Raji Thron

Greetings Yoga Enthusiasts!

If you love yoga, that may be what drew you to my books! After more than forty years of practicing and teaching yoga and more than 20 years of teaching teachers, I have realized I enjoy writing about yoga as well. I am an E-RYT 500 teacher and the founder and co-director of Yoga Synthesis and program director of Yoga Synthesis Teacher Trainings. I was initiated into classical Hatha Yoga at the age of twelve in India and have studied in many of the most prominent Hatha Yoga lineages including Iyengar Yoga, Ashtanga Vinyasa Yoga, Krishnamacharya Yoga, Shivananda Yoga, and Kundalini Yoga. My teaching and my books have given me an opportunity to express my integrative view of the yoga practice, as is expressed in the name Yoga Synthesis. I agree with the great Indian yogis and gurus of the past who believed that yoga in its broader definition (beyond just postures) is a universal practice that can benefit all humans, especially in modern stressful times!

Mastering Vinyasa Yoga was my first book in which I give a thorough and unique presentation on Vinyasa Yoga . My breathing book, One Breath: The Yoga of Awakening Energy is probably the most comprehensive and practical breath and breath mediation book you'll encounter. My latest book, The Complete Guide to Gentle Yoga is gives a clear presentation on the various forms of gentle practice, showing how Yoga can be a great body mind reset and that gentle Yoga practices are where we all will gravitate to as we get older or need restful and recuperative practices.

Here's a quote from the introduction of Mastering Vinyasa Yoga which captures my point of view:

"After years of practicing and teaching both pure Ashtanga Vinyasa and a more adaptive Vinyasa practice, I have come to the realization that the adaptive approach to Vinyasa Yoga has much more creative potential for engaging a practitioner and meeting them where they are. Vinyasa Yoga can take many forms, depending on one’s emphasis, aspiration and intention. That is the underlying legacy of Krishnamacharya, the father of modern Vinyasa Yoga. He pointed us in the direction of an integrative and flexible methodology for a Yoga practice. A creative Vinyasa form can integrate elements from a number of Yoga traditions and styles, which makes it more versatile. In the pages that follow you will see how to balance creativity in a Yoga practice with the fundamental practicality of good progressions, alignment and inner intentionality. The outer forms can shift around to some degree, but ultimately we have to keep circling back to certain common core elements. Through synthesizing various forms, the essence of the practice can be revealed! The essence of Vinyasa Yoga arises intuitively from the conscious integration of intelligent practice forms."

Here's a quote from One Breath:

"Using breath to move yourself to a neutral state and then toward activating subtle energy and connecting to sublime states of consciousness is an especially profound teaching of the Yoga tradition. The internal aspect of breathing that awakens your inner energy and meditative awareness is really the underlying intention of breath practice in Yoga."

Peace to you all,

Raji