Books like Anatomy of Movement — picked by fans

I love The Yoga Effect because it is based on the cutting-edge findings of NIH-funded studies at Boston University School of Medicine and shares poses and breathing techniques that are proven to help the body and mind release fear, worry, and sadness. Not dissimilar to my book, The Yoga Effect offers a customizable prescription for maintaining centeredness, confidence, and balance with short, well-rounded practices that include breath work, visualizations, and clear explanations of how yoga contributes to emotional wellness.

Any author who voluntarily has his nose packed and totally obstructed for over a week attracts my awe as one who is committed to walking the walk of his subject.

Nestor’s descriptions of this experience and the immense joy he encounters when his nasal airways were unblocked and his sense of smell restored sets the stage for an engaging tour through the science and art of a vital bodily function that we mostly ignore—respiration.

He posits that humans have been ignoring breath for centuries at our detriment and which accounts for sleep apnea, snoring, asthma, and autoimmune diseases. He poses means of relief. What a fresh breath.    

I could barely put this book down. It’s incredibly well written and has themes that are close to my heart and not often explored in literature, especially through a somewhat unhinged female perspective: physical therapists, chronic pain, Shakespeare, performing, desire and self-identity. The body is at the core of this fleshy, raw, and brilliant novel.

Mudras is the only book you will ever need if you want to explore using a mudra practice, which I highly recommend. Mudras describes the physical, energetic, psycho-emotional, and spiritual properties of over 100 mudras and explains how they are performed and their mind/body effects. Mudra practice is a great addition to a breath and meditation practice and this book is a treasure trove of the inner workings of mudras.

I love the way this book so clearly explains the structure and function of the body (anatomy and physiology) functions with conceptually perspicuous illustrations. It’s remarkable how the clear and intuitive the schematic illustrations teach about the body. At first, I thought that I would not like it, since the organs are not shown in their natural appearances but instead as machines, but after reading it, I loved it.

Your parents always told you to “Sit up straight and don’t slouch when you walk.” Why is this good advice? What are all those bumps along your back and what does it mean if they start to hurt? What is “aerobic exercise” and is it better for you than weight lifting? How do cuts heal, and how does the body fight infections (and pandemics)? What does our brain do while we’re asleep? An anatomy & physiology text can provide the answers to those and thousands of other questions about something we inhabit 24 hours of every day. Here’s one I used in my yoga training. Textbooks tend to be expensive, however, so you may want to look around — there’s even a “For Dummies” book on A&P, which looks pretty good, especially at one-tenth the price of a textbook. 

If Lao Tzu had written a book on anatomy in movement, this would be it. This book took me on a journey of a thousand steps from the first step.

I found the insights into the complexity of movement simple but not simplistic. Utilizing comparative anatomy gave me a new perspective and color to my understanding. Evolutionary anatomy allows a depth of comprehension of why humans have become such efficient walkers.

The construction of this book allowed me to see the four-dimensional puzzle of gait with clarity and curiosity I did not think possible. Using this book directly for my work as a bodyworker, going for a walk becomes ever more fascinating.

Before reading this book, I thought the most inclusive version of the slow travel principle of micro-travel and mindfulness was going outside and experiencing the weather. But because of a mysterious illness that left her bedridden, Bailey could not go outside nor look out the window. Yet, she wrote about the habits and hijinks of a tiny snail a friend brought her in a pot of violets.

I loved that Bailey found snail “bites” on paper and then explained how a snail’s mouth works and why the hole in the paper was square-shaped. The snail becomes Bailey’s connection to the outdoors (or wildness), where she finds hope and agency. My lesson: a terrarium can be as (or more) therapeutic to someone’s spirit as walking Spain’s Camino de Santiago.

Each time I read this book, I find new depths of understanding. I appreciate its readability while maintaining a stunning level of precision and accuracy. This book reflects my own clinical process and acts as a practical guide.

It is based upon working with real clients and is supported, not handcuffed, by research. I have often found anatomy books to be dry and singular in topic, whereas this book is rich and multilayered.

I now have a deeper understanding of the thorax through the lens of this cohesive, complex system view of the whole body.  

This book laid the foundation of the importance of anatomy for me. I was first introduced to the pages as a college student and over fifty years later I use it as reference for myself and the students I teach. The author, through the use of his thorough, detailed illustrations, charts, photographs and explanations guide us through a maze of complicated body parts. His mastery of the human body allows him to visually present this complex topic into easily understandable material. The information contained within its pages has also been invaluable to me over the years as a constant reference in my quick sketching, illustration, and animation projects.