It’s no wonder yoga has been around for thousands of years; it mixes strength and stretching with meditation for a whole-body experience. Whether you’ve been perfecting your practice for years or are looking to get started, here are a few books that yogis everywhere should check out:

Perfectly Imperfect: The Art and Soul of Yoga Practice by Baron Baptiste – Describes the transformation that occurs in the minds and bodies of yoga participants when they get into a yoga pose and how this newfound condition can help them grow and gain confidence.

 

Hell-Bent: Obsession, Pain, and the Search for Something Like Transcendence in Competitive Yoga by Benjamin Lorr – Traces the author’s journey through the world of competitive yoga, documenting his fantastical encounters with athletic prodigies, celebrities, and hucksters.

Poser: My Life in Twenty-Three Yoga Poses by Claire Dederer – Describes the factors that compelled the author to try yoga and her subsequent enthusiasm for the practice, recounting her love-hate relationship with trickier poses while revealing how her yoga experience came to reflect her values and generational dynamics.

2,100 Asanas by Daniel Lacerda – An extensive catalog of yoga asanas for practitioners of any experience level showcases the form’s beauty and athleticism and is organized under eight major types, from standing and seated poses to inversion and quadruped poses.

Do Your Om Thing: Bending Yoga Tradition to Fit Your Modern Life by Rebecca Pacheco – The yoga teacher and creator of OmGal.com presents a modern guide to the full mind-body practice that demonstrates how to benefit from the ancient wisdom and philosophy of yoga and provides simple poses and sequences for daily balance and helpful meditation tips.

The Subtle Body: The Story of Yoga in America by Stefanie Syman – Traces the evolution of yoga from a centuries-old spiritual discipline to a multibillion-dollar industry in America, citing the practice’s infamy in the 19th century and the contributions of a succession of high-profile instructors and students throughout subsequent decades.

The Goddess Pose: The Audacious Life of Indra Devi by Michelle Goldberg – Traces the life of the woman credited for bringing yoga to the West, documenting her coming-of-age during the Russian Revolution, involvement in the prewar spiritualist movement, and relationships with celebrity students.