Yoga for the Joy of It!

by Minda Kraines, Barbara Rose Sherman

Yoga for the Joy of It! immerses the beginning yoga student in the history and practice of yoga by educating the student on the background of yoga, its health benefits, and showing specific exercises and poses. This text is an essential resource for any student embarking on a new yoga class or for those students who are already familiar with the practice of yoga. Yoga for the Joy of It! details of what to expect in class, what to wear and bring to class, correct yoga alignment, a solid foundation of yoga poses, how to modify each yoga pose, correct yoga breathing, beginning meditation, styles of yoga, a history of yoga, and how to bring the benefits of yoga practice into your daily life. The Study Questions provided at the end of every chapter encourage learning. The Yoga Moment encourages experiential learning and brings the essence of yoga into the student’s daily life. The Student Testimonials provided in each chapter authentically reveal personal experiences that are relevant. A Historical Timeline featured in the history chapter (14) easily illuminates important yoga milestones. The worksheets included at the end of the text - a health history, flexibility assessment, alignment assessment, and yoga practice and nutrition logs - allow the teacher to assess the student, and the student to track his/her improvement. Yoga Science Boxes discuss some of the science topics connected to yoga. Chapters 6-13 provide descriptions of specific yoga poses (asanas), which include the Drishti, Alignment Cues, Benefits of the Pose, and Modifications for Making the Poses Work for You.

258 pages, Paperback

First published August 25, 2009

Reviews

[Shawna Williamson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Easy to read the cues, look at the pictures and do the pose. Super helpful!

[S.M. Roffey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Solid resource. I like that it includes alignment cues, drishti, and benefits of the pose.

[Jennifer · Rating 2 out of 5]

Assigned reading for a Yoga class.

The authors could have benefited from having an experienced writer edit the book. The writing style has a girly / childish ring to it. I was surprised how often the authors could end a sentence with an exclamation point.

The poses are described well enough, and the photos were taken with enough care to show placement of limbs, etc. The poses were grouped by categories, which is fine, but very little described how the sequence of the poses would happen. I also thought the authors skipped a few poses that I consider to be foundation poses.

For someone attempting to do yoga on their own or learn more about building a practice, I don't think this book is appropriate.