200-HOUR YOGA TEACHER TRAINING READING LIST
Required reading
Jon Kabat-Zinn: Wherever You Go, There You Are
Mindfulness is a more than 2000-year-old Buddhist method of living fully in the present, observing ourselves, our feeling, others and our surroundings without judging them. This book presents meditation as a natural activity that can be practiced anytime and anywhere, without props or trappings. Kabat-Zinn explains how to live in the moment by taking up such techniques as “non-doing,” trust and concentration. He shows readers meditation postures and ways to meditate, including visualizing mountains and lakes, and concentrating on walking or standing.
Thich Nhat Hanh: The Heart Of Buddha’s Teaching
In The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching, Thich Nhat Hanh brings his gift of clear and poetic expression to an explanation of the Four Noble Truths, the Noble Eightfold Path, and other basic Buddhist teachings. Thich Nhat Hanh’s extraordinary contribution to Buddhism and to life is the way he makes these teachings and practices accessible to everyone, showing us how the very suffering that is holding us down can be the path to our liberation
Mark Singleton: Yoga Body: The Origins of Modern Posture Practice
In this groundbreaking book, Mark Singleton calls into question many commonly held beliefs about the nature and origins of postural yoga (asana) and suggests a radically new way of understanding the meaning of yoga as it is practiced by millions of people across the world today. Singleton shows that, contrary to popular belief, there is no evidence in the Indian tradition for the kind of health and fitness-oriented asana practice that dominates the global yoga scene of the twenty-first century.
SUGGESTED READING
Yoga Practice:
Donna Farhi: Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit: A Return to Wholeness
Vanda Scaravelli: Awakening the Spine
Sandra Sabatini: Breath: The Essence of Yoga
Yoga Philosophy and History:
Yoga Sutra Attributed to Patanjali, translated by Barbara Stoler Miller
Paramahansa Yogananda: Autobiography of a Yogi
Buddhist Teaching:
The Six Paramitas: Perfections of the Bodhisattva Path
Matthieu Ricard: Happiness: A Guide to Developing Life’s Most Important Skill
Ayya Khema: Being Being Nobody, Going Nowhere
Read an excerpt here.
Feminism and Body Politics
bell hooks: All about Love
Sonya Renne Taylor: Body is Not an Apology
Anatomy and Biomechanics:
Kathy Bowman:
Blandine Calais-Germain: Anatomy of Movement
Andrea Olsen: Bodystories: A Guide to Experiential Anatomy
SUGGESTED PODCASTS:
Movement Logic Podcast
Original Strength Podcast
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