Recommended Books for Yoga and Movement Science

Yoga teachers often ask me for recommendations on resources for learning more about movement science, so here’s my list!

While there are many books and blogs out there, I’m including the resources I return to again and again.  

I want to share a bit about my relationship to reading about movement.  For me, movement science books aren’t cover-to-cover reads, they are resources I pull off the shelf when curiosity strikes. That curiosity arises from my own practice, a conversation, a student I’ve observed or a problem I want to solve. My learning begins in the practice of movement, and then is amplified by information and clarification. I suspect I’m not the only yogi who processes this way.

That is to say: since you teach movement, learn this to apply it, not to memorize it. Yoga is an embodied understanding.

FOR LEARNING MUSCLE AND BONE ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY:

The Anatomy of Movement (and her other books) by Blandine Calais-Germain

The Muscle and Bone Palpation Manual by Joseph Muscolino

The Roll Model by Jill Miller

FOR LEARNING ABOUT OTHER ASPECTS OF ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY:

A Handbook for Yogasana Teachers by Mel Robin

Yoga Biomechanics by Jules Mitchell

Yoga Deconstructed by Trina Altman

Your Body, Your Yoga by Bernie Clark

Yoga Body by Judith Lasater