Required Reading

The following books have been chosen to support your journey through this training in a grounded, thoughtful, and integrated way. Together, they offer a foundation in yoga philosophy, teaching methodology, anatomy, and yin practice—the core areas most often emphasized in 200-hour teacher trainings.

Rather than rushing through them, let these texts accompany you over time. Read slowly, underline what stirs something in you, take notes in the margins, and bring your questions into our weekends together. This is not simply academic reading; it is part of the practice of becoming a teacher.

Foundational texts

  • The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
    A foundational guide to the inner path of yoga, offering insight into the mind, practice, discipline, and liberation.

  • The Bhagavad Gita
    A sacred and enduring text that speaks to action, devotion, purpose, and how to meet life with greater clarity and steadiness.

  • Teaching Yoga: Essential Foundations and Techniques by Mark Stephens
    A practical resource to support the craft of teaching, including sequencing, observation, cueing, and class structure.

  • The Heart of Yoga by T.K.V. Desikachar
    A beautiful bridge between philosophy and personal practice, inviting a more intimate and lived understanding of yoga.

  • Yoga Anatomy by Leslie Kaminoff and Amy Matthews
    A clear and accessible anatomy text to help deepen understanding of breath, movement, structure, and functional awareness in practice.

Yin texts

Please choose one of the following yin texts:

  • The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga by Bernie Clark.

  • Insight Yoga by Sarah Powers.

Both offer rich support for understanding yin as a practice of listening, stillness, sensation, energetic awareness, and inward attention. Since this training lives in the space where strength meets stillness, this portion of the reading is especially meaningful.

A supportive way to move through the reading might look like this:

  • Begin with The Yoga Sutras and The Heart of Yoga.

  • Read Teaching Yoga alongside your practice teaching and methodology work.

  • Keep Yoga Anatomy nearby as you move through asana, alignment, and functional exploration.

  • Choose your yin text as you deepen into the quieter, more contemplative dimensions of the training.

  • Let The Bhagavad Gita meet you more fully as the training unfolds and your understanding begins to widen.

Let these books be companions on the path. Return to them slowly, often, and with curiosity, and allow them to deepen not only what you know, but how you practice, how you listen, and how you teach.