30 Essential Yoga Poses ─ For Beginning Students and Their Teachers

In 30 Essential Yoga Poses, Judith Lasater draws on her wealth of yoga practice and teaching experience, as well as her training as a physical therapist, to present this comprehensive guide for beginning students and their teachers. The author discusses yoga's ancient eightfold path and its relevance in today's world, and goes to the heart of yoga—the all-important student-teacher relationship. Thirty essential yoga poses (asana), their variations, and breathing practices (pranayama) are also provided, with guidance for the student practicing at home, and points for the classroom teacher. Sequences are presented with photographic charts for easy visual reference, and a "Mantra for Daily Practice" and glossary of anatomical terms and resources for further study are also included.

Judith Lasater has taught yoga since 1971. She holds a doctorate in East-West psychology and is a physical therapist. Dr. Lasater is the president of the California Yoga Teachers Association and serves on the advisory boards of Yoga Journal and the Yoga Research and Education Center.

Her yoga training includes study with B. K. S. Iyengar in India and the United States. She teaches ongoing yoga classes and trains yoga teachers in kinesiology, yoga therapeutics, and the Yoga Sutra at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco. In addition, she leads workshops and retreats throughout the United States and abroad.

Dr. Lasater writes extensively about yoga. Her feature articles, columns, and essays appear in numerous books, magazines, and anthologies. She is the author of Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times, the first book devoted to the supported yoga poses and breathing techniques called restorative yoga.

Judith Lasater lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children.