The Art of Vinyasa: Awakening Body and Mind through the Practice of Ashtanga Yoga Paperback – Illustrated, December 27, 2016

My first impression of the book, "Wow, this is huge!" The book starts off with a lot of Ashtanga yoga philosophy and insights before describing specific asanas. Freeman clearly has a ton of experience with yoga! Learning from him is invaluable. Some of the exercises, or meditations and breath work, are years ahead of my practice. I have something to look forward to learning when I am ready.

The "theoretical" part is definitely what makes this special book even more special and uinique. The "asana" part is also amazing, though the vinyasa count for some poses is quite unorthodox. Great book overall, and a must have for keen Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga practitioners.

In depth explanation of the internal aspects of vinyasa practice. Well worth a read for all daily practitioners. We are lucky that someone like Richard Freeman has the love and passion to share this knowledge through a book.

Art of Vinyasa is a slow and ponderous exploration of the Mysore Ashtangha Yoga system of exercises. Mr. Freeman learned these exercises from the Jois family in India. Richard spends a lot of words distinguishing his approach, or art of vinyasa (yogic choreography) from some of the masochistic and militaristic imagery that haunted yoga for several decades. He uses metaphors of "deity embodiment" and assumes that western Buddhism and its merits are foregone conclusions. This book is most valuable for an intermediate practitioner who is looking to refine her or his yoga practice within the Mysore method. It is a good book but mostly relies on the context of Mr. Freeman's advanced practice. Beginners will still need a "step by step" reference to start a yoga practice as well as some of the advanced ideas in this book.

Love this book. I have practiced Ashtanga for 22 years and I am enjoying reading more on the small nuances rather than on the asana's themselves. There is so much unseen in a yoga practice and this book brings that to the forefront.

so unlike most ashtanga books that take you through a series this one places a philosophical tone to the asanas and mixes up the sequences and highlights asanas individually....

Richard Freeman is a wonderful teacher and this book didn't disappoint me. I have a lot of yoga books and this will fit nicely into my library.

Great book to analyze the poses for ashtanga and have a more in depth knowledge of yoga. I'm using it as I'm taking a training to become a yoga teacher.

Fantastic book. So much information! includes a few photos. I am reading this for a Yoga Teacher training course. My teachers were taught by the authors. Interesting perspective.

A profound and thorough book on vinyasa asthanga yoga from one of the masters who studied with its founder Sri Jobs.

one of the best book about Ashtanga Yoga, full of details and pictures of the asana. Absolutely suggested both for students and teachers

Aún lo estoy leyendo, pero aparte de que me parece una edición muy cuidada en cuanto a fotografía y maquetación, me parece un contenido muy bueno para profundizar en la práctica y no quedarnos sólo con cómo hacer mejor las asanas.A careful layout and a very interesting content which helps to deep in the roots of the practice in a friendly and very understandable way, and not just a "how to best perform your asana" book

This is a advanced and authoritative book on Vinyasa Yoga. I have been practising yoga for 10 years and actively learnt it in last 3 years. The book goes beyond the technique and takes deeper look at yogic practices. Many of the practices may seem esoteric to beginners. If you wonder what is is different between a exercise and yoga , this is the book to read. Richard seems to have open his heart and shared all he knows. I suspect he was an Indian in his previous births. :-) Highly recommended.