the body is doing when working on funky variations. And as mentioned, the information is limited to the muscles, joints and skeletal actions, so there isn’t a lot of details about the effects each asana has on inner organs.
Nevertheless, serious yoga students should definitely take a look at this book if they wants a more thorough understanding of the physical effects of their practice.
It must be said that the first 70 or so pages of the book are extremely technical: if you aren’t familiar with anatomical terms, it can quickly get overwhelming. While reading that part of the book, I often probed my back or flexed my arms and legs in order to identify the vertebrae or movement described so I could understand the explanations a little bit better. I also thought the image of “an accordion on top of a water balloon” to understand how the thoracic and abdominal cavities work when you are breathing to be really helpful to keep in mind during practice. But once you are over that section, the fun begins!
Asanas are organized by “base” (standing, sitting, kneeling, etc.), and each pose has a detailed illustration (or a few, to show you what the body is doing from different angles) showing you which group of muscles and joints are working and how. I found the accompanying notes and breathing technique recommendations very useful to get a more complete understanding of what exactly it is that I am doing when I am working on crow pose.
Of course, they had to choose which asanas to explore, so the ones featured in this book are the basics and the classics – but the information can help anyone make educated and informed guesses about what the body is doing when working on funky variations. And as mentioned, the information is limited to the muscles, joints and skeletal actions, so there isn’t a lot of details about the effects each asana has on inner organs.
Nevertheless, serious yoga students should definitely take a look at this book if they wants a more thorough understanding of the physical effects of their practice.