Yoga Myths What You Need to Learn and Unlearn for a Safe and Healthy Yoga Practice

The essential guide to correcting yoga misconceptions and avoiding injuries in your practice from Judith Hanson Lasater, a yoga instructor, physical therapist, and bodywork expert.

"Tuck your tailbone to protect your back." "Increase your breath." "Pull your abdominal muscles into your backbone." Following these movement cues is often believed to benefit your yoga practice and protect your body when entering and holding poses. However, what may seem like a helpful correction can actually lead to injury or physical harm.

In Yoga Myths, Judith Hanson Lasater draws on almost fifty years of experience as a yoga instructor and physical therapist to address the most common mistakes in our yoga practice and provide clear instructions for correcting these errors. Focusing on the eleven "myths" most detrimental to our practice, Lasater provides a comprehensive discussion of what the myth is, why it can hurt us, and how we can avoid it through step-by-step instructions and guiding photos. This book will allow you to return to the inherent wisdom, natural goodness, and spiritual wholeness of yoga and avoid life altering injuries for as long as you practice.

JUDITH HANSON LASATER has taught yoga since 1971. She holds a doctorate in East-West psychology and is a physical therapist. Dr. Lasater is the president emeritus of the California Yoga Teachers Association, and is one of the founders of Yoga Journal magazine.

She trains yoga teachers in asana, kinesiology, yoga therapeutics, and the Yoga Sutras, and she leads workshops and retreats throughout the US and abroad. She is a pioneer in the teaching and practice of Restorative yoga.

Dr. Lasater writes extensively about yoga. Her feature articles, columns, and essays appear in numerous books, magazines, and anthologies. She is the author of ten books on yoga, including Relax and Renew, Restore and Rebalance, Yogabody, 30 Essential Yoga Poses, Living Your Yoga, among others.