The Woman's Book of Yoga and Health

Book excerpt: The Woman's Book of Yoga and Health is the first comprehensive book about women's health issues and how to treat them with yoga. The authors offer a complete yoga program for general health as well as pose sequences that address specific health problems—all in the Iyengar tradition, which targets health needs more than other forms of yoga. For example, in the first part of the book, Patricia Walden has organized three chapters showing yoga poses with clear instructions that tell how to get into each pose and describe its benefits: chapter one is the Essential Sequence for all women, and includes modifications for people who cannot or should not do all the poses; chapter two is the Restorative Sequence for stress relief and relaxation; chapter three contains advanced poses that energize and tone. The second part is presented in four sections that broadly represent the stages of a woman's life: teen years and early twenties, later twenties and thirties, midlife, and wisdom years. Each section contains chapters offering specific information about a particular health issue from author Linda Sparrowe, as well as sequences of yoga poses from Patricia Walden that address the problem. For example, the back care chapter includes information about common back problems and their causes (scoliosis, arthritis, lordosis, sciatica, kyphosis, among others) with an emphasis on: emotional and psychological roots of some back problems; physiological information about the spine and back muscles; general information about how yoga addresses different areas of the back; and finally, Patricia Walden's sequences of poses that target different back problems with the goal of not only relieving back pain but of strengthening, and healing old injuries and misalignments. Sections of the book include: • Teens and Early 20s: Eating disorders, menstrual health, immune support • 20s and 30s: Back care, pregnancy, headaches • Midlife: Depression, menopause, digestion • Wisdom Years: Osteoporosis, postmenopause, the heart The final section of the book includes listings of yoga centers, instructional videos, yoga equipment, and where to go for more information about yoga.