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Yoga Therapy for Stress and Anxiety: Create a Personalized Holistic Plan to Balance Your Life
Holistic, practical, and student-centered, this guide offers you the tools and freedom to delve deep into your interior landscape and create your own comprehensive yoga program—a program that, like the world around us, changes from year to year and day to day. The lasting benefits of these transformative yoga practices encompass health, relationships, work, relaxation, meditation, and spirituality.
360 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2015
16 people are currently reading
101 people want to read
About the author
Robert Butera
15 books2 followersRobert Butera, MDiv, PhD (Devon, PA), founded YogaLife Institute in Pennsylvania, where he trains yoga teachers and Comprehensive Yoga Therapists. Robert's PhD at CA Institute of Integral Studies focused on Yoga Therapy.
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Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews
March 24, 2020
DNF on page 208. I think it’s time to admit that me and this book are just not going to happen.
September 29, 2019
Pro-yoga, anti-meds.
I mention this up front, because the author sneaks it in at the end: do enough yoga and inner work, and maybe you can cut down on all that horrible medicine you take! And, as usual, not a shred of medical evidence whatsoever to back it up: presumably the rest of the book will lead you to this "obvious" conclusion.
Narrator: Reader, it will not.
But since this is Llewellyn we're talking about, the target audience is not necessarily looking for medical advice. This is why it should probably be classed RZ, but that's an argument for a different day. Your job is to make sure your patrons understand yoga books are not necessarily interchangeable.
This particular book contains a lot of introspective journal exercises, paired with yoga poses and practices. Having used myself as a guinea pig, I can tell you that I got irritated with the exercises after a few chapters due to relentless bootstrapping and victim-blaming. The postures and practices are better, and I personally feel a lot less anxious and more grounded, but mileage will vary. On the whole, I would recommend this to patrons who are open-minded/curious, but not so much that their brains have fallen out. There are people who want to take charge of their lives and people who just want to be told what to do; this book could be harmful to the latter, but beneficial to the former.
All that being said, this is an optional purchase for most libraries, except where the woo factor is high (and I say that with love). And remember, folks: if you can't make your own chemicals, store-bought are fine.
I mention this up front, because the author sneaks it in at the end: do enough yoga and inner work, and maybe you can cut down on all that horrible medicine you take! And, as usual, not a shred of medical evidence whatsoever to back it up: presumably the rest of the book will lead you to this "obvious" conclusion.
Narrator: Reader, it will not.
But since this is Llewellyn we're talking about, the target audience is not necessarily looking for medical advice. This is why it should probably be classed RZ, but that's an argument for a different day. Your job is to make sure your patrons understand yoga books are not necessarily interchangeable.
This particular book contains a lot of introspective journal exercises, paired with yoga poses and practices. Having used myself as a guinea pig, I can tell you that I got irritated with the exercises after a few chapters due to relentless bootstrapping and victim-blaming. The postures and practices are better, and I personally feel a lot less anxious and more grounded, but mileage will vary. On the whole, I would recommend this to patrons who are open-minded/curious, but not so much that their brains have fallen out. There are people who want to take charge of their lives and people who just want to be told what to do; this book could be harmful to the latter, but beneficial to the former.
All that being said, this is an optional purchase for most libraries, except where the woo factor is high (and I say that with love). And remember, folks: if you can't make your own chemicals, store-bought are fine.
October 14, 2019
Amazing book! Very nicely organized and with a big amount of scientific information and explanations. Liked it so much because it included not only practical physical therapy, but also some exercises for your mind and thoughts.
Highly recommend it to everyone who wants to dig into what yoga is and how it works. Thank you very much to the authors - great job!
Highly recommend it to everyone who wants to dig into what yoga is and how it works. Thank you very much to the authors - great job!
October 26, 2019
A must read for anyone suffering from stress or anxiety that wants to help themselves. This book offers as a guide to empower you to become the master of your anxiety. Full of great lifestyle tips and exercises. Even though it requires practice even after reading the book I feel I have great control on how I chose to respond to external factors
A really great read
A really great read
October 24, 2021
2.5 had a few good exercises and techniques but overall felt like an Idiots guide without much depth and too many absolutes of this will fix you!!!! (with way too many exclamation points throughout). I'm a therapist myself and trained in yoga, and there were several things that were just flat out wrong in here too.
November 13, 2017
Inspiring. Yoga Therapy is my life. Dr. Butera along with his wife and colleagues at the YogaLife Institute are bridging the gap between Eastern and Western Medicine.
June 9, 2019
Super helpful
November 9, 2019
Good for a beginner but for me, way too basic
January 12, 2020
Very thorough and helpful. I love how not only are the yoga poses explained clearly, but there is also very detailed information about the history and psychology of yoga and why it works so well.
February 10, 2023
This book was great information and helped me learn about managing my stress.
September 10, 2015
So I recently signed up for NetGalley to expand my reading horizons and try out genres that I don’t generally think to check in my local bookstore. This was something that caught my eye because I love yoga. I practice several times a day and it’s one something I come to for a variety of reasons. To stretch after a days work, to breath through illness/asthma, to relax and have alone time, to meditate on my place in the universe and goals for the present and future, to cultivate a healthier body, stronger muscles, and of course, to rock some badass inversions and pretzel postures. But the point is that yoga is a deeply varied beast and each time you come to it, it is different and you are different. It’s much like picking a new book off your shelf in that the possibilities are endless in what you can find or learn, but you’re physical and mental state are just as relevant as the source material at hand. Earlier this year I found out that I’ve been suffering from bipolar disorder and while medication has been an important part of my recovery/journey to becoming a better self, yoga was one of the key things recommended to me to alleviate stress and improve my emotional and physical quality of life. I’d been doing yoga for years but that mental piece had thrown me for a loop for a long time and it’s only been in the past 8 months or so that I’ve started to really find my own inner peace and chill spot.
Which is why I’d like to say that this book is pretty much the how to guide of what it took me 8 months to figure out through trial and error. It’s pretty rad. I didn’t have any expectation picking it up, just a general sense that the topic was important to me, but I was refreshingly surprised at the insight, layout and forethought that went into this edition. Personally I can’t wait to purchase a copy in print. I’m not someone who ordinarily annotates my books, but I can definitely see myself doing the exercises in the margins and highlighting more of the meaningful phrases and practices.
The set up is one that I particularly enjoyed and while it encourages you to move around the chapter based on whatever suits you personally, each and every segment had useful, practical and inspiring things to guide you to come to a better mental place.
The chapters begin with a general paragraph about the general focus of that sections material, followed by some active paragraphs encouraging you to ask questions about what you’re dealing with whether external, emotional, etc. There are of course diagrams for yoga poses with descriptions of how you should come to those poses and the benefits physically for each. But the real heart of this tome are these broken down ideas, 4-8 per chapter, dealing with specific issues for you to address. Many of them are lists of ideas or preconceived notions that people have about themselves or their environment and after some discussion on what these mean for your daily life, there are questions and exercises, either deep breathing, guided meditation, journal entries or lists that you can examine for yourself in order to build your own personal guide of what’s freaking you out and what you can do to personally overcome it. It’s an honest to god self help book that actually hands you the tools to help yourself. It’s not wishy-washy and it’s not demanding, both of which get used frequently and can lead you feeling confused and stupid, or bullied and pissed. This book is like sitting down with your best friend, pouring all your crap out on the page or journal or just into your conscious mind and then taking your hands and saying why don’t you try this. Take your time and we’ll build you back up so that you can move past this and be better.
I absolutely love it.
With the smattering of technical knowledge and references, the diagrams for the poses and the chapter breakdowns, lists and general formatting this is something I’ll be recommending highly. In fact I’ll be giving the expected publication date and relevant information to my own doctors so that they will be able to add this to their recommendations for other patients like myself. A wonderful edition to the yoga and stress related literature. I’m absolutely thrilled that this exists and can’t wait to add it to my collection. If you suffer from any regular stress, or feel lost in the direction of your life and are looking to improve your quality of living, self confidence, inner peace or decrease world suck, I recommend getting your hands on a copy of this as soon as possible. The expected publication date is September of 2015, and this is definitely one to pick up and add to your life library. Even if you aren’t a yogi or interested in the physical applications of yoga.
Which is why I’d like to say that this book is pretty much the how to guide of what it took me 8 months to figure out through trial and error. It’s pretty rad. I didn’t have any expectation picking it up, just a general sense that the topic was important to me, but I was refreshingly surprised at the insight, layout and forethought that went into this edition. Personally I can’t wait to purchase a copy in print. I’m not someone who ordinarily annotates my books, but I can definitely see myself doing the exercises in the margins and highlighting more of the meaningful phrases and practices.
The set up is one that I particularly enjoyed and while it encourages you to move around the chapter based on whatever suits you personally, each and every segment had useful, practical and inspiring things to guide you to come to a better mental place.
The chapters begin with a general paragraph about the general focus of that sections material, followed by some active paragraphs encouraging you to ask questions about what you’re dealing with whether external, emotional, etc. There are of course diagrams for yoga poses with descriptions of how you should come to those poses and the benefits physically for each. But the real heart of this tome are these broken down ideas, 4-8 per chapter, dealing with specific issues for you to address. Many of them are lists of ideas or preconceived notions that people have about themselves or their environment and after some discussion on what these mean for your daily life, there are questions and exercises, either deep breathing, guided meditation, journal entries or lists that you can examine for yourself in order to build your own personal guide of what’s freaking you out and what you can do to personally overcome it. It’s an honest to god self help book that actually hands you the tools to help yourself. It’s not wishy-washy and it’s not demanding, both of which get used frequently and can lead you feeling confused and stupid, or bullied and pissed. This book is like sitting down with your best friend, pouring all your crap out on the page or journal or just into your conscious mind and then taking your hands and saying why don’t you try this. Take your time and we’ll build you back up so that you can move past this and be better.
I absolutely love it.
With the smattering of technical knowledge and references, the diagrams for the poses and the chapter breakdowns, lists and general formatting this is something I’ll be recommending highly. In fact I’ll be giving the expected publication date and relevant information to my own doctors so that they will be able to add this to their recommendations for other patients like myself. A wonderful edition to the yoga and stress related literature. I’m absolutely thrilled that this exists and can’t wait to add it to my collection. If you suffer from any regular stress, or feel lost in the direction of your life and are looking to improve your quality of living, self confidence, inner peace or decrease world suck, I recommend getting your hands on a copy of this as soon as possible. The expected publication date is September of 2015, and this is definitely one to pick up and add to your life library. Even if you aren’t a yogi or interested in the physical applications of yoga.
February 23, 2017
I received this book, for free, in exchange for an honest review.
This book centered on using mindfulness to change your life. The authors use Yoga proper to describe how to reduce stress/anxiety.
Since this book covers many different aspects of Yoga there is a lot more here than just poses. If you are expecting a book about how different poses
relate to anxiety/stress you won't see much of that until the appendices. What you will see are plentiful exercises that encourage readers to apply mindfulness to their problems.
I found these to be useful, but repetitive.
This book stands apart from similar books due to these exercises. I found most similar books just covered how eastern philosophy applies to health.
Unlike other books, this book gives actionable advice rather than reiterating basic philosophical points. All in all this was a good book, but too repetitive for my tastes.
This book centered on using mindfulness to change your life. The authors use Yoga proper to describe how to reduce stress/anxiety.
Since this book covers many different aspects of Yoga there is a lot more here than just poses. If you are expecting a book about how different poses
relate to anxiety/stress you won't see much of that until the appendices. What you will see are plentiful exercises that encourage readers to apply mindfulness to their problems.
I found these to be useful, but repetitive.
This book stands apart from similar books due to these exercises. I found most similar books just covered how eastern philosophy applies to health.
Unlike other books, this book gives actionable advice rather than reiterating basic philosophical points. All in all this was a good book, but too repetitive for my tastes.
June 27, 2015
Full blog review in progress closer to release date:
This book is so much more than what I even thought it was going to be. As I find myself utilizing yoga as my life becomes more hectic and stressful, I found this book to be an absolutely dynamic read that will be going into my Amazon cart. It is very rare that I will purchase a book once I have reviewed it. This occurs maybe once to twice per year, but this book definitely fits into that category.
This book not only discusses yoga poses, but works with readers to identify, target and address causes of stress and anxiety, which really stood out to me. This book didn't have the "new age" feeling to it that I have seen in other yoga books which I found really drew me to it.
This book is so much more than what I even thought it was going to be. As I find myself utilizing yoga as my life becomes more hectic and stressful, I found this book to be an absolutely dynamic read that will be going into my Amazon cart. It is very rare that I will purchase a book once I have reviewed it. This occurs maybe once to twice per year, but this book definitely fits into that category.
This book not only discusses yoga poses, but works with readers to identify, target and address causes of stress and anxiety, which really stood out to me. This book didn't have the "new age" feeling to it that I have seen in other yoga books which I found really drew me to it.
August 4, 2015
From Netgalley for a Review:
As someone who has really bad anxiety and stress problems, I always try to read these books that pop up on Netgalley pertaining to easing the subject at hand, you never know, I might learn something that is helpful.
This book is nothing new to me, it takes a combination of mindfulness and different paths of yoga, things that have been known to help stress and anxiety. This book, however, is taking positions and such that are thought to help stress and anxiety, making it very focused.
I tried some of the poses and they did relax me, and the mindfulness helps with centering the mind and body. So, I call that a success! This book does what it sets out to do, it acts as a tool to help with stress and anxiety.
As someone who has really bad anxiety and stress problems, I always try to read these books that pop up on Netgalley pertaining to easing the subject at hand, you never know, I might learn something that is helpful.
This book is nothing new to me, it takes a combination of mindfulness and different paths of yoga, things that have been known to help stress and anxiety. This book, however, is taking positions and such that are thought to help stress and anxiety, making it very focused.
I tried some of the poses and they did relax me, and the mindfulness helps with centering the mind and body. So, I call that a success! This book does what it sets out to do, it acts as a tool to help with stress and anxiety.
November 13, 2015
This book is dense with text, so it can seem a bit intimidating to read and the authors actually suggest taking parts if that is better for you. The advice may not be utterly shocking to anyone, but there are good explanations for how we get wound up and how yoga can help. Reflection exercizes are there for those who want to really journal- but it is easy to just do the couple that intrigue and not miss out. The routines were really nice, I would have liked more.
July 21, 2015
This is a very well written book. It gives you not only information on how to help center your life but gives you plenty of poses to use in your daily yoga routine. A very helpful read.
June 17, 2016
Ultimately, this ended up being an enjoyable read. It's a little new-agey at times, but there are some good ideas in here that I'm going to implement.
March 13, 2019
self-help
Displaying 1 - 18 of 18 reviews