Recommended Yoga Books & Reading List

By Swami Satyananda Saraswati. The core asana reference for our 200-hour syllabus. We check every posture, pranayama, mudra and bandha we teach against it. That covers its step-by-step instructions, contraindications and graded practice sequences.

By B.K.S. Iyengar. Set reading for the philosophy module. Iyengar translates each of Patanjali's 196 sutras. Then he explains it from the mat. That makes the text easy to use for students new to the Sutras.

By Swami Satyananda Saraswati. Our second Sutra commentary. We read it alongside Iyengar so students can compare views. It has the Sanskrit, transliteration and word-by-word meaning we use in morning chanting.

By Swami Muktibodhananda. The main source text for the Hatha module. The commentary links its 15th-century verses to our daily schedule. That means the shatkarma, pranayama and kundalini practices we do each day.

By Swami Niranjananda Saraswati. Reference text for the pranayama and subtle-anatomy classes. It covers the pranic body, nadis and chakras. It goes deeper than our class hours allow.

By Yogi Ramacharaka. The clearest short guide to yogic breathing for students with no prior theory. We hand it out in week one. First published in 1904 and now in the public domain.

By Bernie Clark. Set reading for the Yin module. Our Yin teachers work from Clark's functional-anatomy approach. It looks at skeletal variation, fascia and target areas, not fixed alignment.

By Swami Satyananda Saraswati. The source for the yoga nidra practice we run each evening. It has the full rotation-of-consciousness scripts and the research behind the method.