Acknowledgments    

I learned the most about the meaning of Yoga, the practice of Yoga, and the methods of Yoga therapy from my teacher, Sri T.K.V. Desikachar of Madras, India. I began my study with him in Madras in 1974. I am continually grateful for his perceptive and patient instruction. I bow to the greatness of Sri T. Krishnamacharya, my teacher’s teacher, who brought forth this teaching from the depths of his practice and devotion.

I learned the most about teaching Yoga and practicing Yoga therapy from my students and clients. I am continually grateful for their trust and inspiration. I also want to acknowledge them for their patience with me as I mature over the years.

I am deeply grateful to Mirka, my wife, and her sister Mara. Writing such an exhaustive book has taken time and concentration. I wrote this book as our son Matteo lived through his second and third years! It was only through their loving support that I was able to complete this project.

I want to thank my friend (who wishes to remain anonymous) for his photography and his tireless efforts in the darkroom; Susan Gilbert for her medical illustrations; Nur Gibson for her rendition of Ananta; Barry Kaplan for the cover photo; and Dr. Scott Gerson for his interest in my work and for writing the foreword to this book.

I also want to thank all of the models, who are actually students at our school, for their participation: Phyllis Addison, Keith Bailey, Melanie Bohn-Bailey, Julie Gayer, Sara Grigsby, Brian Griswold, Justin Groode, Ronald Kawahara, Matteo Kraftsow, Vance Koenig, Mirka Scalco-Kraftsow, Jenn Fredricksen, Mika Nakamura, Natalie Maisel, Barbara Plunkett, Robert Ward, and Gary Weber.

I am grateful to my literary agent, Ling Lucas, for believing in my work; to Mary Lou Mellinger, who has given countless hours to help me disseminate my work, including organizing the massive number of photographs for this book; to Margo Morris, who offered her assistance at the outset of this project and gave generously of her time throughout the years to see it to completion; to Mrs. Latha Satish, Ph.D., of Madras for her technical assistance; to Pat Sheldon for her editorial assistance; and to Dr. Ken Wolkoff for generously sharing his medical knowledge.

I want to thank Jariya Wanapun and Leda Scheintaub of Penguin Putnam for making my dream of the ideal relationship between an author and a publisher come true. Thank you both for your clarity, kindness, and good work. And thank you to the rest of the Penguin team: Dawn Drzal, Janet Goldstein, Kathie Parise for your elegant text design, Dolores Reilly, Nelly Bly, and Nancy Seitz.

Finally, I relied on Frederic Martini’s Fundamentals of Anatomy and Physiology, published by Prentice-Hall in 1992, as a reference for the scientific information found in the “Common Aches and Pains” and “Chronic Disease” sections of the book.