Yoga Abs: Moving From Your Core (Rodmell Press Yoga Shorts Series) Book

Birch's brand of "Power Yoga" is, simpley put, the Ashtanga Yoga as practiced by K. Pattabhi Jois and his disciples. What makes this book unique is Birch herself, and her story of how she came to yoga, and then to Ashtanga. Her introduction is a fascinating slice of what yoga in the late 20th century was to America'from hippy cults who rode the bandwagons of various gurus, to hatha systems that constantly broke poses up with moments of rest, to the Joisian flow that Norman Allen brought to New York in 1980'Birch reminds us that that our perceptions of yoga have changed rather quickly. Even since this book was released in 1995, the West has seen Ashtanga-based vinyasa systems rise as the norm alongside further innovations through the work of Ana Forrest and John Friend, and new information has recently come to light in Mark Singleton's book [title:Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice], about modern yoga asanas actually owing a great deal to early 20th century European fitness fads. Beyond that, B.B. Birch eases us into Primary Series, gives a tast of secondary series, and lays on some Eight-Limbed philosophy on for good measure. A fine book for the layperson, the Western Ashtangi, or anyone wanting a peek at what was was, is, and will be up with a tradition that's sometimes centuries old and often brand new.