Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff
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Book Reviews of Yoga Anatomy
Book Review: An excellent body of work for regular yoga practitioners or medical professionals
Summary: 5 Stars
This book strikes me as a labor of love - immense and incredible detail pours forth on every fully illustrated page.
Serious yoga practitioners will glean useful insights on joint actions, breathing, and the precise inner workings of their bodies, in poses from savasana to scorpion. Excellent color drawings show where your intestines curl up to in poses like shoulderstand (they take up a lot more room in the torso than we realize), what parts of the body hold up weight in inverted poses, and even what our illustrated musculature looks like from underneath, in, for example, turtle pose (the publishers photographed yogis underneath suspended glass slabs). There is a lot of neat stuff here.
The "Joint Action," "Working" and "Lengthening" paragraphs detail what parts of the body are under stress or responding to gravity. The arms, legs and spine are given extra attention.
"Obstacles and Notes" includes where one might feel restrictions, try variations or deal with bodily congestion.
"Breathing" offers tips on how the breath might be restricted and how to align each pose to more comfortably/fully breathe.
OVERALL RECOMMENDATION -
Beginners won't really know what to make of this book. Besides the "oh, cool!" factor, it's difficult to figure out what beginners could do with this information. It's not a pose book per se. It's not causal reading. It's a serious texbook for serious yogis.
While the top of each page provides both Sanskrit and English pose names, the text refers to the Sanskrit, forcing yoga beginners to fumble around between pages to catch what the references are.
Proper names of muscles, bones and tendons are used: if reading about adductors, flexors, rotators, erector spinae, multifidi and rhomboids that "work eccentrically" are confusing, this book might not be altogether helpful.
That said, this book is a must-have for the libraries of yoga instructors and yoga therapists. Doctors and medical professionals endorsing yoga for health/fitness will likely enjoy this reference tool.
Intermediate to advanced practitioners with a working knowledge of anatomy and Sanskrit names should find exploring Yoga Anatomy an - ahem - illuminating experience. :)
Book Review: Essential reference guide
Summary: 5 Stars
As a yoga practioner and teacher, I have always been in search for an easily understandable anatomy book on yoga-- and Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff provides that. Each asana (pose) that is explained shows the following:
- a beautiful illustration of the pose showing the muscles and bones that are used in the pose (joints and organs are shown some asanas too)
- the English and Sanskit name (along with the pronouncitation)
- Classification and Level
- Joint Actions
- Working (muscles being used)
- Lengthening (muscles being stretched)
- Obstacles and Notes (mucscles, bones or joints that may hinder the yogi to coming into the pose, and provide helpful hints to overcoming that)
- Breathing (suggestions on how to use the breath and where to direct the focus of the breath)
Leslie Kaminoff explains many of the most commonly practiced asanas--including standing, sitting, kneeling, supine, prone and arm support poses. There is also a chapter on the breath and another on the spine.
My complaint is that the muscles mentioned in the text weren't completely identified in the illustration. For example, if there are 40 muscles involved in the pose, only 10 or less are pointed out in the illustration. This can get slightly frustrating because unless you are an anatomist or physical therapist, I do not memorize all the muscles, bones and joints and their placements. It may be asking too much to show each and every muscle mentioned into the drawings, so I refer to another book, Anatomy of Movement by Blandine Calais-Germain for reference (this book provides a breakdown of body parts and the muscle groups). But nevertheless, the illustrations are invaluable in providing a deeper understanding of the pose.
Overall, this is the best anatomy book on yoga I've read so far. I have read H. David Coulter's Anatomy of Hatha Yoga, and a book as thick as the bible is sure to overwhelm. Yoga Anatomy provides a fairly easy-to-understand format, however it is not for newbies. This book is more for serious yogis and teachers who already have a basic knowledge of anatomy and would like to learn more.
Book Review: See "Inside" Your Yoga Poses
Summary: 5 Stars
Yoga Anatomy is a book that gives the reader a look inside the human body as it is put in various yoga positions.
Chapter 1 covers the dynamics of breathing and actually covers some breathing physiology as well. Chapter 2 talks about the spine and gives some pretty detailed spinal information. Chapter 3 is short and covers the asanas.
The rest of the book, Chapters 4 through 9, make up the "meat" of the book and contains most of the anatomy information most readers probably bought the book for- what muscles are used in what poses. The way the book gives you the information is quite handy- it has a section on standing poses, sitting poses, kneeling poses, on-your-stomach poses, on-your-back poses, and arm supported poses. Sooo, all you have to do is pick a position/pose, and there you'll find pictures of what muscles are involved (and let me say, they show you some great angles of the poses to make sure the reader can see ALL the muscles that are involved). In addition to learing what muscles are involved, the book also tells you what joint actions are involved, as well as what body parts are working AND which ones are lengthening- neat!
A great reference book, its simply perfect for the yoga enthusiast that has become acquainted over time with muscles they never knew they had- but will now after reading this book! Also recommend The 5-Minute Plantar Fasciitis Solution if plantar fasciitis pain keeps you from doing your yoga.
Book Review: Extremely Detailed
Summary: 5 Stars
"Yoga Anatomy" by Leslie Kaminoff, is a must have book for yoga instructors and practitioners. Although there are a few books on yoga anatomy currently available to choose from, I was pleasantly surprised by Kaminoff's offering. First of all, the illustrations are absolutely crystal clear (the amazing artist, Sharon Ellis, is a medical illustrator). The drawings show exactly what your muscles and bones are doing in each pose. The coolest part is that we get to see some (not all) of these poses from interesting angles - not just the side view and front view - but also from the bottom and top, which really adds a lot (the author accomplished this by shooting pictures of the models from below, using a large sheet of plexiglass suspended by two ladders!). For example, imagine seeing "Bakasana" (Crane Pose) from underneath! You can see the Serratus Anterior and Iliacus at work - two things that may be difficult to view in traditional yoga anatomy books.
For each pose featured, Kaminoff provides information on the joint actions, what parts of the body are working, what is lengthening and what obstacles you may encounter. Sanskrit and English terms are provided along with pronunciations of the Sanskrit. The author also gives a very detailed chapter on the Dynamics of Breathing as well as a chapter on the Spine. These additions are invaluable and very clear. So much information is presented, it is almost overwhelming - but unlike other anatomy books, it doesn't feel dry or boring. This would be a great manual for any yoga teacher training program as well as for anyone who would like to "see" what is happening in each asana.
Book Review: An excellent work on yoga anatomy for a very reasonable price!
Summary: 5 Stars
Yoga anatomy is a detailed work on how the various yoga asanas impact us at an anatomical level. For a variety of standing, sitting, kneeling, supine, prone and arm support yoga poses the key anatomical structures, joint and limb actions, working and lengthening of muscles and breathing involved in the pose are described. The obstacles to getting into the poses are also described. I found this to be extremely useful. The diagrams are detailed and by looking at it one would know what muscles and joints are involved in the yoga posture. Getting into a posture is not very difficult for many; but the question is if they are doing it the right way by involving the right muscles and joints. For example the book clearly mentions that in Uttanasana (standing forward bend) hip flexion is the main joint action but if the hamstrings are tight then spine flexes to compensate for it. By being aware of this fact, one can focus on flexing the hip and correctly get into the pose without flexing the spine much. By being aware of the correct muscles groups/ joints my yoga practice has benefitted immensely. My hip has opened easing pressure on my spinal muscles and my back pain has eased considerably because of that. For some poses, the book does not pictorically depict all the muscles mentioned in the description. The book talks about latissimus dorsi lengthening in Utkatasana but the illustration does not show that. Overall, this is a great book for a very reasonable price!