Science of Yoga: Understand the Anatomy and Physiology to Perfect your Practice

This book is an excellent, concise guide to understanding joint mobility and muscle engagement. I’m hooked - I’ve sat down to read it for pleasure twice already! As an experienced and senior yoga teacher, finding a book I want to read, and return to, is gold dust. The clear illustrations, with color-coded visuals for engaged and stretched muscles, make it easy to see and understand key movements. I especially appreciated the practical tips throughout, which, while familiar, are very useful for teachers looking to share helpful insights with students. Overall, it simplifies complex concepts, concretes the anatomically relevant facts and provides actionable advice, making it a great resource for both personal practice and teaching. I love it!

This book is fabulous! It shows you what muscles are being used and how they are being stretched! A very in-depth book for someone interested in the body and how yoga affects certain parts of the body.

Incredibly beautiful book from Ann. Each page has been carefully thought out and is packed full of information backed up by research. The diagrams in the book by Arran Lewis are beautifully done, and help visualise what is happening in our bodies when practising yoga. I also love the updated pranayama section going through the typical breath work patterns. Above all, I love how this book is informed by up to date research, and it is clear that so much love has been put into this new edition

Having practiced yoga for six years at home, attending different classes and watching videos it's become a big part of my wellbeing and mindfulness. So much so, I wanted to learn more before formally enrolling onto a yoga teaching course. While I do enjoy yoga that focuses on the spiritual side somewhat, I was thinking about what my style would be and what I most enjoyed at my local classes. And I really loved the science of it. So, when I came across Ann's book "Science of Yoga: Understand the Anatomy and Physiology to Perfect your Practice" I knew I had to buy it immediately! When it came, I read it quickly from cover to cover and it was absolutely fantastic. After an introduction, it moved into breaking down some of the most loved asanas one by one, first at a glance and then with a closer look. While the science behind yoga is still very much being explored, the book explained simply yet comprehensively what each asana does to the body scientifically. The diagrams are colourful and clear, and this really should be a book that every modern yogi or yoga teacher has in their book shelf. I highly recommend it.

Great clear pictures well annotated. Nice and easy to understand and use. Just wish there were more asanas covered.

Love this book I am new to yoga so also bought a beginners book but this book shows you every single muscle, tendon, ligament that is being used when in each pose, I have arthritis at the C vertebrae of my spine and it causes pain in my neck, shoulders and back this book shows you which poses will stretch/ strengthen the muscles to help ease the pain, quite technical but helps you identify where the pain can be coming from, very good book would absolutely recommend

Recommend for anyone who is interested in yoga or any physical movement really. Excellent graphics and a tonne of great, up to date science. It’s a rare combination of the best of the scientific world and beautiful, educational imagery. Love it!

This book is so clear, concise, easy to navigate and understand. Being a visual person, the colours and layout really appeal to me. I have always been so curious when in yoga class as to why a certain pose is good for me - this book gives great insight into these benefits. How alignment, breath and variations are set out in the book and all the other interesting pieces of information on any given page are really well placed. The ‘Closer Look’ aspect really compliments ‘The Big Picture’. As someone who doesn’t have a background in anything related to anatomy, this book has given me a great foundation to work from and a new dimension to my yoga practice. I think the biggest compliment I can give this book is that my 4 year old son often asks to look at it or read it .

En anglais mais une vrai source de savoir. A compléter cependant avec d’autres livres pour une compréhension optimale.

Unfortunately I returned my copy because I received it damaged. I can only talk about my first impressions. At first glance the way that knowledge is presented seems a little too general, the layout is a like a chaotic school textbook too. That may be appealing for some but me personally, I like simple, old-fashioned books where the knowledge is condensed in an organized manner. I could probably still learn from this book as it approached many different subjects. Now, the illustrations are fantastic. Too bad they decided to put those detailed, beautiful illustrations split across two pages, which makes them almost useless. You can't even read some descriptions. This is a huge flaw in my opinion. Possibly in the future the format could be slightly bigger, and some illustrations smaller, so one would fit on a single page. That, I would reorder.

解剖学的な視点から英語の勉強も兼ねて身体を把握したくて購入。満足です。

Detailed and informative. Happy to have it in my library.

Great book - informative and easy to follow with great drawings