Yoga for the West: A Manual for Designing Your Own Practice

by Ian Rawlinson, Ian Ralwinson

Book by Rawlinson, Ian

234 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1988

Reviews

[David]

I found exactly what I was looking for in this book. I wanted a yoga book that would teach me the basics of sequencing a yoga routine- often when I design my own routine I end up with a little lower back pain the following day and I have been trying to learn how to sequence my routine to prevent that. From Yoga for the West I learned how to sequence with poses and counter poses as well as variations for about 20 of the most common asanas. Ian Rawlinson also discussed the importance of building a routine up gradually from simple warm-ups to the most complex asana and back down. And convincingly demonstrated the amazing variety of movement that can be accomplished simply by varying arm positions for example in extending arms out to the sides in the forward bend pose (uttanasana) or squeezing palms together behind the back- each change the impact of the posture greatly.

I have noticed that more traditional yoga practitioners focus a lot on the breath, mind, body connection and Rawlinson pleasantly fell into that category. He also taught a useful breath notation which I hope to integrate into my practice. Plus, the book is filled with the most informative stick figure diagrams I have ever seen!