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Santosha.com's Shopper's Guide to Books on Yoga
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Ashtanga Yoga: The Definitive Step-By-Step Guide to Dynamic Yoga
by John Scott, Shri K. Pattabhi Jois
John Scott's Ashtanga Yoga draws on his expertise as a teacher of this most energetic form of yoga. An easy-to-use guide, it features color photographs and a series of step-by-step exercise sessions -- starting with a simple sequence designed for beginners that, once mastered, provides the foundation for moving to the next cycle.
Excerpt from book:
The Way of Ashtanga Yoga
Ashtanga Yoga is a science and practice that has evolved over a period of thousands of years to deal with moral, physical, mental/emotional, and spiritual development. The term ashtanga, which means "eight-limbs", was devised in about 200 BC by the great Indian sage Patanjali. He was the first yogi to systematize an approach to yoga, and his eight-limbed system provided then, as it still does today, a set order of steps through which practitioners can progress in order to reach a state of yoga. In this context, "yoga" means the yoking, or union of mind, body, and soul leading toward self-realization. In order to achieve this union, it is first necessary to take control of the mind and to remove the uncessary stimuli and clutter that get in the way of clarity. Within the eight-limbed system of Ashtanga, the third limb is Asnana. This is the practice of classical yoga postures, and it is the device that ties the mind to the body through the "thread of the breath". In this system, the breath becomes the key to the focusing of the mind.
About the author:
Johmn Scott is certified to teach Ashtanga Yoga by the Ashtanga Yoga Research Institute in India where where he studied under the world-renowned yogi Shri Prattabhi Jois. He founded his own Ashtanga school in his native New Zealand and has taught in the United States. In 1997 John opened Ashtanga London. He counts amongst his students such celebrities as Madonna and Sting. John and his wife, Lucy, have recently established the Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga Retreat Center in Cornwall, England, where they now reside.
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