I thought I would take this opportunity to explain a bit about my yoga career. I became one of the first nationally recognized yoga teachers because I wrote a book.
The funny thing is that writing a book wasn’t part of my plan. Instead, in an odd twist of fate, it came to me out of the blue.
Here’s how it happened
I was teaching a Hatha yoga class at the Palo Alto YMCA. The year was 1978 and this was the first yoga class I ever taught.
Steve Totten, my boss, used to run with Bob Anderson, who owned Runner’s World Magazine. Steve later told me they were running one day and Bob asked, “Do you know a woman who does yoga?” And Steve said, “Sure, call Jean Couch.”
Runner’s World was re-publishing a book that had a lot of yoga in it and they wanted a different model. Here’s the cover of that book, published in 1978.
Shortly after this, I answered a 6 pm phone call and it was from Runner’s World magazine. The voice on the other end of the line asked me if I would write a yoga book for runners. I said yes and agreed that I could have it ready in three months.
Runner’s World Yoga Book was published in December 1979 with friends Barbara Delisle and Tim Durbin as models. And that’s when my yoga teaching career really took off.
The first edition was spiral bound so it could lie open while people practiced. However, by the fourth printing, it was given a regular spine so the title could be read on a bookstore shelf.
The book went out of print when Runner’s World Publishing was sold. I assumed that was the end of it.
So I was honored when Donald Moyer and Linda Cogozzo of Rodmell Press asked to republish it. It was given careful editing, some rewriting, and generally dressed it up. Higher-quality paper made the original photos by David Madison more legible, cleaner.
In case anyone wants to know, the feet and legs on the cover photo belong to the highly respected Donald Moyer, formerly of the Yoga Room in Berkeley
For many years, The Yoga Journal recommended it as the #1 book for beginners. It has been in print for 32 years.
Click HERE to purchase a few hard copies available on Amazon.
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