The Seattle area is home to some of the best and renowned yoga teachers on the globe who are sharing the gift of yoga by teaching classes, workshops, teacher trainings, leading retreats nationally and internationally. Many of our Seattle yoga teachers have chosen to share their expertise through books dedicated for both students & teachers, if you are interested in checking some of these books, here is a list of yoga books published by Seattle area yoga teachers.
Best Yoga Book #1: Seen: A Memoir by Leah Zaccaria
An inspirational journey to openness and vulnerability, love and self-worth, seeing and being seen. From the outside, Leah Zaccaria appeared to have it all: the picture-perfect family, the stylish suburban home, and the blossoming corporate career. But on the inside, she was still the lonely little girl hiding under the kitchen table. The girl who hoped that, if she did everything right, someone would come to her rescue. That someone would finally see her. It wasn’t until she started practicing yoga that she realized achievement isn’t the same as worth, and that conformity can’t buy love. Seen is the story of Zaccaria’s life, her transformation from an exhausted overachiever to openhearted vulnerability seeker. Now, as a yoga teacher and owner of Hauteyoga Queen Anne and shefayoga Roosevelt, she wants to share her journey—the wounds and the joys, the self-deceptions, and the self-realizations—so that others will feel free to do the same.
Best Yoga Book #2: This Life of Mine: A Legacy Journal by Anne-Phyfe Palmer
This guided journal will inspire people to record the unique details and stories of their lives, both for themselves and for those they will one day leave behind. It includes a mix of fill-in-the-blanks, short answer questions, list-making prompts, and ideas for simple sketches or photos which are all designed to create a nuanced portrait of a person’s life through reflections, memories, and stories. This gorgeously crafted journal features the whimsical work of papercut artist Sarah Trumbauer throughout.
Best Yoga Book #3: No Gurus Came Knocking by Molly Lannon Kenny
Part memoir, part creative non-fiction, part study guide, this essay collection from one of America s most beloved yoga teachers will instruct and inspire readers from all backgrounds and all levels of experience.
Best Yoga Book #4: Fierce Medicine by Ana T. Forrest
In Fierce Medicine, Ana Forrest, charismatic teacher and founder of Forrest Yoga, combines physical practice, eastern wisdom, and profound Native American ceremony to help heal everything from addictive behaviors and eating disorders to chronic pain and injury.
Fierce Medicine is also part memoir, detailing Ana Forrest’s journey to move beyond her past as she helps others to do the same. Filled with helpful yoga exercises, Fierce Medicine teaches us to reconnect with our bodies, cultivate balance, and start living in harmony with our Spirits.
Best Yoga Book #5: Downward Dog Mystery Book Series by Tracy Weber (6 Books)
US born Tracey Weber is the author of the award-winning Downward Dog Mystery series. With a background in chemical engineering and career in business consulting, Weber made the unlikely decision in 2001 to quit her role at Microsoft and pursue a new career teaching yoga. 16 years on and she still teaches regularly in her Seattle based studio, where she got some unlikely inspiration to write.
Although Tracey had loved reading mysteries, she’d never even considered writing her own until protagonist Kate Davidson popped into her head and inspired her now widely successful series.
The Downward Dog Mystery series which follows yoga teacher, Kate and her German Shepherd, is now critically acclaimed. Weber’s first book, Murder Strikes a Pose, won the Maxwell Award for Fiction and was a nominee for the Agatha Award as best first novel in 2015.
Best Yoga Book #6: Nourishing the Teacher Inquiries, Contemplations, and Insights on the Path of Yoga by Danny Arguetty
Nourishing the Teacher is a rich resource for teachers of yoga wanting to incorporate dynamic language and inspirational themes into their classes.
Drawing upon the vast intelligence of Tantric yoga philosophy, nature, and ancient cultures the text provides a creative springboard to construct richer classes and more fulfilling personal practice sessions.
The book is divided into five primary sections including the Gifts of Embodiment, the Wisdom of Yoga, the Hindu Gods & Goddesses, the Alchemy of Nature, and the Wheel of the Year.
Best Yoga Book #7: The 6 Qualities of Consciousness: Practical Insights from the Tantric Tradition of Yoga by Danny Arguetty
The 6 Qualities of Consciousness is a revolutionary text which brings forth ancient teachings from the Tantric tradition of yoga into every day life. Journey into these six attributes of existence and discover how they reside in you, as you, and all around you. Celebrate profound intelligence, unbounded freedom, your perfect yet ever evolving nature, the joy of community, the promise of infinite abundance, and the natural ebb and flow of life in continual primal motion. Through this book you will: Move beyond mere contentment and step into a life of abundant flourishing here and now. Empower your desires, take dedicated action, and show up in a way that expresses your passions while uplifting the collective. Engage in practical exercises to awaken each quality and invoke more clarity, connection, skill, and beauty on your path. Gain more scope on yoga’s migration to the West, understand the difference between yoga’s philosophical traditions, and learn about the Tantra’s rich heritage and diverse teachings. Immerse in the latest scientific research highlighting the physiological and psychological benefits of everyday mindfulness and practical yogic wellness techniques. Marvel in awe inspiring real life examples of wonder, sourced from the natural world.
Best Yoga Book #8: Mama Yoga and the Story of Namaste by Susanna Stratford
Award-Winning! USA Book News 2014 Winner in the Body, Mind, Spirit category! Part children’s picture book, part yoga resource guide – this book delights! Children ages 4-9, parents, and teachers follow Maansi and her classmates on a yoga adventure of the heart as they learn where the term ‘namaste’ comes from and why it should be spoken more frequently. This is a Get-Up-And-Move book that encourages the readers to move their bodies as the story unfolds. Learn some yoga basics or just enjoy the beautiful images and story. The resource guide includes photographs of 26 different children who teach poses perfect for the classroom (done in chairs), with friends (partner poses) or at home (strong and calm poses). “Mama Yoga and the Story of Namaste” is a new gem for your children’s yoga library, offering a follow-along yoga class that helps children explore and embody the meaning of ‘namaste’. Perfect for teachers and parents who want to share the gifts of yoga with their little ones.” -Leah Kalish, MA, Founder/CEO of Move With Me Action Adventures, Author of Yoga Power & Yoga Ed.K-12 Curricula, and Yoga Pretzels & Yoga Planet Decks.
Best Yoga Book #9: Skill in Action: Radicalizing Your Yoga Practice to Create a Just World by Michelle Cassandra Johnson
Skill in Action asks you to explore the deeply transformational practice of yoga as a way to become an agent of social change and work toward a just world. Through yoga practices and philosophy, this book explores liberation for ourselves and others, while asking us to engage in our own agency–whether that manifests as activism, volunteer work, or changing our relationships with others and ourselves. To provide a strong foundation to begin this work, Michelle Cassandra Johnson clearly defines power and privilege, oppression, liberation, and suffering, and invites you to make changes in your life that promote equality and freedom for all. Each chapter ends with a breathwork, asana, meditation, or interpersonal relational practice to help you incorporate this wisdom into your daily life. Each of the practices extend beyond the individual to offer resources and tools to shift institutional policies and procedures in a culture that has left all of us negatively impacted by white supremacy and social inequity. We must awaken to the injustice and suffering of marginalized communities, and we must use our voices and actions toward the liberation of all people.
Best Yoga Book #10: Finding Refuge: Heart Work for Healing Collective Grief by Michelle Cassandra Johnson
In unsettling and uncertain times, the individual and collective heartbreak that lives in our bodies and communities can feel insurmountable. Many of us have been conditioned by the dominant culture to not name, focus on, or wade through the difficulties of our lives. But in order to heal, we must make space for grief and prioritize our wholeness, our humanity, and our inherent divinity.
In Finding Refuge, social justice activist, social worker, and yoga teacher Michelle Cassandra Johnson offers those who feel brokenhearted, helpless, confused, powerless, and desperate the tools they need to be present with their grief while also remaining openhearted. Through powerful personal narrative and meditation and journaling practices at the end of each chapter that explore being present with your heart, Michelle empowers us to see that each of us has a role to play in building enough momentum to take intentional action and shift what is unsettled and unjust in the world. Finding Refuge is an invitation to pick up the shattered parts of yourself and remember your strength, wholeness, and sacredness through this practice of presence and attending to your grief.
Best Yoga Book #11: Yoga for the Pregnant & Postpartum Core: A Handbook for Yoga Students & Teachers by Megan Sloan
One of the only books about pregnancy and postpartum written in inclusive language, this book whether you’re newly pregnant or navigating the changing postpartum body. With clear, easy to understand descriptions this book will explain the changes that happen to the core during pregnancy and what yoga poses are safe through each trimester to build support for the core. The book will also address common concerns like abdominal separation and pelvic floor dysfunction offering tips for mitigating these issues during pregnancy and offering support healing postpartum. You’ll also find information not only addressing the changes to the postpartum body, but how every day posture and ergonomics can impact healing the core and rebuilding and strength. Most importantly you’ll get step by step instructions on how to use yoga to rebuild pelvic floor and core strength postpartum. Including sequences designed specifically for strengthening the pelvic floor and supporting diastasis recti (abdominal separation) and a series of four easy to follow sequences that will guide you in gradually building strength postpartum, the book will offer clear guidance for returning core and pelvic floor function after baby arrives. This book will be of benefit no matter where you are on your journey of pregnancy (and no matter if its your first pregnancy or your fifth!) and will continue to support you long after the baby arrives.
Best Yoga Book #12: Yoga for Pregnancy & Birth: A Guide for Yoga Teachers by Megan Sloan
Written for yoga teachers by an experienced prenatal yoga teacher, this one of a kind manual offers guidance specifically designed for yoga teachers to support pregnant yoga students. A must for every yoga teacher’s library, whether you are planning to become a prenatal yoga teacher or simply want to know how to safely teach pregnant students, this book is for you. This clear and concise guide offers yoga sequences, guided meditations, and pranayama for pregnant students. Poses to avoid or modify during each trimester. Detailed pictures and descriptions of prenatal yoga poses. Instructions for integrating pregnant students into regular yoga classes. An overview of the changes to the pregnant body by trimester with an eye to their impact on the yoga practice. Ways in which yoga can support labor and birth. Common pregnancy complaints and yoga tips for addressing them. Guidelines for creating a prenatal yoga class. Written in inclusive language with an eye to trauma-informed teaching, this essential guide will outline everything you need to know to safely and confidently work with the growing prenatal yoga population.
Best Yoga Book #13: Radical Dharma: Talking Race, Love, and Liberation by Angel Kyodo Williams
Igniting a long-overdue dialogue about how the legacy of racial injustice and white supremacy plays out in society at large and Buddhist communities in particular, this urgent call to action outlines a new dharma that takes into account the ways that racism and privilege prevent our collective awakening. The authors traveled around the country to spark an open conversation that brings together the Black prophetic tradition and the wisdom of the Dharma. Bridging the world of spirit and activism, they urge a compassionate response to the systemic, state-sanctioned violence and oppression that has persisted against black people since the slave era. With national attention focused on the recent killings of unarmed black citizens and the response of the Black-centered liberation groups such as Black Lives Matter, Radical Dharma demonstrates how social transformation and personal, spiritual liberation must be articulated and inextricably linked.
Best Yoga Book #14: Being Black: Zen and the Art of Living with Fearlessness and Grace by Angel Kyodo Williams
In this elegant, practical book, Angel Kyodo Williams combines the universal wisdom of Buddhism with an inspirational call for self-acceptance and community empowerment. Written by a woman who grew up facing the challenges that confront African-Americans every day, Being Black teaches us how a “warrior spirit” of truth and responsibility can be developed into the foundation for real happiness and personal transformation. With her eloquent, hip, and honest perspective, Williams—a Zen priest, social activist, and entrepreneur—shares personal stories, time-tested teachings, and simple guidelines that invite readers of all faiths to step into the freedom of a life lived with fearlessness and grace.
