Jul 12 2008
Easy Yoga Stretches [book]
This 63 page book of stretches is nicely done for what it is. You get 200 big color photos of a man and a woman showing simple stretches to carry you through your day. 
The slim volume is divided into sections to help relieve many tension-based and stress-related ailments through holding mostly gentle poses.
Chapters are:
Introduction
Preparation
Warm ups
Flexibility
Headache/tension
Posture enhancers
Tension/backache
Breathing/blood flow
Tired and aching legs
Tension and poor circulation
Revitalizing passive stretches
Instant fatigue revitalizers
Anxiety and tension
Abdominal tension
Office tension/stiff muscles
Wake up stretches
Traveler’s stretches
Hip/pelvic tension
Winding down stretches
Index
It’s unusual that a book advised for all levels of flexibility would show harder poses like plow, shoulder stand, and the beginning part of upward bow/wheel. To be fair, the author does provide lots of cautionary notes about how you should stop if you perceive any discomfort or have certain physical ailments.
Most of the stretches in the book are extremely gentle, however, including easy pose work like cat/cow, sideways bends, squats, cobra, simple twist, triangle and down dog.
The winding-down section takes but a few moments and I found the suggestions certainly helped me get the kinks out to relax in bed. The hip and pelvic tension pages are great for easing menstrual cramps. I like how the traveler’s stretches are all things one can do in public and still look normal: sideways bends, hamstrings stretch, thigh stretch, forward/backward bend and backwards bends.
The best section are the nine stretches you can do seated in an office chair. I just did them again right now! They take two minutes to complete and do give me a refreshing break while I sit here writing. 
There is nothing here that says “alert - this person is doing yoga!” - so you can do all these stretches right in front of co-workers without feeling self-conscious.
This book won’t satisfy actual yoga practitioners. You are not actually learning yoga with this small book and anyone beyond the realm of novice won’t see anything new. The beauty here is that complete non-yogis can enjoy these stretches and get some nice yoga benefits.
The book would make a good gift for just about anyone with even a tiny bit of flexibility. My main caveat is that non-yogis should be warned not to attempt poses like plow and shoulder stand right off the bat. It makes it hard to decide who the author is catering to when they suggest inversions to newbies!
Overall, recommended to newbies who want learn mostly simples stretches, and also for yogis wanting a quick reference for the best stretches to deal with headaches, PMS, fatigue and anxiety. These are real quick fixes! And thus, the book does belong on my home “health and wellness” bookcase.
Stumble it!
