Publication Date:July 31, 2007 Shipping:Eligible for Super Saver Shipping Promotion:Save $10.00 when you spend $50.00 or more on Qualifying Items offered by Amazon.com. Enter code BMLSAVES at checkout.Terms and Conditions Availability:Usually ships in 24 hours
Product Description 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.
Not a Book to be MissedSeptember 26, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I liked this book a lot. Anyone who likes Yoga should enjoy this book. I will be giving this book to friends who I think can benefit from Yoga. I am also giving a copy to my M.D. son. I think every doctor should read it.
WickedSeptember 23, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I thought this book was wicked cool and is a great read, I bought the bolster and do the restorative poses taught here and he is a pretty smart guy. Reading this will help people to avoid yoga injuries too.
Finally a Book by a MDSeptember 13, 2008 1 out of 1 found this review helpful
It's ingrained in most people to trust medical doctors. This book, written by one, is not just praise for yoga. It's a summary of multiple medical studies and trails that showed how successful yoga can be in treating various health problems. A must read for anyone interested in yoga and especially those who, for whatever reason, are not interested!
A complete yoga medical text in almost 600 pagesJune 23, 2008 4 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book is really the complete text on how to use yoga for almost any major ailment. The author, MD Dr. McCall (also the medical editor for Yoga Journal), writes from a scientific perspective. He quotes and footnotes his volume extensively, and merges science with ancient wisdom in 568 pages.
The book opens with an overview of what yoga is and is not, discusses briefly the various forms you can follow (ashtanga, iyengar, etc), and moves quickly into the physical and mental ailments yoga has been observed to help.
Yoga models of various body types illustrate the most helpful poses for anxiety, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, IBS, MS, HIV, headaches, stress, depression, menopause, back aches, cancer, insomnia, infertility, high blood pressure, chronic fatigue, carpal tunnel, fibromyalgia, arthritis and asthma.
Contraindications for each condition are provided, along with research notes, holistic approaches to treatment and tons of yoga exercise options (with black and white photos).
Quotes and passages from such well-known yoga instructors as Rodney Yee and Patricia Walden are incorporated into each section as well.
An important chapter in the back cautions practicing yogis to avoid new injuries through incorrect postural alignment and overeager stretching.
I appreciated reading the author's summary at the end about how our society could benefit from incorporating yoga therapy into mainstream medicine. I agree we should be teaching yoga in schools, to the aged in nursing homes, to the chronically ill, and in community centers everywhere. He suggests doctors and nurses themselves should practice yoga, both to lessen the stress in their professions, and also to be able to see first-hand the health benefits of yoga as both preventative and restorative medicine.
Overall, this isn't a sit-down-and-read book, although flipping through it is enjoyable. It's a fantastic reference source to keep in your yoga or medical library. Anyone can benefit from this information - we all get headaches, back aches, stress and anxiety. We all all know people with asthma or incipient heart disease who might be helped by sharing this information.
Highly recommended!
great book!!!June 13, 2008 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
this book is wonderful! an essential for any yogi. it has wonderful detailed information and good quality pictures. deals with how to do yoga when you have a headache to what helps with cancer patients. i love how this book adds a medical side to yoga. my mother is a nurse and not a fan of yoga, so having a book like this helps validate how wonderful and useful yoga is! anyone can benefit from adding yoga to their lives!!!
