Anatomy and Asana: Preventing Yoga Injuries by Susi Hately Aldous

Anatomy and Asana offers an easy and successful method to learn anatomy and its relationship to yoga in a way that helps prevent injuries. It is written by a certified yoga teacher with a diverse background in kinesiology, ergonomics, and physical rehabilitation.

Anatomy and Asana answers many practical questions that are often asked by yoga students – about back pain, knee pain, and shoulder pain; about clenching the butt in back bends, and how to release the hamstrings or prevent hamstring tearing in forward bends. The book combines hands-on information with illuminating drawings, stories, and helpful tips to show you how to practice yoga with less pain. It informs without overwhelming the reader with too much information.

Anatomy and Asana is divided into four parts: basics of anatomy; language of anatomy and movement; the eight essential principles of movement as they relate to yoga; and application of these principles to specific groups of yoga asanas: standing poses, back bends, forward bends, twists, and inversions. For each group, the book shows where there is a tendency for injury and what you can do to instill space in your body and thereby prevent injury from occurring.