[1] It contributed to the incorporation of Surya Namaskar (salute to the sun) into yoga as exercise.

[6] The book is illustrated with 146 large monochrome photographs of Vishnudevananda performing the shatkarmas and the asanas; a frontispiece shows him meditating in Padmasana (lotus position).

[8] Sjoman analyses the origins of the asanas in the book, comparing them to Iyengar's and to those of the Sritattvanidhi of the Mysore Palace.

[10] The historian of modern yoga Elliott Goldberg writes that the book "proclaimed in print" a "new utilitarian conception of Surya Namaskar"[3] (the salute to the sun) which Sivananda had originally promoted as a health cure through sunlight.

Goldberg notes that Vishnudevananda modelled the positions of Surya Namaskar for photographs in the book, and that he recognised the sequence "for what it mainly is: not treatment for a host of diseases but fitness exercise.

"[3] These references are supplied to indicate the parts of the Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga text being discussed.