Yoga Books

The basics of ashtanga yoga cannot be learned enough. Because yoga practice is progressive it is important to go through this manual in the order it is presented. However, if you are having difficulty with any of the postures go back to the beginning. Keep in mind that the true source of understanding is in the basic principals underlying the asanas. Take your time and learn the fundamentals of the practice. Go slowly. 

This book is an introduction to the classical understanding of chakras, which are most simply defined as psychic centers of transformation that enable one to move toward an enlightened state of being. Although the roots of the knowledge about chakras are of ancient origin, this knowledge is still functionally practical today. Chakra is a Sanskrit word that means “a wheel, a disc, or any arrangement in circular form or organization.” The ancient sources depict each of the seven major chakras as a lotus blossom, a circular form surrounded by petals, as we shall see illustrated in chapter 3, “The Essentials of the Chakras.” The word chakra also indicates movement. Chakras introduce movement because they transform psychophysical energy into spiritual energy. Psychophysical energy is electrochemical in nature and it works with the help of prana.Prana is the energy that creates life, matter, and mind. The word prana means “vital life force.” Although our organism draws prana in through our nostrils as we breathe, dynamic prana energy is not based on the physiochemical system of the body; it operates super physically through a “wireless” system rather than through the nervous system.

The chakra system is an ancient Indian belief system comprised of seven energy centres located along the spine. The word “chakra” comes from the Sanskrit language and literally means “wheel” – a reference to these rotating vortices or focal points that have been assigned specific vibrations.

Yoga is right living. This definition may appear to be simple, but really it is very significant for the meaning of right living is very wide. Swami Sivanandaji Maharaj explains in an easy and homely style the basic principles that a beginner in Yoga has to understand and follow. These Easy Steps to Yoga are laid out with a special view to enable the novice to ascend without much difficulty the heights of spiritual attainment.

Yoga is a perfect practical system of self-culture. Yoga is an exact science. It aims at the harmonious development of the body, the mind and the soul. Yoga is the turning away of the senses from the objective universe and the concentration of the mind within. Yoga is eternal life in the soul or spirit. Yoga aims at controlling the mind and its modifications. The path of Yoga is an inner path
whose gateway is your heart.

Guide To Advanced Yoga Techniques

There are few subjects relating to spiritual development so critically important and yet so incompletely understood as Yoga. Although the interest in Yoga that started in the West during the 1960’s has abated to some degree, the teaching of the various forms of the discipline has become well-established. In many cases, those who practise Yoga as it is generally taught in the West do so primarily as a means to improve health, reduce stress or maintain physical fitness.

During meditation you behold divine visions, experience divine smell, divine taste, divine touch, hear divine Anahata sounds. You receive instructions from God. These indicate that the Kundalini Shakti has been awakened. When there is throbbing in Muladhara, when hairs stand on their roots, when Uddiyana, Jalandhara and Mulabandha come involuntarily, know that Kundalini has awakened.
When the breath stops without any effort, when Kevala Kumbhaka comes by itself without any exertion, know that Kundalini Shakti has become active. When you feel currents of Prana rising up to the Sahasrara, when you experience bliss, when you repeat Om automatically, when there are no thoughts of the world in the mind, know that Kundalini Shakti has awakened.

A person can never really complete a work like this alone. In order to write this book, I relied on the contributions of many other people. Many people helped me in the process of gaining knowledge and perception about mudras in general; and many others helped me with my research on the effects of working with mudras. There are many people I would like to thank for their help in this. Within a few months of beginning this project I "coincidentally" met people who were involved with the mudras either on a scientific and/or practical basis. 

A Complete Manual of THE ORIENTAL BREATHING PHILOSOPHY of Physical, Mental, Psychic and Spiritual Development.

For centuries, yoga was open only to people who were ready to search for a teacher in India, and traditionally it only appealed to those willing to forego the life of a “householder,” renouncing the world and living in seclusion. H.H. Swami Sivananda (1887–1963) and Swami Vishnudevananda (1927–1993) were among the first of the Indian yoga masters to make yoga accessible to anyone, no matter their background, age, or status, or where in the world they lived. In doing so, they helped to bring yoga to the West.