is online as a work in progress for over 20 years in German at yogabook.org, and long-since containes many precise descriptions of important asanas. Over the years, a lot of basic and supplementary information has been added, such as anatomy, physiology of movement and pathology of the locomotor system. For example, all muscles and joints can be accessed directly via clear maps (map muscles – map joints). The bones can also be easily accessed via links along a skeleton. For pathology, there is also a map, on which the disorders of the musculoskeletal system can be easily found graphically via the affected body region, as well as for the effects of the poses in the musculoskeletal system. There is also a glossary, a comprehensive page on movement physiology and a FAQ with many frequently asked questions.
Content is constantly being added and experiences and findings from the daily practice are incorporated.
Pictures of variants and supports are sometimes still missing, as are some descriptions of poses or variants.
The instructions for taking a pose are written in a way that anyone can understand, but understanding the „details“ may require profoud anatomical knowledge. However, all important terms are linked and are easy to look up in the glossary and in the movement physiology.
One part of the site deals with props and how they can be used, another with workarounds when specific disorders, which do not even have to correspond to a defined pahology of the musculoskeletal/locomotor system, make it difficult or impossible to perform a pose.
There is also a page with many orthopaedic tests, sorted by body part and test item, most of which are functional tests, pain provocation tests through stretching or strain, in order to get clearer indications of disorders or to differentiate between possible ones.
For all important poses, there is a download button that links to a PDF containing only the name, image, instructions and details of the pose. This is a short form that is sometimes required in practice, for example as a handout for people who are new to the matter, such as in workshops and seminars for beginners or in therapeutic use. The color-coded links are fully functional in browsers and PDF viewers (if external links are allowed there).
There are three modes for the anatomical illustrations and maps:
- static images
- static images, which serve as a link to similar looking linkmaps (see below)
- linkmaps – these are images in which defined areas link to a specific content, e.g. muscles, bones, joints.
If nothing else is specified, the images are static. Linkmaps or images linking to linkmaps are marked as such in the heading.
All illustrations are reworked public domain images from historical works in which the captions have been renewed. Wherever possible and appropriate, illustrations have been created as linkmaps so that further information on the content shown can be accessed by clicking on them. Modern browsers can display links in the status bar (usually at the bottom left) or in a small tooltip. Besides single items such as bones, joints, muscles a lot of overview illustrations are available.
We are happy to make the work done here (graphics plus linkmaps) available to other anatomical projects for further use.
For anatomical laypersons, many explanations may initially contain too many unfamiliar terms, which is why, where possible, support is provided with tooltips that open when the mouse is moved over the term: on computers (PC/MAC) on hovering over a link an explaining window pops up which vanishes when the mouse leaves the link. Missing a pointing device such as a mouse on smartphones this does not work comparably smooth but usually a tip on the link for a second is required to show the popup.
A tip for all those who are overwhelmed by too many tooltips popping up: I can perfectly imagine your situation, just keep the mouse in the free white area on the left-hand side 😉
The Yoga order is also particularly recommended to you, which needs to be read with a little humor here and there, but should at least have its thought-provoking and inspiring moments for all those for whom the philosophical background is not exactly 101.
This yoga book is not least the result of 30 years of teaching and teacher training at Yogaschule Ashtanga in Essen, Germany and constant engagement with the various musculoskeletal disorders brought by participants, be they acute, chronic or traumatic. We try to capture and record all knowledge and experience gained from a five-digit number of public yoga classes and individual therapeutic sessions in a well-networked, easily accessible form and offer it free of charge.
Due to the complexity of the site with well over 60,000 links und more than 900 pages, we have decided not to translate the URLs in order to facilitate maintainability and reduce the error rate of the links, and hope that this will not irritate our international readers too much.
Presently all contents is a Deepl machine translation – thank you for this extremely helpful service ! – this which is to be proofread in the coming month. Proofreading is already done for the contents listed and linked here.
Let us know if you find the information helpful and understandable. Also let us know if you miss anything, have any questions or suggestions. Write us !
Support for this project is gladly accepted at: