The Ashtanga Practice Manual

Ashtanga Yoga Practice Manual

Ashtanga Yoga Practice Manual by David Swenson.

My good friend Vanessa Smith of Little Mysteries has brought in several books on yoga. She asked me

one day which books I thought would be good and she brought them all into her store.

The Ashtanga Yoga Practice Manual is one of the books that she brought in.  This book by David Swenson is the best book to learn Ashtanga yoga with.

  • It lays flat because it has a spiral binding.
  • It covers each pose and its modifications on a pair of facing pages
  • At the back of the book the entire primary series is covered on two facing pages.

This is the first book that I bought that teaches the Ashtanga Yoga sequence of poses.  It covers both the Primary series and the Intermediate series.  Each of the poses is covered in detail on two facing pages.  There is the full pose on the left hand page and several modifications on the right hand page.  You can work your way through the entire Primary series a pose at a time a page at a time.

An early section of the book covers how to develop your jump through.  The key is to get you hips high in the air as if you were going into hand stand.  Once the hips are high in the air, cross the legs, tuck the ankles in close to the body and swing through your arms to a seated position.

At the back of the book David has developed several short forms of the Primary series.  This means that you will be able to do a practice that is 15, 30, or 45 minutes long, if that is all the time that you have available.

This is a very good book.  If you practice Ashtanga yoga you should buy this book.

Written by

Jack teaches Tai Chi & Qigong in Dartmouth NS. He teaches class via Zoom and in person. In person classes are at North Woodside Community Centre as well as outdoors. Jack also teaches at the Canadian College of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine (CCATCM). He teaches the students how to include Qigong in their Acupuncture practice.

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