Yoga

Yoga Mind and Body has garnered much praise from senior Sivananda yoga teachers worldwide, and this new book retains all the features that made the existing book so successful — clear instructions on each pose demonstrated step by step, common mistakes shown and explained, and a list of the physical and mental benefits of each pose — together with a fresh, new design; beautiful specially commissioned step-by-step photography of the yoga poses; and a number of added features to make the book even more accessible and user-friendly. A new chapter on The Many Benefits of Yoga gives a fascinating and valuable overview of the ways that yoga can maintain or restore the health of the body. With the help of specially commissioned anatomical drawings, it explains how yoga poses work on and benefit the body, including their effect on different types of muscle and the connective tissue (the vast network of elastic tissue that encloses and connects muscles and organs); how poses can help to stimulate our hormonal system; the vital role they play in calming the nervous system, helping you to relax and deal with stress; and the powerful effect yoga has in oxygenating the whole body, and especially the brain, which needs plentiful supplies of oxygen to function properly. In the chapter Proper Exercise, the yoga poses are arranged in the order you should practice them in, and poses are clearly labeled beginner, intermediate, or advanced, helping the reader to progress at his or her own pace. At the end of the book, in another new feature that yoga students will welcome, there are specially devised programs of yoga poses for beginners, intermediate, and advanced students of 20, 40 and 60 minutes each. The chapters on Yogic Breathing and on Positive Thinking and Meditation provide detailed advice on breathing techniques and on how to meditate. The Vegetarian Diet chapter has also been rewritten, and now includes a helpful transition eating plan to becoming vegetarian. The chapter also includes over 40 wholesome and delicious all-new vegetarian recipes.