Advanced Hatha Yoga

The classic Hatha yoga manual for a strong, vital, beautiful body and a balanced, harmonious, happy mind • Includes instructions for many advanced Hatha yoga exercises to build strength, stamina, and good posture, the necessary basis for spiritual development • Provides detailed exercise plans to help you develop your personal weekly practice • Explains traditional yogic methods of fasting and internal cleansing, practices to strengthen the endocrine system, methods for advanced sexual control, breath control practices, and concentration exercises to improve mind power Based upon ancient Sanskrit works on yoga as well as thousands of years of oral teachings, this Hatha yoga classic moves beyond the introductory level of yoga and provides illustrated instructions for many advanced asanas and other yogic techniques to build strength, stamina, and good posture--a necessary prerequisite for spiritual development. Offering detailed exercise plans to help you develop your personal weekly yoga practice as well as techniques to target specific areas of the body, such as the abdominal muscles, this book also contains detailed instructions on many forms of prânâyâma (breath control), including alternate nostril breathing, kapâlabhâti, and sahita, as well as meditative methods for developing your powers of concentration and mental discipline. With instructions on diet, fasting, internal cleansing, advanced sexual control, and strengthening the endocrine system, Sri S. S. Goswami’s classic text presents the complete picture of an advanced Hatha yoga lifestyle for a strong, vital, beautiful body and a balanced, harmonious, happy mind.

The Hatha Yoga Pradipika is an ancient text used by Yogis to create the power. This is one of the earliest treatises on Hatha Yoga; all the modern books are based on it. This book is intended as an aid for those who wish to learn the advance practices of Hatha (Kundalini) Yoga from a qualified teacher. It is suggested that it also be used in conjunction with Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu-Devananda, the Sivananda Companion to Yoga (known as the Book of Yoga in Britain), and Yoga Mind and Body. Many of the instructions given here have been purposely veiled by the original writers, others need elaboration, and many require the guidance of a teacher for correction. Swami Vishnu-Devananda has repeatedly stressed that these practices are not for beginners, and that to violate this caution is to put the psyche at risk. Please therefore, follow these instructions along with the guidance of your guru. A Glossary has been prepared for this book for this third edition, the hopes that this will be used as a reference manual for serious Yoga students on all levels.

Illustrated guide to hatha yoga with many poses.

Experience the physical benefits and body awareness from hatha yoga—the most popular form of yoga today. Hatha Yoga Illustrated presents nearly 650 full-color photos to visually demonstrate 77 standard poses from hatha yoga that apply to all major hatha styles including Iyengar, Astanga, Anusara, and Bikram. Individual poses are presented from start to finish, showing you how to achieve proper alignment and breathing to ensure challenging yet safe execution. The result is an increase in the effectiveness, both physically and mentally, you'll experience with each pose. Several pose variations based on your personal preference, ability, and fitness level are also included. Eleven sample yoga routines show how to assemble the poses into workouts that meet your specific time, difficulty, and intensity parameters. Colorful and comprehensive, Hatha Yoga Illustrated is organized for your ultimate convenience and use. Use it to guide your muscles, as well as your mind, and increase strength and stamina, reduce stress and anxiety, reduce blood pressure, and increase flexibility.

The premise of Yoga is simple. There is an outer reality and an inner one, and our nervous system is the doorway between them. Effective Yoga practices stimulate and open that doorway. The result? Peace, creativity, happiness, and a steady rise of ecstatic bliss radiating from within us. Advanced Yoga Practices (AYP) brings together the most effective methods of Yoga in a flexible integrated system that anyone can use. Instructions are given in plain English for deep meditation, spinal breathing pranayama, bodily manipulations (asanas, mudras and bandhas), tantric sexual practices, and other methods that are systematically applied to swing open the door of our nervous system to permanent higher experience. This is a non-sectarian approach that is compatible with any belief system or religious background. There are over 240 easy-to-follow lessons here, including many hands-on questions and answers between Yoga practitioners and the author. Whether you are a beginner or a veteran in Yoga, the AYP lessons can serve as a useful resource as you travel along your chosen path. What readers are saying about the AYP lessons: "I searched for years to find a method of meditation that I can do. This is do-able." - AN "I've learned more about yoga in 4 months than in the previous 30 years of study." - SL" This is a very valuable inspiration for people taking up and maintaining meditation." - DB "Spinal breathing pranayama makes me feel so ecstatic, I want to do it all the time." - YM "After my first meditation session, I never felt so relaxed. You made me a believer." - JF "You make everything seem so simple, yet the practices are profound and dynamic." - SS "I wish I had this kind of informationwhen I started some 15 years back." - AD "I love the way you explain everything. So simple, logical, and so safe." - RY "These are the best lessons I have read on yoga anywhere." - RD Additional reader feedback is included in the last section of the book.

his book combines the perspectives of a dedicated yogi with that of a former anatomy professor and research associate at two major American medicine schools. He has set himself the ambitious goal of combining the modern scientific under- standing of anatomy and physiology with the ancient practice of hatha yoga. The result of an obvious labour of love, the book explains hatha yoga in demystified, scientific terms while at the same time honouring its traditions. It should go a long way in helping yoga achieve the scientific recognition it deserves. Useful as both a textbook and a reference work, this is a book that all serious yoga teachers and practitioners will want on their shelves.

FROM THE BACK COVER OF THE PAPERBACK EDITION: Yoga opens the doorway between our outer and inner reality, leading us to Oneness and Joy in all aspects of life. Our nervous system is the doorway... Advanced Yoga Practices (AYP), Volume 2 refines and enhances the core practices presented in the first volume, and provides plain English instructions for new practices designed to cultivate middle and end stage development on the path of human spiritual transformation. Additional practices include advanced applications of samyama, diet, shatkarmas, amaroli, non-dual self-inquiry, bhakti and karma yoga, and a variety of approaches for building and managing a progressive and stable practice routine. Volume 2 does not stand alone, relying on the first volume as a foundation, and building on it. There are nearly 200 additional lessons here for assisting the serious practitioner to realize a life filled with abiding inner silence, ecstatic bliss, outpouring divine love, and unity. What readers are saying as they make use of the AYP lessons: "It's almost a science. You do the practices and progress as predicted." - MA "As a physician, it is moving to see the effects on medical conditions." - KC "I will be adding AYP to my class offerings to cover the whole of yoga." - MR "Far above and beyond all other yoga writings I have encountered." - KG "A growing inquiry in stillness has taken me to new levels." - CL "Especially useful for stabilizing my kundalini awakening." - SR "The tantra techniques bring great pleasure into our lives." - ZA "This approach includes a deep tolerance of other paths." - AN "Thank you for being the one who said: The guru is in you!" - KK For more reader feedback, see the last section in the book.

The text of `Hathatatvakaumudi is a vast compendium on Hatha system of Yoga practice and philosophy critically edited and published for the first time. The text is authored by Sundaradeva. This work of Sundaradeva poses as extensive and impressive as that of an encyclopaedia. Almost all the topics of Hatha Yoga like Asana, Pranyama upto Nadanusandhana in addition to concept Chayapurusa etc. are described in the minutest of details. There are several unique practices such as Carana, Utkranti Pranayama, several varieties of Nadisuddhi and the like which are in aid to standard Hatha pratices. Some of these are described for the first time in this text. However, one of the many noteworthy contributions of the author of this book lies in his successful effort in presenting a synthetic view of both principle and practice of two seemingly diverse systems of Yoga - Hatha and Patanjali and also various traditions of Yoga such as Bhakti, Laya Nada, Sparsa etc. We have not as yet come across such an effort made in any other published Yogic literature.