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

Offers the reader traditional medical, ayurvedic and Yogic views.

The ultimate guide to using the power of food to improve your mood, energy and mental wellbeing, with over 70 specially selected recipes. This brilliantly accessible diet book explains how you can use simple steps in your nutrition to manage any mood disorder. Each chapter explains how to use diet to combat the most common issues that affect people of all ages. Looking at all the ways in which disordered mood can manifest, Good Mood Food discusses specific body mechanisms, underlying causes, symptoms, nutrient needs and recipes that support these for each category: improve your energy levels, focus, resist cravings, reduce anxiety, get more sleep, tackle depression and achieve balanced hormones. Each chapter also features 6-8 recipes that are perfect to combat each issue and ends with diet plans to help you work mood-boosting ingredients into your diet every day. Drawing on the latest research into the human microbiome, mental health, and links between the gut and the brain, this book will be the perfect companion for anyone who wants to understand a little more about how what they eat affects how they feel - and what to do about it.

Deals with 36 common as well as serious diseases afflicting the human body. Diseases covered include those affecting the head and neck, the cardiovascular and respiratory systems, the gastrointestinal tract, the joint and musculoskeletal system, and the urogenital system. Basic information is provided about the causes and effects of each condition from both the yogic and medical viewpoints. In depth yogic management of each disease is also presented along with the current medical treatment, dietary recommendations and other advice.

Eight simple and relaxing yoga sequences for fibromyalgia patients looking to manage their pain, alleviate their fatigue, and improve their overall well-being Fibromyalgia is characterized by widespread pain in muscles, ligaments, and tendons, as well as fatigue and multiple tender points (places on the body where slight pressure causes pain). Although mainstream medicine has yet to devise a successful plan for treating fibromyalgia, yoga offers sensible strategies for managing—and sometimes overcoming—the pain. Written by a yoga teacher and suitable for both yoga novices and veterans, this book is grounded in simple movements, breathing techniques, and guided visualization and relaxation sessions. Readers learn to reduce stress and manage fibromyalgia through eight sequences: four for pain relief, one to diminish fatigue and improve sleep, and three for maintaining body awareness and general flexibility. The author’s simple, supportive language and mixture of theory, practice, and the latest scientific data offer hope for one of today's most challenging health conditions.

A doctor and certified Iyengar yoga instructor introduces a low-cost program for reducing back pain and relieving stress through gentle yoga Back Care Basics offers the low-cost solution for back care: therapeutic yoga. Dr. Schatz’s approach to back rehabilitation is gentle, effective, and doesn't resort to drugs or surgery. Her program encourages both positive health practices and a positive outlook—the important tools needed for prevention and healing. Dr. Schatz has designed this program to help those with pain from chronic musculoskeletal back and neck strain, spinal arthritis, osteoporosis, premenstrual syndrome, pregnancy, and scoliosis. Simple and practical ways to heal the back, restructure the body, and cope with stress are taught so that one becomes more sensitive to early warning signs of an impending "back attack" and what to do to ward it off.

Introducing practical, yoga-based tools for working with a wide array of common injuries and ailments, from ankle sprains to vertigo—by the bestselling author of Teaching Yoga With asanas, pranayamas, and meditations specific to each health condition, this is the ultimate guide for yoga teachers looking to adapt their classes to the diverse needs of their students. Surveying historical writings on yoga, ayurveda, and scientific medical approaches to health and healing, Mark Stephens distills this received wisdom of ancient and modern practices for more insightful and practical application in today’s world. He applies these insights to healing musculoskeletal injuries; promoting a healthy reproductive system; and addressing mental, emotional, and behavioral difficulties. With each health condition, Stephens applies yoga to the most recent evidence-based practices for healing, offering an integral place for yoga in integrative health practices. Yoga Therapy is a practical manual with a systematic approach of considering the nature of each health condition and the specific asanas, pranayamas, and meditations most helpful in healing it. Rather than adopting a narrow medical model of healing as the reduction or elimination of symptoms, Stephens invites yoga therapists, teachers and students to relate to health as a continuous, dynamic process of self-care in which the qualities of personal experience and social connectivity matter. Stephens illustrates that how we live our lives—including our emotional states, nutrition, sleep, relationships, and sense of purpose—is reflected in our sense of balance (or imbalance) and well-being (or disease). Comprehensive, accessible, and informed by decades of deep study, practice, and teaching, this is an indispensable reference.