Yoga Techniques: Book suggestions for you

In this post I’m going to recommend a few books that focus on yoga postures, breathing, relaxation and meditation and how to vary them for optimal health and different abilities. Why yoga? Here are a few benefits:

• ​Stretching and back bending increase energy
  Forward bends calm and relax
• Twists and balancing exercises increase the ability to focus
• Yoga breathing enhances the effects of the postures and helps to calm and focus the mind
• Guided imagery, chanting and meditation quiet the mind
• Relaxation practices stimulate the body’s own healing process

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Empowered Aging, Everyday Yoga Practices for Bone health, Strength and Balance by Ellen Saltonstall is a comprehensive guide that offers a fresh perspective on living with courage, vitality and grace. Drawing from the wisdom of yoga, this book provides professional guidance, gentle adaptations, and compassionate support to improve your bone health, strength and balance while enhancing your overall well-being so you can enjoy the fullness of life at any age.

Each chapter is filled with simple and easy-to-follow instructions that can be done from the comfort of your own home. The expert advice makes this book an invaluable resource for those seeking to reclaim their vigor. Whether you’re new to yoga or an experienced practitioner, Empowered Aging will inspire you to take control of your health and embrace your golden years with confidence.

Ellen Saltonstall is an experienced yoga instructor with forty-five years of study, practice and teaching. She is known for her clarity, depth of knowledge, and enthusiasm for encouraging students of all levels to find freedom and joy through yoga. Ellen teaches regularly with the highly regarded online platform YogaUOnline, as well as in yoga venues both nationally and internationally. In addition to her other books, her writings have appeared in Yoga Journal, Topics in Geriatric Rehabilitation, and The International Association of Yoga Therapist’s Journal of Yoga Therapy.

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Yoga for Pain Relief and Live Pain Free Without Drugs or Surgery by Lee Albert will show you how to select, adapt and practice accessible yoga postures, breathing techniques, relaxation and meditation to reduce pain and rebalance your body. Lee’s program, called Integrated Positional Therapy, is focused on relieving pain caused by structural imbalances, and treating pain patterns caused by injury, stress, repetitive strain, postural distortion and chronic muscular conditions.  

The books address many conditions. Here are a few easily recognized ones:

• Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS)
• Cervical Muscle Strain (Neck Pain)
• Lumbar Muscle Strain (Low Back Pain)
• Piriformis Syndrome (Sciatica)
• Tension Type Headaches & Migraines
• Fibromyalgia

I was fortunate to book a session with Lee at the Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health to talk about the pain I experienced in my low back and right hip. Within that one-hour session he pointed out my hip and pelvic imbalances and showed me how to modify several of my favorite yoga postures, to work with my structural imbalances. As a result of that session I have changed the way I work with and teach many traditional yoga postures. Understanding and working with the ways in which my body is imbalanced has taught me how to vary my exercise and daily activities and experience little or no pain.

Lee Albert, MNT, creator of Integrated Positional Therapy, is a nationally recognized yoga instructor and expert in neuromuscular pain relief. You can find more information about his work at www.LeeAlbert.com

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Yoga for Times of Change by Nina Zolotow is full of sound advice for using your yoga practice to move through times of stress, anxiety, grief and life transitions. The guidance in Nina’s book offers a variety of ways to use yoga as a healthy coping mechanism when you are confronted by the inevitable ups and downs that life brings. The suggested practices, including postures, breathing practices, relaxation, mantras and meditation will allow you to rebalance when you’re experiencing challenges and help you build resilience for the future. 

Nina’s recommendations for practice take into consideration that everyone of us is different in abilities, preferences and personal approaches to yoga. She clearly recognizes that no ‘one size fits all.’ Therefore the book is replete with different ways to vary the techniques to suit the reader’s needs. She includes a wide variety of ways to keep your yoga experiences at home or in the classroom as safe as possible.

Nina Zolotow is a certified yoga teacher as well as a longtime yoga writer. She teaches workshops and classes on yoga for emotional well-being, stress, better sleep, cultivating equanimity and healthy aging. You will find many articles, posts and sources of information on The Yoga for Times of Change blog.

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And last (but hopefully not least) is, Ogi Bogi, The Elephant Yogi – my book!

​Science shows that a relaxed state of awareness is optimal for receptivity, learning, and problem solving. In Ogi Bogi, readers, both children and the adults who care for them, will find a collection of original stories that teach children how to attain this state of awareness and use it to deal with issues like self-confidence, social skills, emotions (pleasant, intense or painful), peer pressure and academic success. My colleagues and I have tested the techniques in this book with over 4,000 children and youth in the Wake Up and Relax! yoga classes at Hartford’s Camp Courant and in after school programs.


Joseph Le Page, Founder, Integrative Yoga Therapy said this in his endorsement, While most  yoga books for children focus on exercise routines in the form of animals or other symbolic shapes, they don’t deal with the most important questions of personality and values development which are at the heart of yoga. While the yoga positions are practices to support this foundational work, Beth’s book gives practical tools for children to learn the real value of yoga.


You can find more information about the book here.


Happy reading, learning and practicing!

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