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Our classic reference for a safe, enjoyable Yoga practice — now completely revised and updated. Over 300 photographs, three 10-week curriculum outlines, and updated chapters on nutrition, stress management, meditation, and philosophy offer you a comprehensive introduction to the benefits of Yoga practice.

Alice Christensen recently received this wonderful letter from a man in prison:

"This New Year I resolved to "get in shape" both physically and emotionally-spiritually. Just days after making that resolution, your book "The American Yoga Association Beginners Manual" appeared at the library where I work. I finished reading through it tonight.

"I was raised by a pacifist mother and a brutally violent father – not just physical violence but emotional and psychological. When I was 21 years old my mom kicked him out, but two weeks later I committed the horrendous act of murder. The victim was not my father, but I wanted him to be. Violence has been a cornerstone of my life, and I am tired of it. I need to better myself and it is through surrendering that violence that I will be able.

"For my crimes I am justly serving five life sentences plus 30 years. I will probably never step outside of these prison walls, but I have been given the opportunity to "rehabilitate" myself. Prison does not give a lot of leeway for the asanas. Space is limited, but the majority of them can be done. But it is the philosophy, the ethics, that appealed to me most. I will go over the book incessantly and perhaps the next step will present itself when I am ready, just like the first did. I wanted you to know that this book means the world to me. The information it contains is a balm to my blistered soul. I am hungry to bring my physical and spiritual-emotional self together and heal the rift between my dualistic nature. You are a God-send to me as your writing this book has proven to be a most fortuitous step for my well-being. I wish I could express in words the peace I feel as I am embarking on this stage of my life now. There is no way to describe it in and of itself. A bit nervous and self-conscious about it, but still at peace.

"You have reached numerous people I’m sure, but now you know you have revealed this philosophy to yet one more interested student. Even the violent are sick of their violence, only we are lost in the violence. This is my light to guide me out of it. I only need follow."

A guide to welcoming your spiritual side through the practice of ethics. Here is what one reader said about this book:

• "Last August I reached a very difficult turning point in my life and was very afraid of how my life might end up. By something I can only explain as fate, I found the Yoga of the Heart book by Alice in a bargin section of my local bookshop. I couldn't wait to start reading it and cried tears of joy when I read the first chapter. I immediately began to put the ethical principles into practice and saw the immediate change it had upon my life. I am now on a very spiritual path and am trying my very best to follow these principles while practising yoga and meditation. I am a new, confident person who is now going to university and has a whole new spiritual awarness. Thank you so much for writing this book; it was the only thing that could have taken me out from the black hole I was in. I now love myself (something I have never done) and I am relaxed in the knowledge that all the love in the world is there for me, if I open up to it.." — L.K..

Click here to read more unsolicited comments about this book from readers.

This book is currently out of print. Click here to read excerpts from this book online.

Back by popular demand, Alice Christensen's riveting memoir of her early years in Yoga, especially her account of traveling to India to study with Rama in the early 1960s — not a common experience for young American women in those days! People have compared this book to Yogananda's popular Autobiography of a Yogi.

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