Yoga Mind, Body and Spirit
by Donna Farhi
Owl Books, 271 pp.

Beginners and experienced yoga devotees alike will find "Yoga Mind, Body and Spirit" an invaluable companion. Donna Farhi, a yoga instructor and author of "The Breathing Book," instructs readers in the Half-Dog pose, the Triangle Pose, the Flank Pose, and a dozen other standing postures. Those who prefer sitting postures will appreciate her discussions of the Lotus Pose, the Sage Pose, the Cow-Face Pose, and the Head-to-Knee Pose. More daring practitioners may skip straight to chapter six, where Farhi shows us how to do upside-down poses.

But Farhi does more than simply instruct readers in various postures. Yoga, she insists, is more than exercise--it is a way of life, and mastering

(compassion for all living things) and

(contentment) is every bit as important as getting the standing twist down pat.

The photographs--fuzzy black-and-white shots that look like they were taken in the 1970s--are this volume's only drawback. Owl Books should have splurged on spiffier art.