Yoga Mind, Body and Spirit: A Return to Wholeness »

Donna Farhi is a registered movement therapist and yoga teacher who is a much sought-after guest instructor and speaker throughout the United States, Mexico, Canada, and Australia. She is the author of The Breathing Book and has written for Yoga Journal for over a decade. She lives in New Zealand.

The author of Yoga Journal's most-read column presents the first holistic guide to yoga

A user-friendly guide illustrated with 240 two-color photographs and illustrations, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit sets forth the tenets of this gentle yet rigorous exercise as no other book has. Integrating the teachings of every tradition, internationally renowned yoga instructor Donna Farhi reveals how yoga enhances the connections between the mind, body, and spirit. She outlines the seven simple movement principles that underlie all human motion and provides exercises to help readers understand how they can achieve all yoga postures. She also discusses the ten ethical precepts that are the foundation of all yoga teachings and explains how to incorporate them into a spiritually and emotionally rewarding inner practice.

At the heart of Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit are more than seventy-five yoga asanas or postures. Each is one pictured and described in detail, and they are arranged into related groups—including standing postures, sitting postures, arm balances, and breathing practices—or easy reference. A selection of yoga practices of varying lengths and levels of difficulty provides challenges and inspiration for beginner, intermediate, and advanced students.

A huge resurgence of interest in yoga is sweeping the country. With its broad scope and holistic approach, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit is the ideal book for today's mainstream audience.

Library Journal

At first glance, this book's photos and illustrations, which are just as important as the text in an exercise book, seem dated and bland. But a reading of the text and a closer examination of the illustrations reveal that what makes this yoga text different and worthwhile is the author's commitment to tying yoga's spiritual aspects to its physical components. Farhi (The Breathing Book) discusses the "Ten Living Principles," or the yamas ("wise characteristics") and the niyamas ("codes for living soulfully"), and also considers the importance of the asanas ("postures") in grounding spirituality in the body. However, Farhi does far more than provide descriptions and illustrations of postures. At the beginning of each new section, she has readers move through one or two core poses. She then asks them to focus on the way they feel physically while performing the pose. Using these core poses, she moves on to postures of greater complexity while allowing for different levels of ability. One possible problem for beginners is her use of posture names to describe poses that involve movement from one posture to the next (e.g., the sun salutation or the downward dog). Recommended for public libraries as well as academic libraries where yoga is a part of the curriculum, this may also be a worthwhile purchase for hospital or health sciences libraries.--Debra Mitts, Glenview P.L., IL Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.\