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Yoga therapy is gaining rapid recognition as a form of treatment that can improve the physical and mental wellbeing of children with a variety of complex needs. This book contains a specially-designed yoga program for use with children of all abilities, and provides both parents and professionals with the knowledge they need to carry out the therapy themselves.

The program consists of a series of postures, each of which is explained and accompanied by an illustration. The postures are designed to help children understand and use their bodies, and work towards positive changes such as realigning the spine, encouraging eye-contact, and promoting calm and steady breathing. Consideration is given to creating the right setting for carrying out the therapy, assessing an individual child’s particular needs, and making the sessions fun using games and props. Sections on yoga therapy for specific conditions such as autistic spectrum disorder, Down syndrome, and cerebral palsy are included, and the book concludes with child and parent reports on how the program has worked for them, and a list of useful contacts and resources.

Nancy Williams has been a yoga therapist for 9 years. During this time, she has worked with children with a wide range of special needs, including Autism Spectrum disorders, cerebral palsy, sensory integration disorder and Down’s syndrome. Nancy also works as a pediatric Speech Pathologist, and is a certified Neuro Developmental Treatment Therapist, Zero Balancing practitioner, Yoga instructor and Reiki Master Teacher. Nancy owns Therapeutic Bodyworks, a studio in Tucson, Arizona where she teaches yoga therapy classes to individual and small groups of children. Nancy also offers consultations and conducts training.

Basic Yoga Postures and their Variations

1. THE COBRA Do this in clear stages. Lie down, facade prone, legs tightly brilliant and expanded back, forehead on the floor. Put your hands, palm down, belonging below your shoulders. Inhale and elevate your head, pressing your neck back, now use your hands to push your trunk up until you are bending in a beautiful arc from your lower spine to the back of your neck. You need go no further than this. However, if you are supple enough, you can now straighten your arms completely, bend the legs at the knees and drop your head back to touch your feet. Even if your head goes nowhere near your feet, drop it back as far as possible and hold the posture with deep breathing. Come out of the posture very slowly, returning to the face prone posture. Relax with your head to one side. Repeat.

2. THE BOW This is again an head scoop of the run-of-the-mill bow. It is significant how multifarious family can do it immediately. Take it, once again, in easy stages. Lie face prone on your mat. If you are very slim have a nice thick, padded mat for this one. Inhale and bend your knees up. Stretch back with your arms and catch hold of your ankles, keeping fingers and thumbs all together on the outside. Inhale and at the same time raise your head and chest, pulling at your ankles and lifting knees and thighs off the floor. Breathe normally, trying to kick up your legs higher and lifting your head up. You are now bent like a bow, balancing the weight of your body on your abdomen. You can stop right here but if you can still stretch further, then slide your hands down your legs, lift them higher, keep the knees together and pull back as much as you can. Hold for a few normal deep breaths, then relax back to the face-prone position, head to one side.

3. THE SHOOTING BOW In Sanskrit this is noted as Akarna Dhanurasana and one leg is partisan advance cotton to a shooting bow. Sit with both legs far-off out in ostentatiousness and shoulder straight. Reach forward with both hands and clasp your feet, catching the right foot with the left hand and the left foot with the right hand. Inhale, bend the left knee and pull the foot across the body, close to your chest, pointing the elbow up and twisting the body slightly to the right. The left hand stays firm and tight, holding the right foot. Hold posture with normal breathing, release slowly, and relax. Repeat on other side. In the beginning it is enough to hold the bent left leg with the right hand. When this is easy, stretch down and hold the left foot with the right hand. Continue to pull on the left foot, lifting it higher on each exhalation.

Go beyond the yoga revolution to find greater meaning in everyday life.We can do more with this life. We all know it, we all wish for it, but just how to do it-that eludes us. In his new book, A Life Worth Breathing, internationally renowned yoga teacher and spiritual philosopher Max Strom shows us the way. His groundbreaking book reaches past expected dogma in a language that is vital, inspired, and accessible. Strom leads us on a journey of self-discovery as we excavate our past in order to have a better understanding of our present.

With this book, Max Strom makes an invaluable contribution to the existing yoga literature. In a very practical way, he shows us how different yoga practices can work to counteract the modern plagues of sleeplessness, anxiety, depression, and apathy. This book includes an extensive discussion of ethics and the importance of living one’s life, on and off the mat, with a “code” — leading by example, or in the words of Gandhi, being the change one wishes to see. The book’s philosophy is universal and ecumenical: Strom draws on traditional yogic teachings and also early Christianity, Buddhism, Sufism, and Taoism.

This book presents the meditational and mantric side of Tantra, which is the more common side of Tantra, which is the more common side of Tantra practiced in India. It is written from the standpoint of a practitioner and also from one trained in Ayurveda (yogic medicine). It tries to present the living spirit and practice of Tantra, rather than just another academic view. The book is divided into three primary sections; with the fourth as an Appendix.

Tantric Yoga and the Wisdom Goddess is an excellent introduction to the essence of Hindu Tantrism. The author discusses all the major concepts and offers valuable corrections for many existing misconceptions. He also introduces the reader to the core Tantric practices of meditation and mantra recitation, focusing on the Ten Wisdom Goddesses.

You can enjoy the benefits of yoga – whatever your age, ability, or level of activity, even if you have never been able to participate in traditional yoga classes. This accessible guide to gentle yoga stretches and poses will help ease you into the world of this beneficial exercise. Experienced yoga instructor Peggy Cappy will help you gain energy, flexibility, and focus, through modified poses that will help strengthen and stretch your muscles and bring you peace of mind.

PEGGY CAPPY began her study of yoga 33 years ago after a trip to India where she first saw yoga practiced. Peggy created Yoga for the Rest of Us because of her interaction with a special group of senior citizens that she has been teaching for sixteen years. The average age of the group is 78 and the oldest student is 98. Peggy lives in Dublin, New Hampshire