Product Description: Long-time yoga teacher and writer Weintraub offers readers yoga as an alternative to antidepressants, which, she explains, treat the symptoms of the problem but not the whole person. By contrast, "a daily practice of yoga will bring your physical body and your emotional body into balance, restoring a sense of well-being and energy." Weaving in her own triumphant story and those of her students, Weintraub seems to beg readers to give yoga a chance to relieve their suffering. She constructs a convincing, if at times plodding, case by reviewing the medical evidence, such as the practice's impact on stress levels and the healing principles of yoga, which include developing both your energy and your self-awareness. Weintraub also discusses the roles of breathing and meditation, and, most interestingly, explains how holding certain poses can help release trauma that may be "stored" in the body. Although descriptions and pictures of specific stretches, poses and breathing exercises are scattered throughout, Weintraub encourages readers to use the book as a guide and to find a class taught by a qualified yoga instructor.

Yoga for Depression: A Compassionate Guide to Relieve Suffering Through Yoga (Paperback)

Product Description: Written for serious practitioners and teachers who want to use yoga to bring complete balance to the body, and understand, in more detail, how the asanas affect the structure of the body. You will learn "body reading" to determine what posture reveals about muscular imbalances. Stiles shares his understanding of anatomy and kinesiology, joint mobility and muscle strength, and teaches a series of joint-freeing exercises that can also be used to strengthen muscles. 123 illustrations. Index.

Structural Yoga Therapy: Adapting to the Individual (Hardcover)

Product Description: There's more to yoga than stretching and bending and twisting. In Yoga for Wellness, one of America's top yoga teachers gives a clinic on the holistic nature of yoga practice, especially in regard to healing and well-being. With over a thousand photographs, Gary Kraftsow covers the basic postures, the specific movements of each posture, and how to sequence postures in a routine. More importantly, he moves from form to function, showing how sequences of postures can alleviate ailments in each system of the body, from lower back pain to hypertension--even depression and multiple sclerosis. In case studies of his own clients, we see how Kraftsow's holistic approach has him recommending not only posture prescriptions, but breathing exercises, sound techniques, and visualizations, not to mention such commonly neglected wisdom as eating a healthy breakfast and getting closer to nature. Yoga for Wellness is the rare yoga instruction manual that teaches the basics of yoga while also paying more than just lip service to the original intention of yoga--achieving a balance of mental, physical, and spiritual wellness. --Brian Bruya

Yoga for Wellness: Healing with the Timeless Teachings of Viniyoga (Paperback)

A highly regarded organization for yoga studies and practices, the Sivananda Yoga Center created the first edition of The Sivananda Companion to Yoga in 1983. Since its publication, it has sold more than 700,000 copies worldwide and has become a standard text for both yoga students and teachers.

Now with fresh, colorful pages throughout, The Sivananda Companion to Yoga remains the classic guide to yoga. With easy-to-follow instructions, inspirational teaching, and detailed illustrations, this authoritative guide covers every aspect of the yoga lifestyle, including relaxation, exercise, dietary guidelines, breathing, and meditation. Whether you're using it in conjunction with a class or on your own, The Sivananda Companion to Yoga can help you

* Develop a fit and beautiful body

* Boost your energy and vitality at any stage of life

* Reduce stress and experience greater peace of mind

* Eat nutritiously and responsibly

* Increase your powers of concentration and discipline

Yoga is a journey toward physical and spiritual wellness. With this beautiful, bestselling guide in hand, you will experience the health, energy, and vibrancy that yoga can bring into your life.

The Sivananda Companion to Yoga: A Complete Guide to the Physical Postures, Breathing Exercises, Diet, Relaxation, and Meditation Techniques of Yoga (Paperback)

Yoga is one of the fastest-growing fitness activities in the United States, and qualified yoga instructors are in high demand. Instructing Hatha Yoga describes the qualities and knowledge yoga instructors need in order to be competent and effective teachers. It covers all aspects of successful instruction:

• Detailed descriptions on how to teach 69 yoga asanas (postures), with more than 300 photos showing the postures

• Verbal and visual cues to use in teaching each posture

• Specific hands-on adjustments to help students achieve the desired posture

• Modifications for each posture and effective ways to work with students of different abilities in the same class

• Charts that identify body-segment kinematics and muscles used in individual postures

• A DVD that shows how to achieve the most accurate positions for a sampling of postures and the hands-on adjustments instructors can make to assist students

Two features in particular set this book apart: simple yet comprehensive cues that teachers can use to bring students into proper alignment and deeper mental focus, and detailed instructions on making safe hands-on adjustments and modifications for students. Authors Kathy Lee Kappmeier and Diane Ambrosini, with more than 20 years of experience in yoga instruction and teacher training, provide a class overview, outlines, lesson plans, and sample syllabi. They present ways to structure a class with flexible teaching plans in a variety of settings, such as schools, community centers, fitness clubs, and wellness centers. With their backgrounds in physical education, kinesiology, biomechanics, and various sectors of the fitness industry, the authors not only understand the art and science of yoga, but they know how to teach it safely and effectively.

Instructing Hatha Yoga (Paperback)

Product Description: About to embark on a yoga class and seeking information and guidance for this effective form of exercise? In YOGA FOR FITNESS AND WELLNESS you will explore topics ranging from the theories to the history of yoga. With this knowledge, combined with a manual on the exercises themselves, you will soon be on the path to health, strength and relaxation!

Yoga for Fitness and Wellness (Wadsworth Activities) (Paperback)

Product Description: Yoga Beyond Belief offers a unique vision of contemporary yoga. It integrates scientific and practical approaches providing a much-needed integrative perspective that complements existing yoga books for all levels and styles of yoga students. Serving up a collection of valuable insights gleaned from a lifetime of exploration, practice, study, and teaching by one of America’s pioneering and leading teachers of yoga, the book assists readers in making sense of the many discordant claims and teaching techniques that currently exist in the yoga world, freeing readers to pursue their own individual paths of yoga and personal practice. This is an essential text and reference for all yoga practitioners.

The book first sets a context for an open-minded and evolutionary approach to yoga practice, and then explains the core principles of the many branches of yoga. A clear foundation is given for how the physical practices of yoga work to produce remarkable results of health and well being. The chapter Injury, Pain, and Healing shows how to prevent injuries and how to heal injuries should they occur. The reader is given a wealth of sophisticated of tools, insights, and anecdotes gleaned from a lifetime of practice and teaching to develop, hone, and tune his or her personal yoga approach. This book makes yoga come alive for the reader.

The book concludes by going beyond the physical aspects to the heart of yoga. It illuminates and gives insight into the discovery of non-dogmatic forms and evolutionary approaches to meditation and spirituality. It presents a clear argument showing the pitfalls of regimented systems and how to make everything in daily life part of yoga practice and spiritual development.

Yoga Beyond Belief: Insights to Awaken and Deepen Your Practice (Paperback)