#000648
Yoga Anatomy, Second Edition
Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews
A bestselling bridge between the yoga mat and the dissection lab, Yoga Anatomy shows what is actually happening in the body during common postures. Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews pair full-color anatomical illustrations, muscles, bones, and connective tissue rendered onto figures holding each pose, with clear explanations of the breathing, spinal mechanics, and joint actions involved. The second edition (2012) adds more asanas and vinyasas and deepens the discussion of how structure shapes movement. Rather than prescribing one "correct" alignment, the authors emphasize understanding individual anatomy so practitioners and teachers can adapt intelligently. It speaks to yoga teachers and serious students who want to move beyond imitation to comprehension, and to bodyworkers and movement professionals looking for an accessible visual reference on the working body in familiar postures.
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The authors
Leslie Kaminoff is a yoga educator specializing in breath and anatomy, founder of The Breathing Project, and a longtime teacher influenced by his study with T.K.V. Desikachar. Amy Matthews is a movement teacher, certified Laban Movement Analyst, and Body-Mind Centering practitioner. Their collaboration blends yoga tradition with rigorous functional anatomy.
The book
Yoga Anatomy (Human Kinetics; second edition 2012) maps the anatomy of breathing and of the spine, then works through standing, seated, kneeling, supine, prone, and arm-support poses, illustrating for each the bones, muscles, and joint actions at play. The signature feature is artwork that overlays anatomical structures onto figures in the postures.
How it reads
It has become a standard reference in yoga teacher training, praised for making anatomy legible without dumbing it down. Its most valuable stance is philosophical as much as anatomical: the authors stress that bodies differ and reject one-size-fits-all alignment cues, which pushed the wider yoga world toward safer, more individualized teaching. Caveats are modest: it assumes some anatomical vocabulary, and it is a reference to study rather than a pose-by-pose practice manual. As a visual guide to the body in yoga it is hard to beat.
For more context
Pair it with Bernie Clark's The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga and a general text such as Trail Guide to the Body.
Sources - Human Kinetics: Yoga Anatomy - Internet Archive record
- Type
- Book
- Author / Maker
- Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews
- Publisher
- Human Kinetics
- Place of publication
- Champaign, Illinois
- Year
- 2012
- Edition
- 2nd
- ISBN
- None
- Shelf
- Craft & How-to
- Location
- Colorado