Sukham Yoga Book List

Adjustments, Assists, Modifications of Asana

1. Yoga Adjustments: Philosophy, Principles, and Techniques by Mark Stephens
2. Yoga's Touch: Hands-On Adjustments, Alignment & Verbal Cues (Fixed Layout) by Martia Bennett Rachman
3. Yoga Posture Adjustments and Assisting: An Insightful Guide for Yoga Teachers and Students By Stephanie Pappas
4. Yoga Assists - by Sharon Gannon and David Life
5. Extra Love: The Art of Hands-On Assists - The Definitive Manual for Yoga Teachers, Assistants and Advanced Students, Volume One - By Jill Abelson
6. Yoga: The Art of Adjusting by Brian Cooper
7. Trail Guide to the Body: How to Locate Muscles, Bones, and More by Andrew Biel and Robin Dorn

Anatomy and Physiology in Yoga

• The Key Muscles of Yoga: Scientific Keys Volume I 
• Anatomy for Vinyasa Flow and Standing Poses: Yoga Mat Companion 1 
• Anatomy for Hip Openers and Forward Bends: Yoga Mat Companion 2 
• Anatomy for Backbends and Twists: Yoga Mat Companion 3 
• Anatomy for Arm Balances and Inversions: Yoga Mat Companion 4
• Anatomy of Hatha Yoga
• Yoga Anatomy-2nd Edition
• Anatomy of Yoga: An Instructor's Inside Guide to Improving Your Poses 
• Anatomy for Yoga: An Illustrated Guide to Your Muscles in Action 
• Functional Anatomy of Yoga: A Guide for Practitioners and Teachers 
• Yogabody: Anatomy, Kinesiology, and Asana

The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Books Series:

1. The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Books for Adjusting, Assisting, Modifying Yoga Asana
2. The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Books for Yoga Asana
3. The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Books for Anatomy & Physiology of Yoga Asana

The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Books for Anatomy & Physiology of Yoga Asana

Anatomy and Physiology in Yoga

1. The Key Muscles of Yoga: Scientific Keys Volume I 
1. Raymond Long
2. The Key Poses of Yoga: Scientific Keys, Volume II
1. Raymond Long
3. Anatomy for Vinyasa Flow and Standing Poses: Yoga Mat Companion 1 
1. Raymond Long
4. Anatomy for Hip Openers and Forward Bends: Yoga Mat Companion 2 
1. Raymond Long
5. Anatomy for Backbends and Twists: Yoga Mat Companion 3 
1. Raymond Long
6. Anatomy for Arm Balances and Inversions: Yoga Mat Companion 4
1. Raymond Long
7. Anatomy of Hatha Yoga
1. H. David Coulter
8. Yoga Anatomy-2nd Edition
1. Leslie Kaminoff
9. Anatomy of Yoga: An Instructor's Inside Guide to Improving Your Poses
1.  Dr. Abigail Ellsworth
10. Anatomy for Yoga: An Illustrated Guide to Your Muscles in Action 
1. Leigh Brandon
2. Nicky Jenkins
11. Functional Anatomy of Yoga: A Guide for Practitioners and Teachers 
1. David Keil
12. Yogabody: Anatomy, Kinesiology, and Asana
1. Judith Hanson Lasater
13. Applied Anatomy and Physiology of Yoga
1. Simon Borg-Olivier
2. Bianca Machliss
14. Yoga: Fascia, Anatomy and Movement
15. Anatomy & Yoga: A guide for teachers and students
1. Ellen Saltonstall MD
2. John W Karapelou
16. Anatomy and Asana - Preventing Yoga Injuries
1. Susi Hately Aldous
17. Anatomy of Fitness: Yoga
1. Goldie Karpen Oren
18. Your Body, Your Yoga: Learn Alignment Cues that are Skillful, Safe, and Best Suited to You.
1. Bernie Clark
19. A Handbook for Yogasana Teachers: The Incorporation of Neuroscience, Physiology, and Anatomy Into the Practice
1. Mel Robin
20. A 21st-Century YOgasanalia: Celebrating the Integration of Yoga, Science, and Medicine
1. Mel Robin
21. 
    

To be able to put these in order from my favorite to least is pretty difficult because there are some tremendously good ones here. 

The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Books for Adjusting, Assisting, Modifying Yoga Asana

  Adjustments, Modifications, Assists, Propping, Helping, Supporting, Directing, Coaching.

What ever you want to call it, if your a teacher or practitioner of yoga  than it is bound to come up in a class, out of a class, and sometime in the most random places, either as discussion or actually adjusting, assisting, modifying, analyzing a posture.

Here is an examination of the current literature that is covering how to help others in their postures through assisting physically or examining prop use to facilitate a deeper understanding of the self and yoga.

1. Yoga Adjustments: Philosophy, Principles, and Techniques by Mark Stephens. Mark has certainly put out a set of books that is quickly going to become a market standard for 200 hour teacher trainings. This book is a nice look at all the basic knowledge needed to safely and effectively offer modifications in a yoga class. In Kindle & Print. 
2. Yoga's Touch: Hands-On Adjustments, Alignment & Verbal Cues (Fixed Layout) by Martia Bennett Rachman. Very clear and concise pictures in this book.  I purchases the standard layout kindle version without realizing there were 2 versions and mine is not the updated version, so be careful and make sure its labeled as (Fixed Layout). In Kindle only.
3. Yoga Posture Adjustments and Assisting: An Insightful Guide for Yoga Teachers and Students By Stephanie Pappas. This seamed to be the industry standard as it was one of the first books that came out that treated Adjustments in Yoga as a stand alone theory and practice. For the price you are better served with going with the books above this as they are cheaper with just as much information and better picture clarity and layouts.
4. Yoga Assists - by Sharon Gannon and David Life. Decently put together. Simple to understand and innovative in the way they did their diagramming. Worth every penny. In Kindle and Print.
5. Extra Love: The Art of Hands-On Assists - The Definitive Manual for Yoga Teachers, Assistants and Advanced Students, Volume One - By Jill Abelson. I have not yet had a chance to look into this book. I guess this means an order must be made :)  After looking at how many pages (under 80 pages of useful info) are in this manual and the ticket price that exceeds much better choices, I would pass on purchasing this manual. Considering that her 2 volumes run higher than $50 together and contain less info in the 2 then the first 3 options above. In Print only.
6. Yoga: The Art of Adjusting by Brian Cooper. Spiral bound hard cover book. I have not purchased it yet as it is expensive for 137 pages of knowledge pertaining to this subject.
7. Trail Guide to the Body: How to Locate Muscles, Bones, and More by Andrew Biel and Robin Dorn. It can be very helpful to learn about the anatomy of the body and discover what you are touching when assisting other people in yoga postures.
8. If you know of any other manuals please let me know so I can look at it.

The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Books Series:

1. The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Books for Adjusting, Assisting, Modifying Yoga Asana
2. The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Books for Yoga Asana
3. The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Books for Anatomy & Physiology of Yoga Asana

The Autistic Yogi Reflects on Conflicting Knowledge Bases.

One conflict that I am facing within my mind is how to appease 2 different knowledge sets that seam to be in conflict with each other and both come from reputable sources?

This is specific to the yoga training's that I have gone through.

One of my favorite teachers in the world of yoga is the Australian Simon Borg-Olivier, who has been researching yoga since 1982 with Bianca Machliss, both with Physiotherapy degrees ontop of degrees they had already had before becoming physiotherapists. They offer a training both online and in person going into anatomy and physiology pertaining to yoga. Which is absolutely astounding and rich in information.

One of my co-teachers is an Orthopedic surgeon. There are handfuls of things she teaches within the course that are in direct conflict with Simon and Bianca's teachings. Which in turn results in an inner turmoil for me because both of these individuals are highly trained and knowledge. I have repeatedly asked the surgeon to look at Simon and Bianca's works, as it seams to be the most thoroughly researched knowledge base on the planet at this time concerning A&P of yoga.


I think the hard part that I have is when an individual teaches a principle as though it were gospel in postures (keeping gluteus maximus soft during back bends, dorsi flexing feet in all seated postures, dropping shoulders down and back, etc).

To quote Paul Grilley 'All variations are legal, but not all are beneficial for ME in this moment'.

How to encourage a free flowing exchange of information, especially with those whom are exceedingly busy to the point they are unable to engage in the tremendous amount of information available?