Review: THE COMPLETE ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF YOGA

The Complete Illustrated Book of Yoga by Swami Vishnu-devananda is a comprehensive guide to traditional Hatha yoga.

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I was impressed with how much information this book contains! In the first pages of the book, Vishnu-devananda enumerates the 8 limbs of yoga, and the succeeding chapters each focus on one of the different limbs. This book includes bodily cleansing, asana demonstrations, diet, meditation, pranayama, and MUCH more.

The first half of the book is mostly about physical preparation and technique, while the latter chapters focus more on philosophy, specifically that of Vedanta philosophy. Vishnu-devananda does an excellent job of illustrating his points. Personally, I was not familiar with a lot of the practices and philosophy but the author does a thorough job of explaining himself, in more than one way. Each new concept is enforced by others found in previous pages, and he provides ample metaphors and anecdotes for getting his point across.

Overall, this is a FANTASTIC book. I will definitely be revisiting it in my future. There is so much information, including photographic demonstrations of over 100 asanas and it even has training tables in the back that are organized by age and overall physical health.

Yoga for Seasonal Allergies

I just found out a couple of months ago that I have allergies. I've never had them before in my life, so this is quite the adjustment. They have been killing me the past 2 days. At work today people kept thinking I was crying because I was so sniffly, stuffed, and my eyes would leak for no apparent reason. It's horrible! My nose and eyes are itching and I have the most uncomfortable burning sensation.

It's been difficult for me to practice yoga because I've been so congested. My head is just so full of crap that a forward bend sounds like utter hell. BUT I also know that yoga has an answer to everything! I am still learning and I realized that I have no clue what asanas or pranayama to practice to help me get through this. The right techniques will surely help me tame the seasonal allergies, so I turned to Google for help. I scoured the internet and the exercises that popped up the most for treating seasonal allergies are these:

*Inversions- Shoulderstand and Plow pose: good for draining the nasal passages, but don't hold for too long. (Fish pose, the counter to shoulderstand, can also help as it opens and stretches the lungs.) Headstand may prove to put extra pressure on the nasal passages, so this might not be the best pose.

*Relaxation: stress increases the allergic response in your body. Makes sense. Practice corpse pose and focus on long, steady exhales.

*I also read that Mountain pose, Cobra, and Warrior poses can be beneficial.

As far as pranayama goes, there was some debate. Yoga is a very personal practice so experimentation to find what relieves your allergies is key. But as always, do not push yourself! Never force your body to do anything. The two breathing exercises that I kept finding were:

*Breath of fire: can be difficult when you're very congested, but it definitely clears the nasal passages! I did it for about 30 seconds and could already feel an improvement. That's a keeper.

*Alternate nostril breathing: not recommended when congested, especially if one nostril is more clogged than the other. However, alternate nostril breathing is one of the more simple breathing exercises and it's very cleansing. So if you can, do it. (Unfortunately I'm too congested for this one tonight)

I have also been drinking lots of herbal tea and eating plenty of vegetables and fruits. Hopefully I can calm these allergies down in the next day or so!

What are your favorite natural methods to fight allergies?

Review: THE 8 HUMAN TALENTS

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A while back my friend let me borrow The 8 Human Talents by Gurmukh, and I finally finished it about a week ago. The book focuses on Kundalini Yoga & Meditation and the 8 chakras. Before reading this book I thought there were only 7 chakras, but Kundalini Yoga views people as having 8 chakras. The author tells how each of the chakras plays a role in 8 basic human characteristics.

To break it down:
Root chakra controls your acceptance.
Sacral chakra controls your creativity.
Navel chakra controls your commitment.
Heart chakra controls your compassion.
Throat chakra controls your truth.
Third-eye chakra controls your intuition.
Crown chakra controls your boundlessness.
Aura chakra controls your radiance.


For the most part, I liked how the book was set up. Each chapter focuses solely on one chakra. The author provides meditations and breathing exercises to bring each chakra back into balance and provides examples of how they become unbalanced and how they are all connected. One thing I really enjoyed about the book was that she offered the "shadow" side of the chakras as well. For example, guilt is the shadow emotion to the second chakra, where our creativity is housed. If we're feeling guilty for any reason our creativity is what suffers.

The part about the book I didn't like was the anecdotes she provided. I found most (if not all) of them very unbelievable and exaggerated. Once I hit the middle of the book I just skimmed through the anecdotes because it became very predictable and tiresome. There was also a massive lack of references and sources. The author says that "studies show" X results for Y case, but doesn't back it up. It just seemed like she was making up statistics to prove her point. It was almost like she was trying too hard to mix the very spiritual aspects of yoga and science, which I don't believe is always possible or appropriate.

The bottom line is that I found this book pretty inspirational. It's full of self-acceptance, self-love, and self-respect. It offers lots of encouragement. By far what I enjoyed most about the book is the meditations and breathing exercises. As frustrated as I was with the "bulk" of the book, I will probably purchase my own copy so I can always have the chakra-specific exercises on hand.

Just for fun

Yoga is calming, centering. It's challenging. It takes a lot of commitment and concentration. But it's also one of the most fun and enjoyable activities out there (in my humble opinion). My sister-in-law and I constantly topple over in challenging poses and giggle when we practice together. Ah, bonding through yoga, how blissful!!

I found this article from FitSugar that showcases 10 fun and awesomely challenging poses:

Click!

I'll admit I can't do all of these, but I have tried most of them! I can vouch for the fun/challenging combination. Out of the ones listed I'd say that Crow, Firefly, and Standing Hand to Big Toe are my favorites. I can't wait to try Headstand Bow!

Try these out next time you practice and let me know how it goes!