I was unable to go through all the stories before my access to the copy ended. I cannot therefore provide a full-length review for the book.
I will mention that the drawings/art between the story were a little awkward and did not add to the overall seriousness or ambience of the stories.
This is a book for people curious to investigate deeply into the lives of the Indian Gods and what they conveyed about life and living.

This book was outstanding and I don't think I could really, fully put it all into words. I knew some of these stories myself but only vaguely. To see them, to hear the complexities behind each pose was truly life-changing. I'd recommend this book to anyone with the passion to learn and the want/will for mindfulness.

I received this e-book free for a genuine review.

This was such an interesting read, I learnt so much.

Thank you NetGalley for my complimentary copy in return for my honest review.

As a yoga teacher, I find this book incredible interesting and useful. It inspired me to create practices around particular poses so I can share the story behind them.

This is a must read for any yoga teacher. Thanks for sharing these wonderful stories -- stories I'll be sharing for years to come.

cultural-exploration, Hinduism, illustrated, mythology, myths-legends*****

I never thought much about the origins of the various poses or their proper names in Hindi, so this is a real treat for this history geek. Yoga has an important place in modern life with all its stresses and often inactivity as well. I am totally delighted with it and will probably get a copy but keep it in my local public library.
Dr. Balkaran also has an online course that accompanies this book at School of Indian Wisdom in Canada.
Devika Menon is the illustrator extraordinaire of this wonderful book with brilliantly colored artistry to accompany the text.
I requested and received a free temporary e-book on Adobe Digital Editions from Quarto Publishing Group/Leaping Hare Press via NetGalley. Thank you!

This was such a pleasure to read! The art works is beyond beautiful, along with the story behind the poses. I’m definitely adding to my shelf, it was also helpful with my studies.

Yoga practitioners will be aware that -- while some posture names are banal, straightforward descriptions (e.g. Utthita Hasta Padangusthasana, or “standing hand-to-big toe pose --”) many others invoke animals, sages, or deities for historical, mythological, or symbolic reasons. As this book’s title suggests, it presents the mythological backstories for fifty yoga postures. The vast majority of these fifty poses are common ones that will be readily familiar to most Hatha Yoga practitioners, though a few are advanced or obscure and aren’t likely to come up in your run-of-the-mill studio class. (And a couple may be familiar to some individuals by another name.)

The book is cleanly organized with five sections (Shiva poses, Vishnu poses, Devi / goddess poses, God story poses, and sage poses) each containing writeups for ten poses. Each pose is presented via colorful artwork in the Indian style (typically with the deity or sage in question performing the posture.)

I found the entries to be well-written and clear (Hindu Mythology can be extremely complicated and some authors get lost in the weeds by including too much minutiae or unnecessary details, but that wasn’t the case here.) The full-page artistic renderings of the poses are also clear and tidy, such that anyone familiar with the pose should readily recognize it.

The one thing I think could have been done better (though probably not without messing up the aforementioned clean organizational scheme) would be to cut some of the redundancy in the stories. In a few instances, the same story appeared in multiple chapters. To the author’s credit, these weren’t just copy / pasted, they were written uniquely, sometimes with additional information or a different focus. Still, it was a bit distracting to find myself in the middle of the same story and wondering whether I’d zoned out or lost my place. This might have been dealt with by putting multiple poses with one story and not repeating the tale one or more times. For example, the stories about Vasisthasana and Visvametrasana are inherently coupled, and the poses might be as well. (Perhaps even referencing the fact that the story had already been told might have been helpful and less distracting.)

All-in-all, I thought this book did a fine job of presenting the myths and relating them to the postures. I learned a great deal from reading the book and would recommend it for yoga practitioners and those interested in Hindu Mythology.

This book was truly enjoyable. The art and vivid colors were stunning and the stories were incredibly interesting. I won't think about yoga poses the same way again.

This was a really informative and interesting read. I’m really glad I decided to pick this up and learn more about the history behind yoga poses. I found the format of the book very visually pleasing and well laid out. The information was understandable but still detailed. I’d recommend this to yoga teachers and hobbyists alike as I think everyone can benefit from deepening their understanding of yoga. Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for an ARC of this book.

This book is so great! I’m a yoga teacher and I learned so much about the history and stories behind the yoga poses we often see in asana practice. To have these stories to add into classes will help bring them to life for students of yoga.

The illustrations are lovely and really help to show the poses. Having the themes of the poses and the summary of the stories at the bottom are also wonderful.

A must-read for any yoga teacher or for yoga students looking for the stories behind the asanas.

This is a beautifully-crafted book with meaningful illustrations and poetic verse. Each pose has main themes outlined, the story itself, and a blurb at the end highlighting the relevant lessons. Some of the poses and stories are inaccessible and irrelevant to most mere mortals, but perhaps that’s the point.

This book would make a lovely addition to the philosophy component of a yoga teacher training course or a source of self-study for an experienced practitioner. This isn’t the kind of book you read cover to cover and set aside. It’s something you come back to and glean little nuggets each time to absorb into your practice.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for an advance copy in exchange for my honest review!

This book is fabulous!
Yoga lovers and non yoga lovers would enjoy this!
The illustrations are great and they really do add to this book to make it special. It would be such a lovely gift!
There is so much info in here, you are bound to learn something new!
Stunning!

Thank you NetGalley, Quarto Publishing Group –Leaping Hare, and Dr Raj Balkaran for letting me read "The Stories Behind the Poses" in exchange for an honest review.

I am doing yoga for a couple of years now. I have read your basic books, explaining the poses and the movement behind them. Rarely have I stumbled accross a book that gives you such a detailed story behind the pose. What is the origin of a certain pose? What is the purpose of the pose and what does it give to you? What about the mythical aspect? The Poses are beautifully illustrated, one illustration per pose.

Be aware that this book will not teach you the pose. It teaches you about its origin. I found it fun at times and educatuing. It was really worth the read. Each story is usually a couple of pages long. The perfect length. My favorite one was Savasana - Corpse pose. I learnt so much!

Thank you for a great book!