Links and References

This page notes books and links that you might find interesting or useful — much more to come!

Books

Yoga Classics:

Light On Yoga (B.K.S. Iyengar, 1966):

Iyengar played a key role in bringing our modern yoga practice out from India to the rest of the world. The first 50 pages are an excellent concise summary of yoga. The rest of the book is the author doing poses, many of them way beyond what mortals can aspire to.

The Yoga Sutras Of Patanjali (Various Translations, Circa 400 CE):

This book by Patanjali (or maybe compiled by his students), is considered the earliest written documentation of yoga theory and practice.

Yoga History:

The Story Of Yoga From Ancient India To The Modern West (Alistair Shearer, 2020):

The long history of yoga, including the evolution of the modern physical practice and its spread around the world.

Yoga Body: The Origins Of Modern Posture Practice (Mark Singleton, 2010):

Traces the roots and evolution of the modern physical practice that most people know as yoga today, which was developed in India in the early 20th century and fused yoga with European calisthenics.

James Mallinson And Mark Singleton, Roots Of Yoga (2017):

A more recent and comprehensive history of yoga and our modern physical practice.

Yoga Research:

A growing body of scientific research investigates the effects of yoga on heath, wellbeing and disease. The Yoga Alliance has a page where this research is summarized: https://www.yogaalliance.org/About_Yoga/Scientific_Research_on_Yoga

The graphic below presents a framework for understanding how yoga practices develop behavioral skills, change psychophysiological states, and modify behavior and experience; the graphic is from scholarly articles by Dr. Sat Bir Singh Khalsa, Yoga Alliance’s Director of Yoga Research, and other researchers.

From Schmalzl L., Jeter P.E., Khalsa S.B.S., The psychophysiology of yoga, in Newcombe S., O’Brien-Kop K., eds., Routledge Handbook of Yoga and Meditation Studies, Routledge, 2020.

Some Useful Sites For Yoga Poses:

Ekhart Yoga: Broad coverage of yoga poses. https://www.ekhartyoga.com

Yogathletica (Shana Myerson): Great on more challenging poses. https://yogathletica.com