Books

The limits of my language means the limits of my world.
Ludwig Wittgenstein

Obviously, there are hundreds of well-researched, authentic and inspiring publications out
there that I would highly recommend. To make it easy and accessible, I have limited myself
to just a few picks from this immense smorgasbord of knowledge and experience. My
sincere gratitude to all these yoga explorers who share their insights with us.

Modern Postural Yoga

1. Yoga Body – Mark Singleton: Essential reading about modern yoga sources (the
book that really got the conversation/inquiry going)
2. The Path of Modern Yoga – Elliott Goldberg: Essential reading about modern yoga
sources (great addition to Yoga Body)
3. Selling Yoga – Andrea Jain: Essential reading about the commercialization of yoga
4. The Subtle Body – Stefanie Syman: Yoga’s development in the USA, good
overview
5. The Yoga Tradition of the Mysore Palace – N. E. Sjoman: Sjoman gave us first
glimpse into how modern yoga was developed
6. White Lama – Douglas Veenhof: Great biography and read about a pioneer of
bringing Haṭha Yoga to the West (Theos Bernard)
7. The Great Oom – Robert Love: Hillarious and well-researched biography of a
rather twisted pioneer of bringing (his version of) Tantra Yoga to the USA (Pierre
Bernard)
8. A History of Modern Yoga – Elizabeth De Michelis: Mainly about Swami
Vivekananda, not essential but interesting, scholarly

Mythology

1. The Blue God: A Life of Krishna – Ramesh Menon: A sublime and entertaining
summary of the Śrīmad Bhāgavatam/Bhāgavata Purāṇa – everything on Indian
mythology by Ramesh Menon is highly recommended
2. Ramayana – William Buck: Lord Rāma’s story, gripping and beautifully written –
also available as an audio book narrated by Ram Das
3. Mahabharata – William Buck: Obviously not the whole text, but a good read and
summarization – also available as a film/play, directed by Peter Brook

General Yoga

1. The Yoga Tradition – Georg Feuerstein: Almost 20 years old and getting slightly
outdated but still a comprehensive overview.

2. The Science of Yoga – William J. Broad: A useful look at studies about yoga; myth-
busting and informative, an important reality-check for yoga teachers
3. Roots of Yoga – James Mallinson & Mark Singleton: Source text-material on all
the important topics
4. The Art of Transformation – Debra Diamond: A beautiful collection of yogic art,
with good commentaries about especially late hatha and tantra yoga
5. The Psychology of Yoga – Georg Feuerstein: Decent overview, could have been
structured in a better way

Pātañjala Yoga Śāstra

1. The Yoga-Sūtra of Patañjali, A new Translation with Commentary – Barbara Stoler
Miller: Good scholarship and commentaries, relatively easy to read and grasp
2. The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali, A new Translation and Commentary – Georg
Feuerstein: Scholarly and no frills, some good points and pointers, medium level
of difficulty to read
3. The ‘Yoga Sutra of Patañjali’ (A Biography) – David Gordon-White: The history of
the Yoga Sutra text
4. The Yoga Sutra of Patanjali – Chip Hartranft: Certainly a Buddhist take on the
Sūtras (Patañjali wasn’t a Buddhist nor did he follow its philosophy), but good
insights about the practical meditation aspects
5. The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali, A New Edition – Edwin F Bryant: An incredible tour
de force of scholarship, certainly not for the newcomer to philosophy, but
absolutely worthwhile and delightful for more seasoned yoga philosophy
students who want to delve deeper

Tantra Yoga

1. Tantra, The Path of Ecstasy – Georg Feuerstein: Beautifully researched,
structured and written, best entry-level book on Tantra I know
2. The World of Tantra – B. Battaracharya: A classic, used in university courses
3. The Tantra Tradition – Agehananda Bharati: Quite scholarly but essential
4. Kundalini Tantra – Swami Satyananda Saraswati: Another classic
5. Kundalini, Path to higher Consciousness – Pandit Gopi Krishna: A bit ‚Indian’ and
thus not flowing too well and lacking research, but a worthwhile reminder of how
careful one hast o be when approaching Kundalinī Śakti
6. Laya Yoga, The Definite Guide to the Chakras and Kundalini – Shyam Sundar
Goswami: Another classic though not an easy read, very meticulously researched
and presented
7. The Alchemical Body – Siddha Traditions in Midieval India, by David Gordon-
White, University of Chicago Press, 1998: A magnus opus that digs deep, not easy
to read and grasp, but a treasure trove for more advanced students

Hatha Yoga

1. Hatha Yoga – It’s context, Theory and Practice – Mikel Burley: Apart from a little
lack of structure Mikel’s book is a good scholarly overview

2. The Gheranda Samhitā – James Mallinson: Great translation by the current
grandmaster of haṭha yoga studies
3. The Shiva Samhitā – James Mallinson: Great translation by the current
grandmaster of haṭha yoga studies
4. Hatha Yoga Pradipikā – Swami Muktibodhananda: Decent translation though
more of a biased commentary really. I’d wait for the upcoming critical edition of
the Pradīpikā from the crew of the Haṭha Yoga Project (probably late 2021)

Bhagavad-Gītā

1. The Bhagavad-Gītā, A New Translation – Georg Feuerstein: Accessible and well-
written and researched translation with a useful introduction
2. The Bhagavad Gita (A Biography) – Richard H. Davis: Interesting historical
overview of how the BG has been viewed through the ages

Advaita Vedānta

1. The Essential Vedānta – Eliot Deutsch & Rohit Dalvi: Great source book of original
material
2. Back to the Truth – Dennis Waite: Despite some overexcited exaggerations, this is a
very comprehensive and in-depth magnus opus on the subject
3. The Upanishads – Eknath Easwaran: Useful translation of some of the principal
Upaniṣads

Jaina Yoga

1. Jainism, an Introduction – Jeffery D. Long: Indeed, a beautiful introduction to this
tradition.

Buddhist Yoga & Mindfulness

1. Satipaṭṭhāna, the direct path to Realization – Anālayo: One of Anālayo’s first books,
as always based on solid scholarship and vast personal experience. I highly
recommend all of his books
2. Mindfulness, a practical Guide to Awakening – Joseph Goldstein: His writing is a bit
dry but Joseph is one of the living masters of this tradition, and has poured 50 years
of study and practice into this book
3. The Middle Length Discourses of the Buddha, a Translation of the Majjhima Nikāya –
Bhikkhu Ñāṇamoli & Bhikkhu Bodhi: Like all translations of this series (Teachings of
the Buddha, by the Barre Center for Buddhist Studies, published by Wisdom
Publications), this is the definite sourcebook and translation

Sāmkhya

1. Classical Samkhya, an Interpretation of its History and Meaning – Gerald James
Larson: Like most books on Sāmkhya, heavy, scholarly going, but totally worthwhile.
This is an older work from 1969, which was revised in 1979, and reprinted many
times
2. The Samkhya Philosophy – Nandalal Sinha: 1915 translation of source material. Not
for the faint-hearted

3. Classical Sāṃkhya and Yoga, an Indian Metaphysics of Experience – Mikel Burley: A
brave and mind-blowing take on these traditions; excellent, advanced scholarship