The Women's Health Big Book of Yoga: The Essential Guide to Complete Mind/Body Fitness

I just got this book today, so I haven't had a chance to go through every single page, but I am so impressed! It includes:

* a brief overview of the history of yoga

* language of yoga

* benefits of yoga

* answers to common questions on yoga

* touches on some of the deeper spiritual aspects of yoga (enough to give a taste of it, but not to overwhelm)

* how yoga keeps you fit

* conscious eating and even includes a sample meal plan with a few recipes!

That's just the first 40 pages :) THEN the book goes onto:

* a thorough break down of every essential yoga pose with beautiful photographic spreads that have anatomical cues

* fun 15 minute sequences you can do at home to target different parts of the body (ie.legs, arms, butt, etc...), special health-focused sequences (ie. pms, hangover, carpal tunnel, back pain, etc...), performance sequences (ie. basketball, golf, climbing, etc.), emotional health (ie. anxiety, relaxation, broken heart, etc...) and much MORE!

I am a yoga teacher and I would recommend this to any student seeking to perfect their asanas and gain a general understanding of yogic philosophy. However, if you're looking to get deep into the philosophy of yoga, this would not be the book I recommend. There are many other yoga books on anatomy and philosophy. However, I found this book to be very user friendly and well thought out guide to deepening your yogic practice! I believe that every yogi and/or yogini would benefit from having this book in their library.

I teach yoga and a student brought a copy to class to ask my opinion. I spent some time with it and discovered that Kathryn Budig has created a book very much like herself--it's practical, informative, and downright entertaining. She appreciates the fact that many woman have incorporated yoga into their lives for all kinds of practical reasons, but mainly because it makes them feel good. She provides all of the basic information a beginner or an experienced yogini might need about the many questions that can arise during your practice, and has also shown how to use some of the various poses as a remedy for many of the common challanges we face in our daily lives. If you're interested, she has covered pretty much the full gamut of yoga topics (breathing techniques, dealing with injuries, meditation, "I'm not flexible", etc.) and you can pick and choose to read about those that pique your curiosity. The photography is stunning, and the photos are of real people who have developed some proficiency so that you can have an idea of where you may be headed. There is really good information here and it's not presented in some obtuse, philosophical and hard to comprehend manner, nor does she demand that you adhere to the "my way or the highway" mode of teaching--like I said before, it's very practical, informative and good advice on how to incorporate yoga into your daily life and reap its many benefits. I'm recommending it to all of my women students, and to those men who aren't put off by the "women's health" part of the title. Good stuff, entertaining, and highly recommended.

Buy The Women's Health Big Book of Yoga: The Essential Guide to Complete Mind/Body Fitness Now

This is a glossy, bubbly approach to yoga. Sort of "fit woman's how to add some yoga to your sports routine". You will get some pop-philosophy (where yoga luminaries are given funny nicknames and the author explains how yoga helped her accept that she is too heavy to become an LA actress, her original ambition), some fit girl's real life problem advice (a sequence for when your boyfriend dumps you) and a whole lot of pastel hi-res asana demonstrations.

Now the demonstrations are what makes the book worthwhile: they are excellent and detailed, presented from different angles and contain various practical tips on how to work toward achieving what seems to be impossible at first.

If you can live with the former, buy it for the latter. But if the former bugs you especially if you have some yoga experience already there are better books out there.

Read Best Reviews of The Women's Health Big Book of Yoga: The Essential Guide to Complete Mind/Body Fitness Here

Summary:

This book is dangerous. I'm honestly concerned that someone will hurt themselves with this book.

This book would get torn apart in a peer review, like what I'm doing. The author is a contributing magazine editor. That alone raises some flags on its purpose and credibility.

This book should not have been written. It adds nothing to the subject of yoga and is intended purely to reap profit from buyers. Practitioners are better off not using it.

Far better options exist for yoga books. My favorite being David Swenson's http://www.amazon.com/Ashtanga-Yoga-The-Practice-Manual/dp/1891252089/ref=tmm_other_meta_binding_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1362513861&sr=8-3

Issues with this Book:

• Way too pro-yoga. Yoga is not a panacea for every mental and physical woe, though this book suggests it is. You won't suddenly fix your health problems, chronic anxiety, or get ripped muscles. It can certainly help with those, but the book over-promises. In one part it suggests that. "400 calories can be burned in a 90 minute Vinyasa class!" For reference, I checked other activities that burn about 400 calories in 90min. That list includes things like golf, yard work, and bathing a dog. Some activities that burn slightly more calories: cleaning gutters, wheelchair basketball, hiking, downhill skiing. The point I'm making is that yoga is not high calorie burn activity.

• Cherry-picked scientific studies: She cherry picks studies to prove her point too often (common of Men's and Women's Health), without mentioning counter arguments.

• Writing style. Written like a massive magazine endorsement. Too many exclamation points.

• References: It quotes the dictionary and cites "The Secret" by Rhonda Byrnes.

• It advocates cleansing: Not only is this book the wrong context for cleansing diets, there's no scientific basis for this helping.

• Few modifications are provided to make the poses appropriate for different ability levels. There is the books greatest flaw. For example, being able to do a free handstand is the end result of possibly years of training and many progressions to get there. This book just presents it, with the only variation being a handstand against a wall. Most of the other variations presented are only for the most advanced style of a pose.

• No Feeling: Doesn't say where you should feel the stretch/strengthen of a pose. Triangle pose, for example, is quite technical in feeling the pose correctly.

• No warnings: A lot of the poses presented are dangerous without an instructor's guidance. There are no warnings present for many of them.

• Terrible Series Constructions and Lack of Transitions: The very first series it presents, a quick 15 min one, includes both a standing split and handstand. Those are very advanced poses to do and shouldn't be done without a warm-up. Again, there are no modifications given to progress to the pose. Throughout the other series, there is little consideration of difficulty level between poses. A lot of the specialty series for headache, jet lag, hangovers are just the author's imagination of what might help. For indigestion, it suggests a bunch of twisting poses; for acne, a bunch of inverted poses. It all seems like a pseudoscience of false promises.

• Confused Target Audience: Who is this book for? It discusses basic concepts of yoga, yet includes some very advanced and dangerous poses that could only be attempted after several years of training.

• Great production value and look: This might make it worse, because people will be drawn to the colorful and pretty pictures and think it's an authoritative source for teaching oneself yoga.

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I am an intermediate yoga practitioner I often do it in my home and rarely join a formal class setting. As a result, I was looking forward to this book because I thought that it might allow me to get some great routines and new ideas for my practice.

I loved the images the colors are bright, and the poses are clear. The book is broken down in sections with the first going through various poses, and the second one arranged according to what you are looking to get out of your practice (i.e. relaxation, back pain, PMS, etc.). I appreciate the various routines, but found that it lacked transitions there isn't a clear guide how to go from pose to pose and that is a big part of what makes yoga so effective. I liked the variety of poses, but found that adding additional details about the transitions and in-between steps would have helped.

I also found it strange that Women's Health had a man doing some of the yoga routines it didn't seem like the right setting. I understand that men do yoga, but since this is a Women's Health book, it was a bit odd and unnecessary.

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