30 Essential Yoga Poses: For Beginning Students and Their Teachers by Judith Lasater provides comprehensive information for the 30 most common yoga poses. The book is great for teachers and students, as well as people starting a home yoga practice using DVDs.
Lasater provides clear descriptions of each of the thirty asanas and instructions for performing the asanas in language that is concise and easy to understand. This is great for anyone practicing at home to help with correct posture in the pose.
The book includes many color illustrations of each of the asanas. The illustrations are clear and easy to follow to help learn correct form in the asanas. Many yoga teachers have used this as an essential reference book for helping beginning students learn the asanas and modifying the poses for any student needing to modify the poses.
This book is good for anyone needing to modify some yoga poses, even if they are not new to the practice. There are many reasons poses may need to be modified, including injury, pain or health reasons and this book offers suggestions for modifications of each of the asanas featured in the book.
Lasater also includes information about sequencing the asanas featured in the book. This is great for new yoga teachers or for anyone who creates their own sequences to practice at home. There is also a seven day plan at the end of the book and themed practices with asanas that focus on specific themes, such as balance, hips, lower back, fatigue and more.
In addition to the asanas, this book provides some information on the eightfold path of yoga, as described in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The book discusses the concepts of the eight limbs of yoga and applies the concepts in Patanjali’s well known text to modern life.
The author also discusses pranayama breathing exercises with excellent information for people practicing yoga at home and yoga teachers working with beginning students.