YOGA MORALITY :
Ancient Teachings at a Time of Global Crisis
by Georg Feuerstein

In an age when yoga is becoming a fashion accessory,  placed amongst Pilates and circuit training in the "body beautiful" trend, this is a most welcome book.
In a world where hundreds of children are violently killed by the armies of "democratic" nations (as happened over Christmas in Gaza), this is an indispensable book.
In times like ours when lies, broken promises and corruption have become normalized within political and diplomatic circles, and when greed is considered a virtue in the corporate world, morality may however seem a quaint subject to many.

Two thousand years after Patanjali, the author, who has written more than thirty books on yoga and is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on yoga, reminds us that yoga is first and foremost a spiritual pursuit, and that the backbone of any spiritual pursuit is morality.
Looking closely at the five key virtues or yamas (nonharming, truthfulness, nonstealing, nongrasping (greedlessness) and chastity) which constitute the first limb of hatha yoga philosophy, he details how they can be applied in today's rapidly changing world.
This book should appeal to genuine practionners of yoga, regardless of what style they practice or how much experience they have.

Reviewed by Christophe Mouze

Yoga posture adjustment and assisting
An insightful guide for yoga teacher and students
Stephanie Pappas
Trafford Publishing

Written by a very experienced teacher and teacher trainer, this book details teaching techniques for nearly 100 yoga postures. Stephanie makes a useful distinction between adjusting, which she describes as a short alteration or correction to the student's posture, and assisting, which involves helping a student to go deeper into an asana, and therefore lasts longer.
Packed with very valuable tips and practical advice, this book should be near the top of the reading list of anyone currently  training to be a yoga teacher, and even experienced teachers will pick up new ideas from it.
It has, however, definitely been written with yoga teachers in mind, and yoga students would be better off getting a copy of Iyengar's "Light on yoga".
But it certainly should be on every yoga teacher's bookshelves. In the short time it's been on mine, I have found myself referring to it more than once.
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A new, crisp, no nonsense translation of this great 14th century classic on the practice of Hatha Yoga. Unlike most other English translations, it includes the original Sanskrit, but no commentaries. The original text in its entirety, and 'nothing but' seems to have been the translator's motto for this work. This means that this translation also includes the controversial verses 84-103 of chapter 3, which, because they refer explicitly to Tantric sexual practices, are often left out by prudish - or less conscientious - translators.
If one, like me, holds that the work of the translator is to be as discreet as possible, then this very faithful translation is probably the best available. This is the kind of small book that I like to take with me in my travels, although unfortunately, while it is thin, it is too large a format to slip in one's pocket.

The publisher, YogaVidya.com also produces a version of the Gheranda Samhita, and, I am told, are working on the Siva Sahimta. Serious yoga students watch out, these are serious translations of serious classics.

Sacred Sanskrit works
For yoga, chant and meditation
Leza Lowitz and Reema Datta
Stone Bridge Press, 2005

What are the meanings and etymology of commonly used Sanskrit terms such as Ashram, Bandhas, Karma, or Nadis. Or rarer words like Amrita (a brand of ayurvedic products, but what else?), Kripalu ((the term is used for a style of yoga in the US, but where does it come from?) , or Mukti (as in, Jiva Mukti, but what does it mean?). The answers to these questions are in this small book, which covers 160 common Sanskrit terms used in yoga and meditation. The book also has a section on Chants, which covers most of the classic yoga chants that dedicated students will often have heard without knowing what they mean.
While a number of books on yoga include a glossary, this book goes much farther, and will prove invaluable to serious students of yoga, Indian philosophy, or meditation.
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Reviewed by Christophe Mouze