Download Richard Hittleman's Yoga, 28 Day Exercise Plan djvu

I chose this book in the 1970s when I wanted to begin Hatha Yoga. I found it's step-by-step and day-by-day method very effective. I liked three days of progress followed by one day oc rest and consolidation. I was pleasantly surprised by how much I had learned and absorbed after 28 days.

I always intended this to be a baby book, an introduction, and I fully expected to have to find better books later as I advanced. It turned out that this book was good enough on its own. I lost track of it over the years, and was please to be able to find the book again.

This book is in a larger format than the original pocket-sized book I once had. You can still get the smaller book. I like the larger format.

I regret discontinuing my yoga practice. I had started late, in my thirties, and after a few years I had had made good progress. I don't remember why I stopped, except that I did when I got remarried. I must have been distracted by a full life.

I remember coming home from work and being tired. The last thing I wanted to do was thirty minutes of yoga. I almost always practiced anyway, and when I was finished I felt refreshed and glad that I had made the effort.

Now, as a senior, I believe it is best to return to at least some parts of Hatha Yoga in order to gain flexibility and suppleness. I dislike the idea of slowly becoming rigid and contracted, both physically and mentally.

Richard Hittleman is how I learned hatha yoga after suffering a neck injury from a car accident in the mid-1980's. My doctor at that time recommended I try yoga to offset the chronic pain I was experiencing. This was long before yoga became the popular craze it is today and, back then at that time, the only people I knew who did yoga were kind of weird (no offense anybody!). I discovered his original book in the library, checked it out and began my 28 day program. I was a little skeptical at first but really wanted to feel better and keep chronic pain at bay. Well, the first two days I was so stiff and sore which was crazy to me since I exercised and that made me even more determined to be able to do what looked like very simple poses. By Day 10 or Day 11 let me tell you I was definitely hooked!!!! I was not as stiff or sore, I was in less pain, I was seeing progress and I went out and bought my own copy of the book. I hadn't even finished the 28 days when I realized my pain levels really had decreased. My body felt firmer and tighter. My muscles felt lengthened. I lost weight. I had more energy.

Richard is the master and created a systematic approach that builds upon each day to show you new asanas and clearly explain how to do them and their purpose. His tone is patient and affirming. Each chapter ends with thoughts for the day which recap the daily lesson or offers other health tip benefits. He provides 3 yoga routines at the back of the book that are all referenced if you need to go back to read the instruction on how to perform a pose. Truthfully, I still prefer using the routines in his book to today's newer yoga DVDs. Something about his book is just pure. Over the years I have been up/down in my practice with this book but he has a routine that remains my "go to" today if I am short on time or energy in the chapter Work is Not Exercise that always leaves me feeling revitalized and refreshed no matter how tired I was when I started the routine. I always struggle with weight issues and the routines in this book helped me lose weight. This book is also responsible for changing my approach to diet and nutrition and I eliminated several items from my diet that I still don't eat today. I try to do his routines 3-4 times per week.

My original book is so tattered and torn from using it so much. I've gone back to his original book so many times and decided I wanted to see if it was still available. I was thrilled to find it here and in the "larger size". This book contains the exact same content as the original but is just super sized compared to the original pocket sized book. The original pocket sized book is also available here at amazon. Over time you will come to memorize the three routines but I just like going back to the book. Each time I read it there are new nuggets to discover and pick up.

Over the years I've bought countless copies of this book for friends after I bought the original for myself. (This is the original version which I bought for a very dear friend who's ill with cancer. Yoga is great for cancer patients!) I'm very athletic but even a klutz could follow this. And there's no ceiling to a person's accomplishment. The book is also available in pocket paperback size so you can carry it with your everywhere. Yoga is aou d "silent" exercise so if you do it in the middle of the night in your hotel room no one will bang on the walls shouting for you to shutup and stop making noise. You don't need a teammate, equipment, uniform, good weather, a lot of space. It's perfect as a standalone exercise or as a warmup or cool-down for sports. The author is so terrific that after I learned yoga from this book an acquaintance who'd just come back from spending thousands of dollars on a yogi in India asked me who my yogi was and where in India I'd gone to learn yoga! Richard HIttleman is the best!

I was happy to get another copy of this great yoga classic---but the copy I received was not exactly what is shown--I received a poorly printed copy
on newsprint like paper where many of the photos are too cropped off(ex: hands and feet may be missing,the pages have been over cropped)---it is just a poor reprint of this classic--and not the same copy shown in the picture--yes all the same info is still there--and I should return the book in search for a better copy.

fantastic beginner's Yoga book with clear pictures and day-by-day instructions to progress you with a great foundational program in Yoga. Cannot recommend highly enough. So glad to find this larger edition, with the bigger pictures, again. I have given away several copies to folks who expressed interest in Yoga, but too shy to show up to a beginner's class--which are sometimes difficult to find and usually have folks with much more experience in there, so makes the beginner uncomfortable. With Richard Hittleman's book, you can start your program at home at your own pace and there is definitely no pressure to push yourself beyond your limits as you sometimes find in some classes. He expressly warns you to take it easy and never hurt yourself. Fantastic Book that should never go out of print!