This book is not intended as an instructional book for beginners, nor as your sole source of yoga instruction. It is meant as a reference guide for those who are already studying yoga in some capacity (you'll find it useful whether you're taking your first class or your twentieth) and who would like a guide to the poses, or asanas, for use when they aren't at class and don't have an instructor to guide them. This little book is also perfect for taking along to the office or on a trip.

While yoga is an extremely gentle form of exercise, doing it wrong (like any exercise) can be dangerous. So if you want to continue your practice away from home or class, it can be invaluable to have a guide to remind you of how exactly to do it. Also, with such a guide you won't be limited to the five or ten poses you can most easily remember. This book has a total of 108, and includes the Sun Salutation and several practices (series of poses to use as a single workout).

Each chapter (chapters are divided by type of pose, such as inverted poses or backbends) starts off with general alignment instructions and cautions; be certain to read these even if you're sure you know what you're doing. Additional cautions are sometimes included in small boxes next to individual poses. This to me is always a sign of a good yoga instructor who is mindful of the possible difficulties and medical issues of her charges.

This book gets into some very difficult poses, which makes it a reference you'll be able to use throughout your yoga experience. I do wish it had included more indication of which poses were more advanced and should wait until later, although if you assume that you should not practice any pose in this book until you've done it at least once in a class, then you'll be fine--and again, since this book is meant as a companion and reference guide, that would be appropriate.

One particularly useful aspect to this book is that it includes "preparation" poses for some of the more difficult postures, which can also be used as substitution poses if you don't yet possess the physical capability to perform a posture.

Despite some very minor imperfections (I prefer photos to drawings, although these are good drawings), this book serves as an excellent reference work.

Full review at ErrantDreams ( )