A Physiological Handbook for Teachers of Yogasana

By Mel Robin

This illustrated handbook attempts to reconcile the quantitative, objective observations of Western Medicine with the qualitative, subjective observations of Eastern Yoga. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1587360330
• ISBN13: 9781587360336
• Release Date: May 2002
• Publisher: Fenestra Books
• Length: 652 Pages
• Weight: 3.34 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.5" x 8.1" x 10.9"

Customer Reviews

A Physiological Handbook for Teachers of Yogasana

This is a well written book for yoga teachers who want to learn more about the human body and how it works. The author chose to make many of the descriptions of anatomy or physical functions relevant to specific yoga asanas (poses) to help illustrate the point and increase understanding. It's not a book to read front to back like a novel. Rather, it's best use is to find and understand specific body functions and how they relate to yoga.

Awesome

I was taught by Mel at Studio Yoga. He is the best Yoga teacher I have had to date! His book is as great as his teaching. If you want a clear precise view on Yoga buy this book. He will teach you right and how not to get hurt.

Clear, concise, informed, relevant.

If you're like me, you will think long and hard about buying this book. At first glance, it's likely to appear as yet another anatomy/physiology book with a yoga bent (pun intended). Not so.It is, instead, an attempt to bridge the gap between Eastern and Western approaches to the human body and consciousness while not taking one "side" or the other. In fact, it attempts to reconcile the two approaches by showing how closely they parallel one another and how observing yoga from both perspectives can lead to a greater understanding than embracing either alone. Dr. Robin (Ph. D., not M.D.) very clearly knows what he's talking about from both directions, and presents it in a way that's quite accessible. I was particularly impressed by the fact that I didn't have to dig through the book, reading between the lines and familiarizing myself with a lot of medical jargon to understand what my spine was doing during backbends -- the book just tells you! Although the book definitely does its job in presenting the major concepts of anatomy, physiology, biomechanics, etc. these are always in service to the subject of yoga asanas (yogasana).This book is truly a labor of love and has proven to be the best source of information about the relationship between yoga asana practice and the structure of the human body that I have seen so far including the excellent The Anatomy of Hatha Yoga by Coulter (also recommended -- but I'd give Robin's work a try first). In summary -- for the yoga practitioner seeking a deeper understanding of the human body within the context of physical yoga practice, this is worth the cover price many, many times over.