Our respiratory and immune systems are intrinsically linked to how we relate to the world around us. Engaging with our vitality through the movement we were designed to express equips us with an invaluable ability to support the optimal functioning of our internal systems. This book explains how movement, embodied awareness, and self-compassion can be incorporated into yoga practice to support respiratory and immune health. It delves into how stress, trauma, breath, movement, and posture can impact the quality of these systems and how yoga teachers can integrate a range of practises focussing on movement, meditation, and breath to help improve them. Through an exploration of our boundaries, our breath, and our bodies, this book will help yoga teachers develop a more integrated and nuanced approach to their teaching

One value of yoga therapy is its ability to bring us to our senses-figuratively and literally. Inner body sensing and the knowing it evokes is a large part of how we become aware of what we need to attend to and work on in our growth as individuals. In Spanda (R) Yoga Movement Therapy-the yoga therapy method from which this work arises-embodiment practices are as vital to the process of self-understanding as they are to understanding anatomy, anatomical concepts, and physiological processes. This book shares a host of somatic practices that can readily be used in teaching, therapy, yoga practice and other avenues of personal exploration at the physical, energetic, mental, emotional, and spiritual levels. A wealth of illustrated step-by-step directions are given for somatic practice at each koshic level. The practices shared have been in use in clinical yoga therapy, in workshops and in classes for the past thirty years. They've resulted in greater knowledge, insight, and awareness of the body and the wisdom it can reveal.

This Is Your Immunity Support on Yoga “Yoga and physical health go beyond our moments on the mat.” ?Morghan King, member of the US Olympic Weightlifting Team Foreword INDIES finalist in Health (Adult Nonfiction) #1 New Release in Homeopathy and Preventive Medicine An engaging, easy-to-follow guide, Yoga to Support Immunity is a clear, step-by-step whole-being yoga at home workout to help boost immune function and bring vitality to the mind and spirit. Author and yogi, Melanie Salvatore-August, returns to give in-depth instructions for specific yoga poses and teaches you how they can assist as immune system boosters. This motivational book outlines the ins and outs of why yoga promotes optimal health. With the threat of pandemics and the increasing rise of autoimmune disorders, Yoga to Support Immunity offers wholistic, self-care driven support for optimal health. A practical guide that easily can be integrated into everyday life, you’ll learn how the mind, body, and spirit integrate to build a healthy immune system. Give yourself Immunity support from home. Taking control of your vitality and increasing immunity are simple things to do at home. Whether a newcomer to the practice of yoga or a long-time yogi, Salvatore-August encourages you to maintain a healthy lifestyle with practical exercises, daily guidance, and uplifting insights. Open Yoga to Support Immunity, to find: Mudras, breath work, and other instructional daily practices for an at home workout Daily guidance, meditations, and yogic wisdom for support and overall immunity Foundational methodologies of immune boosting yoga with respective yoga-sequencing routines Yoga to Support Immunity is a perfect addition to any shelf of mediation books, yoga books, or chakra books. If you enjoyed The Woman's Book of Yoga and Health, Yoga Therapy, or Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care, you’ll love Melanie Salvatore-August’s latest release.

The Principles and Practice of Yoga in Health Care is a professional-level textbook with contributions by multiple expert researchers and therapists in the field. This book brings together the science and the practice of yoga therapysupports the emergence of yoga therapy as a credible professioncomprehensively summarizes research findings and their practical implications for professionals who use yoga or refer patients for yoga practiceincludes chapter contributions by leading biomedical researchers of yogareviews the scientific evidence base for yoga for a wide variety of medical conditionsProvides brief contributions by expert yoga therapists describing practical implementation issues relevant to yoga for specific conditions.The editors include three eminent yoga therapy researchers and one renowned practitioner in the field. They have brought together an experienced team of researchers and yoga therapist contributors. Contents: Section 1: Introduction to Yoga and Yoga Therapy 1. Introduction to yoga in health care 2. History, philosophy and practice of yoga 3. History, philosophy and practice of yoga therapy 4. Research on the psychophysiology of yoga Section 2: Mental Health Conditions 5. Yoga therapy for depression 6. Yoga therapy for anxiety 7. Yoga therapy for other mental health conditions Section 3: Musculoskeletal and Neurological Conditions 8. Yoga therapy for back conditions 9. Yoga therapy for musculoskeletal and neuromuscular conditions 10. Yoga therapy for neurological and immune conditions Section 4: Endocrine Conditions 11. Yoga therapy for diabetes 12. Yoga therapy for metabolic syndrome and weight control Section 5: Cardiorespiratory Conditions 13. Yoga therapy for heart disease 14. Yoga therapy for hypertension 15. Yoga therapy for respiratory conditions Section 6: Cancer 16. Yoga therapy during cancer treatment 17. Yoga therapy for cancer survivors Section 7: Special Populations 18. Yoga therapy for pediatrics 19. Yoga therapy for geriatrics 20. Yoga therapy for obstetrics and gynaecology 21. Yoga as prevention and wellness Section 8: Practical and Future Considerations 22. Implementation of yoga therapy 23. Future directions in research and clinical care

The definitive book of yoga therapy, this groundbreaking work comes to you from the medical editor of the country’s premier yoga magazine, who is both a practicing yogi and a Western-trained physician. Beginning with an overview of the history and science of yoga, Dr. McCall describes the many different techniques in the yoga tool kit; explains what yoga does and who can benefit from it (virtually everyone!); and provides lavishly illustrated and minutely detailed instructions on starting a yoga practice geared to your fitness level and your health status. Yoga as Medicine offers a wealth of practical information, including how to: •Utilize yogic tools, including postures, breathing techniques, and meditation, for both prevention and healing of illness •Master the art of becoming more in tune with your body •Communicate more effectively with your doctor •Adopt therapeutic yoga practices as either an alternative or a complement to surgery and to expensive, sometimes dangerous medications •Practice safely Find an instructor and a style of yoga that are right for you. With twenty chapters devoted to the work of individual master teachers, including such well-known figures as Patricia Walden, John Friend, and Rodney Yee, Yoga as Medicine shows how these experts have applied the wisdom of this ancient holistic practice to twenty different conditions, ranging from arthritis to chronic fatigue, depression, heart disease, HIV/AIDS, infertility, insomnia, multiple sclerosis, and obesity. Defining yoga as “a systematic technology to improve the body, understand the mind, and free the spirit,” Dr. McCall shows the way to a path that can truly alter your life. An indispensable guide for the millions who now practice yoga or would like to begin, as well as for yoga teachers, body workers, doctors, nurses, and other health professionals.

Digestive issues are widespread and prove difficult to address through mainstream medicine. Senior yoga teacher Charlotte Watts sheds light on the connection between the gut and the brain, explains the links between stress, trauma and digestive issues and demonstrates how yoga with its focus on stilling the mind can have profound effects on conditions such as IBS, IBD, acid reflux, colitis, diverticulitis and more. Breath awareness allows the breath to drop into the belly and diaphragm, essential for good digestive function and understanding the fascial connections within the viscera help shape movement that enables optimal function. Fully illustrated with clear diagrams and instructions, this volume provides yoga, movement and medical professionals with a solid understanding of the digestive system in relation to breath, mindfulness, posture, anatomy, movement, stress and trauma. It helps them to apply this knowledge to their practice and teaching approach. "I'm finding this book and Charlotte's knowledge is supporting my personal practice and informing my teaching more and more - it's knowledge base, communicated so clearly and simply throughout means I can come back to it time and time again..." -5 Star Reader Review

Starting from the 1960's, yoga books and nearly all yoga teachers started to promote the deep-breathing myth: one should breathe more air (even at rest) and expel "toxic" CO2. However, hundreds of clinical studies showed and proved that hyperventilation reduces oxygen levels in cells, while CO2 is crucial for health. Deep breathing, as during pranayama, only looks deep. In reality, as ancient yoga texts teach, pranayama should be done with maximum breath holds and accumulation of CO2 in order to have slower breathing after the practice and 24/7. Only with progress in pranayama (extension of all stages), one can get main yoga benefits, weight loss and other effects. Millions of people believe in a myth that gaining health improvements from practicing yoga is about performing progressively more difficult poses. However, you can practice poses for months or years, but this does not provide any guarantee that your health is going to improve. Yoga benefits and true yoga spirit, as ancient yoga Sanskrit books teach, are in breathing less air 24/7, even less than the tiny medical respiratory norm. Then one can expect more oxygen in the brain and other organs, normal body weight, short natural sleep, and experience real measurable yoga benefits. Here are general ideas that are confirmed by hundreds of clinical studies quoted in this book: Severely sick and hospitalized people * Respiratory frequency at rest and during sleep: >25 breaths/min * Body oxygenation (result for the CP test): * Common effects: Sleep is often more than 10 hours (very poor quality), very low energy levels (chronic desire to lie down), numerous symptoms, and a need for medication. Majority of modern people * Respiratory frequency at rest and during sleep: 15-25 breaths/min * Body oxygen levels (result for the CP test): 10-25 s * Common effects: Sleep is often more than 7 hours (poor quality), low energy levels (chronic desire to sit), and some symptoms. Healthy people (medical norms for breathing) * Respiratory frequency at rest and during sleep: 10-12 breaths/min * Body O2 levels (result for the CP test): 40 s * Common effects: Sleep is about 6 hours naturally (good quality), normal energy levels, absence of chronic diseases and their symptoms, natural desire to have correct posture and stay throughout the day. Real yoga masters * Respiratory frequency at rest and during sleep: 3-5 breaths/min * Body oxygenation (result for the CP test): 2-3 minutes; maximum breath holding: 7-9 minutes * Common effects: Sleep is 2-3 hours naturally and without trying (excellent quality), very high energy levels (natural joy and craving for physical exercise), and natural desire to eat raw foods. You can eat tons of supplements and superfoods, drink canisters of herbal drinks, have hundreds of colonic irrigations, and practice yoga for many hours every day, but if your breathing (and body oxygen level) remains the same, you will suffer from the same symptoms and require the same dosage of medication.