Yoga Anatomy, Third Edition, brings the relationship between yoga and anatomy to life with detailed, full-color anatomical illustrations. This book provides a deep understanding of the structures and principles underlying common movements in yoga and offers an inside look into each pose.



With more than a million copies sold, Yoga Anatomy has become an invaluable resource for yoga practitioners, enthusiasts, and instructors around the world. Expanded and updated, the third edition of Yoga Anatomy will provide you with an even deeper understanding of yoga and of the structures and principles underlying each movement.

Building on the success of its predecessors, this revamped edition features new content to further augment your yoga practice:

• A new chapter offering history and context for the idea that anatomy is a story
• Updated chapters on the skeletal and muscular systems
• A new chapter on the nervous system that outlines its key functions and roles in the body
• Significantly expanded breathing and spine chapters to address disc anatomy and damage as well as back pain
• Newly added Cueing Callouts to provide tips and advice on teaching or performing a pose
• New stick figure icons to simply depict the alignment of each pose for quick reference
• A Breathing Inquiry section with each asana to illuminate the connection between breathing and a movement practice

This beautifully illustrated resource sorts yoga poses into six sections—standing, sitting, kneeling, supine, prone, and arm supports—and provides an inside look into each pose to offer a better understanding of the interactions of the muscles, joints, and nervous system that we use to create movement and breathing.

Authors Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews, both internationally respected specialists in yoga and breath anatomy, offer a solid grounding in the principles of physical practice common to many systems of yoga. Whether you are just beginning your journey or have been practicing for years, Yoga Anatomy will be an invaluable resource—one that allows you to see each movement in an entirely new light.