Kripalu Center for Yoga & Health in Lenox, Massachusetts, has been a leading retreat center for 30 years and has been saluted for melding Western approaches to holistic health and psychological development. In this substantive paperback, Richard Faulds, current chair of its Board of Trustees, along with a cadre of Kripalu's senior teachers present a rounded overview of yoga as a complete system for personal growth and transformation.

Part One, "Body and Breath Awareness," includes pieces on a marriage of stretch and strength, practicing at the edge, awareness through alignment, and rejuvenation through relaxation. Part Two contains two "Practice Sessions": Sun Flow and Moon Flow. Part Three, "Yoga and Health," covers nurturing the roots of health, assessing body wisdom, and working with problem areas. Part Four, "Psychological and Spiritual", covers the life force, pathways of energy, purifying body and mind, building character, opening the heart, riding the wave of sensation, clearing the mind, witness consciousness, meditation-in-motion, and a living relationship with Spirit. Part Five focuses on "Evolving Your Practice" with posture sequences and a gallery of warm-ups and poses.

All this material is very well organized, making this an ideal book for yoga practitioners at all levels of practice. The fully illustrated routines are particularly helpful. As Swami Kripalu once stated: "To read uplifting books or listen to spiritual discourses is good. But to practice even a little is of the utmost importance. The profound meaning of yoga is understood only by those who study it systematically through personal practice. The day you start to practice, your true progress will begin."