Examines the health claims of modern yoga, drawing on scientific and cultural research to offer advice on how to recognize authentic yoga practice and gain actual benefits.

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.

An Easy, Accessible Yoga Program for Health & Wellness Are you looking for a new health practice to enhance your day-to-day routines? Have you been interested in trying out yoga, but are too intimidated by the seemingly fancy and challenging poses? The Harvard Medical School Guide to Yoga is your guide to the true healing heart of yoga, sharing the techniques that Marlynn Wei and James Groves have used to tremendous success with their clients. In this simple, science-based eight-week program, you'll learn about the countless benefits of this proven practice, including: Increased flexibility and balance Greater muscle and bone strength Improved sleep Better stress management and resilience Strengthened immune system Enriched brain health And much more! Complete with illustrations, dozens of yoga breathing and meditation techniques, adaptable sequences, and principles of yoga safety, The Harvard Medical School Guide to Yoga will guide you to health and wellness.

While many people practice yoga simply because it helps them feel good, the physiological basis for yoga’s effects on the body and mind is often unknown or misunderstood. Understanding these physiological concepts can help to deepen your yoga practice. The Physiology of Yoga separates speculation from fact by examining how the body responds and adapts to yoga within many systems of the body: musculoskeletal, nervous, respiratory, cardiovascular, lymphatic, immune, endocrine, reproductive, and digestive. Straightforward explanations guide you in sorting through conflicting information about what yoga really can help you achieve and in evaluating whether certain yoga methods provide benefits to any or all of those systems. You can experiment with concepts through Try It Yourself sidebars, which focus on mindful movement, meditation, and breathing. The 14 Myth or Fact sidebars explore popular claims about yoga, such as whether a shoulder stand can stimulate the thyroid or if twists can detoxify the liver. You’ll get the most current research to determine the validity of various claims so you can avoid practices that could be harmful or counterproductive and can decide for yourself what works for your practice. Finally, experience firsthand how yoga affects your physiology by exploring specific yoga poses and four sequences. Each sequence explains which of the physiological principles from the earlier chapters may be most prevalent in that sequence. With The Physiology of Yoga, you or your students can navigate all the conflicting views and opinions about the impact of yoga and learn to practice yoga while fully enjoying the benefits of mindful movement.

Heal the body, quiet the mind, and find emotional balance with simple practices from Yantra Yoga Modern science and classic spiritual traditions agree: regulating the breath leads to radiance and wellness of body, mind, and spirit. With the simple teachings and cutting-edge research offered in The Tibetan Yoga of Breath, you can start thriving just by integrating breathwork into your daily practice. Basic Yantra Yoga techniques—also called wind energy training—are the key to achieving this kind of vitality, down to the cellular level. Anyen Rinpoche and Allison Choying Zangmo skillfully examine the teachings of Yantra Yoga and Buddhism through the lens of Western medical science. Their wise and accessible instruction reveals practices that are nourishing and transformative, delivering dramatic results—no experience with yoga or Buddhist meditation necessary.

We are in the midst of a monumental transformation in human civilization, akin to a metamorphosis. Just as in Nature where the caterpillar gorges excessively before forcibly undergoing a metamorphosis in the chrysalis, we over-consuming humans are reaching a point of being forcibly transformed within the cocoon of our finite planet into compassionate, life-affirming butterflies. Vegan life-affirming butterflies. Carbon Yoga weaves a narrative through the events of the past to show that such a vegan metamorphosis is inexorable and that this system change will occur within the next decade, both from a scientific perspective and from a religious and spiritual perspective. The narrative proposes an evolutionary purpose for humanity and for Western civilization. During the Caterpillar phase, humans unintentionally built all the tools and technologies needed to regulate the Earth's climate and organize an equitable global human society. But as a consequence, the Earth is marinating in ever accumulating toxic pollution even as ecosystems are degraded and the climate is changing. Now, we have no choice but to treat all Life as sacred in order to preserve that on which we depend for our own survival. Such a revolutionary change in human outlook has the added benefit of inducing spiritual awakening, resolving social justice issues, elevating our connection with all Life and improving human health and well being. It is only such a quest for "moral singularity" that will heal the Earth, regenerate Life and lead us to true global sustainability. Carbon Yoga is the second in a series that began with the 2011 book, Carbon Dharma: The Occupation of Butterflies. While Carbon Dharma was mainly about what we need to do, as a species, to reach sustainability, Carbon Yoga takes this understanding of ethical and environmental righteousness (Dharma) and suggests how we can go about doing it (Yoga).