Stretching For Dummies Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I bought this book because I really was a stretching dummy. After being pretty sedentary for a few years, I have started working out again. I kept getting tightness in my arms and legs that I couldn't figure out how to stretch away. This book has cured that, showing me specific stretches for each area of tightness. Now I know how to stretch after I work out. I've never felt any tightness that this book didn't address.
As a bonus, it even explains why you should be warmed up before you stretch, that you need to hold a stretch for 30 seconds for the most effectiveness, what you need to stretch effectively (a towel wrapped around an extremity will help you stretch what you can't reach), and gives a few specific stretching routines for the office, pregnant women, children, seniors, and those participating in specific sports (basketball, skiing, swimming, and racquet sports). The only actual routine I've used is the office one... mostly I just stretch the muscles I worked.
The reason for the four stars is the organization of the book. It does go through by body region, but curiously doesn't include each stretch in that section. For instance, in the "upper body" area, it includes one chest stretch. But it lists two different ones in the "office" stretch. Why didn't it list all of the chest stretches all together so I could easily try all three to see which one worked best for me? I was able to navigate the book much more easily when I realized there was an index in the back. I looked up "chest" and it gave me the page numbers of all the chest stretches.
Still, all of the photographs were good, the writing was easy to understand, and it resolved my after-workout tightness issue.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Stretching For Dummies

Get 32% OFF

Click here for more information about Stretching For Dummies

Read More...

Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis: A Journey to Health and Healing Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)As a longtime yoga practitioner who was diagnosed with MS several years ago, I heartily recommend this book and agree with Ms. Francina's comments, whose own books have been so important to my practice.
This book is fully illustrated with photographs taken from a variety of angles, demonstrating optimal use of props. The tone of the book is as positive as it is realistic. A variety of modifications are given for each asana, so that people at most levels of mobility can access yoga's benefits. The authors' approach is intelligent, reasoned and multifaceted.
I would also like to share a few observations and suggestions which I think might make future editions of this fine work even more useful.
The book assumes full range of motion of the arms. Many people with MS experience brachial nerve pathology as part of their MS symptom complex and cannot raise their arms above the shoulders or extend them forward or backward without exacerbating nerve issues; so it would be great to see arm modifications for some of the poses.
MS is often complicated by associated, though not necessarily causally related, issues such as osteoarthritis, disc degeneration and herniation, spinal stenosis, stiffly rounded posture, musculoskeletal overcompensation, etc., which bring their own problems. Some poses -- even generally safe modifications of classical asanas -- are contraindicated for people dealing with particular conditions, and it would be helpful to see a sentence or two with that sort of distinguishing information alongside each pose. To be sure, the authors frequently and correctly urge the reader to work with a qualified yoga instructor, but in many locations one is hard-pressed to find experienced teachers trained in the use of therapeutic yoga.
While each pose is well illustrated with photographs, it is sometimes difficult to know which photograph accompanies which text description; it would be very helpful for the photographs to be assigned figure numbers, so that they could be specifically referenced in the text.
Lastly, I hope that in the future a section can be included that will describe how to actually structure and sequence a yoga practice, especially in light of the variability of MS symptoms.
Eric Small's dedicated, compassionate service to his fellow beings, born out of personal experience, is well known, and he and Dr. Fishman have produced a long-anticipated and much-needed contribution to the field of therapeutic yoga. I am very grateful for their work.

Click Here to see more reviews about: Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis: A Journey to Health and Healing

Yoga for people with multiple sclerosis? Absolutely! Studies show that after six months of practicing yoga, fatigue and other symptoms are significantly reduced. Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis: A Journey to Health and Healing is a comprehensive and user-friendly guide to applying the principles of yoga to managing your MS. Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis contains information for people experiencing symptoms across the MS spectrum, including those who are in wheelchairs or who have limited mobility. With the help of this book, you will be able to manage your symptoms, raise your functional abilities to their highest levels, and foster independence and confidence. Co-author Eric Small was diagnosed with MS at the age of 22, and soon after became a serious student of Iyengar yoga, which has helped him greatly with the effects of his illness. He has been teaching yoga since the mid-1960s. His story is a perfect example of the benefits yoga can bestow on those living with MS.

Get 45% OFF

Click here for more information about Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis: A Journey to Health and Healing

Read More...