The Ethic of touch :
The Hands-on Practitioner's Guide to Creating a Professional, Safe and Enduring Practice
by Cherie M Sohnen-Moe and, Ben E Benjamin

If anything, this book is (slightly) let down by its title, for while it is indeed about Ethics, it is about more than just touch. It is a comprehensive look att the ethical aspects of running any kind of healing business, whether this involves touch (as it often does) or not.
It spells with commendable clarity a wide variety of important ethical (and sometimes legal) issues confronting any kind of health professionals (including of course yoga teachers) in their professional practice. In today's litigious culture, reflecting on such issues before the need arises might also save you more than just embarrassment.
The book takes the readers though the issues of establishing and maintaining boundaries, looks in details at the dynamic and intricacies of effective communication, in the context of a therapeutic relationship, and explores the possible pitfalls of different types dual relationships (what do you do if one of your students want to take you out on a date, or offers to do your website in exchange for free classes?).
Further chapters deal with sexual issues, ethical management and business practices, the special case of victims of trauma and abuse, and the role and importance of supervision, whether by peers or by a more experienced professional.
Using scores of real life examples to illustrate different points, this is thought provoking reading for any one working in the health business.
In my opinion, this very comprehensive guide to an often neglected yet very important subject  should be on every yoga teacher or yoga teacher trainee reading list.

Reviewed by Christophe Mouze

YOGA MORALITY :
Ancient Teachings at a Time of Global Crisis
by Georg Feuerstein

In an age when yoga is becoming a fashion accessory,  placed amongst Pilates and circuit training in the "body beautiful" trend, this is a most welcome book.
In a world where hundreds of children are violently killed by the armies of "democratic" nations (as happened over Christmas in Gaza), this is an indispensable book.
In times like ours when lies, broken promises and corruption have become normalized within political and diplomatic circles, and when greed is considered a virtue in the corporate world, morality may however seem a quaint subject to many.

Two thousand years after Patanjali, the author, who has written more than thirty books on yoga and is widely regarded as one of the world's foremost authorities on yoga, reminds us that yoga is first and foremost a spiritual pursuit, and that the backbone of any spiritual pursuit is morality.
Looking closely at the five key virtues or yamas (nonharming, truthfulness, nonstealing, nongrasping (greedlessness) and chastity) which constitute the first limb of hatha yoga philosophy, he details how they can be applied in today's rapidly changing world.
This book should appeal to genuine practionners of yoga, regardless of what style they practice or how much experience they have.

Reviewed by Christophe Mouze

Yoga posture adjustment and assisting
An insightful guide for yoga teacher and students
Stephanie Pappas
Trafford Publishing

Written by a very experienced teacher and teacher trainer, this book details teaching techniques for nearly 100 yoga postures. Stephanie makes a useful distinction between adjusting, which she describes as a short alteration or correction to the student's posture, and assisting, which involves helping a student to go deeper into an asana, and therefore lasts longer.
Packed with very valuable tips and practical advice, this book should be near the top of the reading list of anyone currently  training to be a yoga teacher, and even experienced teachers will pick up new ideas from it.
It has, however, definitely been written with yoga teachers in mind, and yoga students would be better off getting a copy of Iyengar's "Light on yoga".
But it certainly should be on every yoga teacher's bookshelves. In the short time it's been on mine, I have found myself referring to it more than once.
Click here to order this book

Reviewed by Christophe Mouze