Mindful Reading List: The Best Yoga and Meditation Books to Inspire Your Practice
There’s nothing like diving into a life-changing book, feeling inspired, and highlighting, dog-earing, and note-taking on every single page. These are books we turn to time and time again.
If you’re looking for some inspiring reads, we’ve (virtually) raided the bookshelves of Ashtanga yoga teacher and Alo Moves instructor Laruga Glaser to get some recommendations for the best books on yoga, meditation, human development, consciousness, philosophy, and yoga-inspired poetry.
“I love books, I love learning, and I love things that challenge the way I think and expand my knowledge base,” says Glaser.
Though these mindful books only skim the surface of her favorites, this is a great starting point if you’re looking to deepen your yoga practice, learn more about mindfulness, or start your own yoga book club. If you’re a yoga teacher, consider adding these to your ongoing list of continuing education books — these are great books for yoga teachers who are looking to get inspired and enrich their teaching skills.
We’ve broken down Glaser’s mindful book recommendations by category and included her personal insights. Check out @larugayoga on Instagram for her full book review.
Mindfulness, Consciousness & Human Development
The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself
By Michael A. Singer
“This is my all-time favorite book. I will read it a thousand times and take something new from it. If you're a new practitioner or a practitioner of yoga for a longer period of time, this book is so good at helping you navigate what comes up in practice and helps you to process the deeper things that have a way of being extracted through practice.”
The Art of Breathing
by Danny Penman
“Breathing is so important when it comes to the Ashtanga yoga practice. I just really loved all the gems he had in here in regards to the power of the breath, the beauty of the breath, and how there’s so much more to the breath than meets the eye. This is really good for yoga teachers too in just finding new ways to illustrate and explain conscious breathing.”
The Practicing Mind: Developing Focus and Discipline in Your Life
By Thomas M. Sterner
“This is a great book in terms of what it is to practice and what is the practicing mind — the repetition of doing something over and over again and the art of practicing. I just found there to be so many great gems in this book in terms of enjoying the process and learning how to get your mind in the right frame of being in the process. Sometimes we get down on ourselves when things aren't flowing in the way that we want, but it’s all about getting your mind out of it and into the moment.”
The Mind Illuminated: A Complete Meditation Guide Integrating Buddhist Wisdom and Brain Science for Greater Mindfulness
by Culadasa (John Yates PhD)
“For those who are interested in meditation or are already meditating, this is a nice guidebook with great insights and exercises.”
Letting Go: The Pathway of Surrender
by David R. Hawkins
“There are some really good hard truths in this book. He really keeps it real and I appreciate that. One of the big takeaways I took from this particular book is that he mentions that every suppressed emotion that you have is attached to thousands and thousands of thoughts. If you heal that suppressed emotion, the thoughts connected to it will disappear. A lot of these suppressed emotions can weigh us down and create a lot of clutter in the mind, and the way he illustrates that is super interesting.”
The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma
by Bessel van der Kolk
“When we start to go into practices such as meditation and yoga, we start to understand that a lot of unconscious energy is trapped in the body. This is an amazing book that taps into that. There are studies here about people who have experienced PTSD, other types of trauma, and how it really gets locked into the body and how people can find healing through the body too. It will really make you a believer of that body-mind connection.”
Eastern Body, Western Mind
by Anodea Judith
“She goes through a lot of interesting things when it comes to the chakras, elements, colors, traumas, everything connected to certain chakras. A super interesting reference that gives you a better understanding of not only your physical body but also your energetic body and the emotional states that come with it too.”
The Language of Emotions: What Your Feelings Are Trying to Tell You
by Karla McLaren
“She’s like the ‘emotion whisperer.’ When certain difficult emotions come up, she illustrates what is the undercurrent to these emotions and how to navigate through them and how to get out of your judgement of your emotions. She talks about how we can learn more about ourselves through these emotions.”
What's in the Way Is the Way: A Practical Guide for Waking Up to Life
by Mary O'Malley
“A lot of times, this is all about the Ashtanga yoga practice. When we have that set sequence, we go through different obstacles. Not all poses are going to be easy. Oftentimes we go around that area of challenge, but we want to go straight through. We have to go into that obstacle, whether that’s mental, emotional, spiritual, or physical too.”
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind
by Yuval Noah Harari
“I think every person should read Sapiens. It’s one of my all-time favorite books. So much knowledge, so much wisdom, so many interesting things to think about. He just seems very spiritually aware, but at the same time, has done so much study and research.”
Yoga and Yoga Philosophy
The Yoga-Sutra of Patanjali: A New Translation with Commentary
by Chip Hartranft
“When it comes to the Yoga Sutras, they don’t need to be complicated. What I appreciate about this book is that he keeps it really simple, but there’s a lot of things you can contemplate here, which I find to be very beautiful.”
Inside The Yoga Sutras: A Comprehensive Sourcebook for the Study and Practice of Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras
by Reverend Jaganath Carrera
“This is a thicker translation and commentary. I think of this one more as a workbook. You’re going to get translation and commentary, but here he gives you exercises to do and contemplations to do, which I think is a great way to make the concepts of the Yoga Sutras come more alive in your experience.”
Yoga Dharma
by Hamish Hendry
“This is from a very well-known teacher of Ashtanga yoga out of London, England. This is another beautiful, simple book that talks about the concepts of the Yoga Sutras and goes through yoga philosophy in a simple, accessible way. It’s something that you could keep in your purse or backpack and come back to.”
Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace and Ultimate Freedom
by B.K.S. Iyengar
“I just love how he illustrates a lot of the yoga philosophy and brings it to light with fiery passion. When I read this book, I underlined so many different sayings and ways that he illustrates the yoga practice and philosophy. It’s one that I recommend to students all the time.”
The Path of Yoga: An Essential Guide to Its Principles and Practices
by Georg Feuerstein
“I’m all about simplicity. This one is nice and thin with a lot of great insight into yoga philosophy. There were so many great gems condensed in a short-form book.”
Awakening the Spine: Yoga for Health, Vitality, and Energy
by Vanda Scaravelli
“This is a classic book from a long-time Iyengar practitioner. It's not only analyzing yoga, it’s like an art book too. There are beautiful photographs inside of it. She brings an artistic approach to the practice of yoga. There’s a section called Matter and Energy that talks about bringing in natural elements into what we do in yoga, pulling in other insights from other realms into what we do as far as in nature and animals. If you’re wanting a book that is very inspirational and also from a very long-term practitioner of yoga, this is a great one to have in your library.”
Anatomy of Hatha Yoga: A Manual for Students, Teachers, and Practitioners
by Herbert David Coulter
“A good reference to have in your library, especially if you’re a long-term practitioner or teacher. It’s really dense and there’s a lot of good information here in regards to many postures and how they connect to the bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments of the body, and different alignment patterns.”
Anatomy of Movement
by Blandine Calais-Germain
“This book vibes with my type of energy because I always like to connect more of the practical approaches of learning anatomy. Some anatomy books can be very focused only on the muscles, tendons, ligaments, and bones — which are great to know — but this is connecting all those muscles with certain movements. A great reference and learning tool when it comes to anatomy and connecting anatomy to movement.”
Yoga-Inspired Poetry & Inspirational Poetry
Inward
by Yung Pueblo
“I’m a big fan of poetry. I feel like poets know how to illustrate the nature of the soul and the heart more than anyone. He says the most beautiful, insightful things. I really feel like it’s so connected to yoga. He also talks about ego, healing, and acceptance. He has these short verses that hit the nail on the head.”
Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters
by Nikita Gill
“I just love her writing. She is so talented. It just comes straight from the heart. Super powerful, and a little edgy at times.”
The Rumi Daybook: 365 Poems and Teachings from the Beloved Sufi Master
by Kabir and Camille Helminski
“I’m a big fan of Rumi, a poet who really knew the nature of the heart, the nature of the soul. The thing that is so interesting about Rumi is that your mind isn’t gonna get it. But your heart and soul will. His poetry is so powerful.”
Want to practice an online Ashtanga yoga class with Laruga Glaser? Get started with a free 14-day trial to Alo Moves.