Yoga helpt : makkelijke oefeningen voor meer dan 50 aandoeningen

by Tara Stiles

Yoga is een methode om te ontspannen en om lichaam en geest met elkaar in harmonie te brengen. Hatha Yoga schept deze mogelijkheden tot bewustwording. Dit yogawerkboek richt zich in het bijzonder op het voorkomen en genezen van lichamelijke aandoeningen. De professionele yogalerares heeft als uitgangspunt het oude traditionele achtvoudige pad van de Indiase wijsgeer Patanjali. Zij refereert met haar programma met name aan het belang van de yogahoudingen (asana's). Na een korte en bondige inleiding over de achtergrond van yoga geeft zij een overzicht, alfabetisch geordend, van kwalen en ongemakken die kunnen worden bestreden door het beoefenen van Hatha Yoga. Tot slot geeft zij richtlijnen hoe in de huiselijke sfeer ruimte kan worden geschapen voor een yogaretraite. De houdingen worden aan de hand van kleurenfoto's, voorzien van commentaar, vakkundig toegelicht. Ter nadere adstructie zijn binnen de teksten praktische tips en anekdotes opgenomen. Achterin zijn met foto en een heel beknopte tekst 158 houdingen opgenomen, onderverdeeld in houdingen die men staand, zittend of liggend doet, achterwaarts buigend en ondersteboven en balanceren op de armen.

Genres: Nonfiction, Health, Fitness, Self Help, Reference, Ebooks, Medical

255 pages

First published January 1, 2012

About the author

Tara Stiles is the founder of Strala, the revolutionary approach to being, moving and healing. Strala is practiced in more than 100 countries, and thousands of Guides are leading Strala classes daily around the globe.

Tara has authored several best-selling books including Yoga Cures, Make Your Own Rules Diet, and Strala Yoga. Tara is married to Strala co-founder Mike Taylor and they enjoy practicing yoga and spending time in nature with their daughter Daisy.

Reviews

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tara is amazing and she's also a great teacher. I've been amazed at what doing a gentle yoga practice almost every day has done for me. I thought yoga was only about flexibility. Wrong. I am stronger and firmer now than I've been in many years. I'm also more centered, and understand myself and my own needs and limitations better than I ever have.

In this book, Tara shares some straightforward yoga routines to deal with common problems such as anxiety, high blood pressure, insomnia, a scattered mind, PMS, tension, acne, arthritis, even sugar cravings and wrinkles. She is amazing. Check her out on YouTube. I'm amazed by what her body can do.

I'm almost as surprised by what I am able to do now - things I just didn't think were possible for someone as inflexible as I've always been. I'm almost to the point that I can touch my palms to the floor from a standing position, not just a fingertip or two. I was about 8-10 inches from the floor when I started several months ago. I can touch my forehead to my outstretched leg now. It's pretty amazing. And so, so easy, unlike all of the other toning exercises I've tried in the past, which were a constant struggle and I dreaded doing them. Not the same with yoga. My body craves it. I feel it in my body and mind when I miss a day. It has made a huge difference in my life. I can't recommend it highly enough.

If you haven't exercised in awhile and want to start with a program that will give you confidence (because you'll actually be able to DO all of the poses), I suggest Peggy Cappy's DVD "Yoga for the Rest of Us". It allows you to start with a chair, if you need it for balance, or if you can't go all the way to the floor, as many people cannot when they begin a yoga practice.

Yoga will bring you back to yourself, effortlessly and naturally. You'll learn how to breathe properly and deeply, into the belly, not shallowly, the way most people breathe. I promise, a consistent yoga practice will transform you.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started practicing yoga on a regular basis at a studio about 6 years ago, but life took me in a different direction and my husband and I have moved around quite a bit since our first year of marriage. It was not easy or convenient for me to find a studio, especially when we lived in farm country in Wisconsin (not knocking- most beautiful place we have lived yet), so I started watching yoga videos. I stumbled upon Tara’s iTunes podcasts and haven’t looked back. I started using Tara Stiles’ podcasts to help with a herniated disk I have, and then as my core strengthened, I began to do yoga more to lose weight and for flexibility. I lost almost 25 lbs doing her podcasts, and have started my day with a minimum of 20 minutes of yoga everyday for the last 4 years. So, when I was given the opportunity to review her new book, Yoga Cures, I was ecstatic, to say the least.

Yoga Cures has two parts. The first part has three chapters. It begins with a chapter on yoga, it’s history, ect…, some of the basic poses, and important qualities and steps of yoga, complete with charts and awesome pictures. It then goes on to talk about the science behind yoga cures, and the ends with a chapter on breathing methods, and asks the reader to look at their lifestyle; decide what is healthy and what is not. Tara asks the reader to pick one thing- it can be a simple thing, and work on that first.

The rest of the book is dedicated to specific problems and yoga positions/routines which should, if done correctly, help alleviate that specific problem.

Here are the areas she covers, it is a long list and there is something in there for everyone:

Aches and pains
Acne
ADD/ADHD
Allergies
Anxiety
Arthritis
Bingeing
Blurred vision
Broken Heart
Bulging belly
Chilling out
Cold repair
Couch-stination
Cellulite
Depression
Diabetes
Droopy shoulders
Exhaustion
Fear
Fibromyalgia
Foot cramps
Flu
Hangover
High blood pressure
Hot Flashes
Jiggly thighs
Killer car rides
Lack of self-esteem
Laziness
Migraine
Monkey mind
Office body
Office mind
Obesity/overweight
Party pooper
PMS and cramps
Pregnancy discomfort
Runners Aches
Saggy booty
Saggy pecs
Scattered mind
Shin splints
Sugar cravings
Tension
Thyroid imbalance
Traveler’s anxiety
Tummy trouble
Under eye bags and dark circles
Vertigo
Wrinkles
Getting sleep

As I said before, there is something in there for everyone, for myself, there are a few things. I have been working my way through the areas I would like to work on, and so far, so good. I am super excited to be able to use the one for a long car ride, since my husband and I will be traveling a bunch in the next month or so and at least once a year take a drive from wherever we live, currently NOLA, back to Buffalo, NY, where we are from, to visit family. I get so stiff in the car and I actually hurt, I will do these simple poses when we stop for gas or food. I think it will help a ton!

Yoga Cures is very descriptive and has great pictures and verbal descriptions of the poses. This book is definitely visually appealing. There is also a “glossary” of the different yoga poses in the back of the book. This book makes yoga appealing to everyone. It shows that yoga is not just about meditation (though that is important and can be beneficial), and that yoga does not have to be a spiritual practice. Tara’s book shows that there are proven health benefits for people who practice yoga on a regular basis. It explains that yoga can have a healthy effect on the human body and mind, all without cramming the “religion” aspect down your throat. Yoga Cures is not focused on the spirituality aspect, which can make people who are Christian feel that they cannot or should not practice yoga. This book presents yoga as a beneficial part of a healthy lifestyle, not as a religion, which, I feel, is very important.

I would recommend this book to everyone, from young adults through adults, male and female. Like I said before, there is something in this book for everyone and I can honestly say that the daily practice of yoga has changed my life. I am stronger and more flexible than I was in my 20’s. Yoga has helped me avoid back surgery and now, with the help of this book, I can really focus on particular areas or specific problems in my life. I owe so much to Tara Stiles, who I have never met, for making my physical and mental health better. I will continue using this book for a very long time. It will have a permanent place on my nook and my computer for easy access.

I received this book as an ARC. I do not get paid to review books; I do so in order to assist you in recognizing books that you might enjoy.



Please read more of my reviews on my blog: http://sarahereads.wordpress.com/

[Original Doll (Lea Martinuš) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome!

[Amy Senter · Rating 4 out of 5]

The ailments she picked for yoga routines were kind of a weird mix. Even though my pain doesn’t exactly fit in any of the categories, the variety of poses and info in this book was more than enough to get me started. The best part was actually the picture glossary at the back of all the yoga poses and their health benefits.

[Robin · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think my favorite parts of the book are the "retreats" that she has in the back that you can do at home.

My main concern with this book is the discrepancy between the descriptions of yoga poses and the pictures of Tara illustrating the poses. For example, her "standing pose" description clearly states that feet should be hips' width apart (and she goes on to say you should be able to fit two fists in between your feet) but in the picture demonstrating this pose, her feet are firmly pressed together.

The big problem with this is that if you're not too familiar with yoga or haven't had much in-class instruction, you may think you need to look like her rather than do the pose in your body. My yoga teacher always stresses that the appearance of the pose is not as important as how it feels in your body. Obviously you need to try to use the correct technique when doing a pose, but if you are just trying to make it "look right" you might end up hurting yourself or stressing out the wrong parts of your body.

Also, she includes headstands in a number of poses, which seems crazy to me. Headstands are dangerous, especially when you haven't been given proper instruction. You can actually damage the blood vessels in your neck (giving yourself a stroke) if you put too much stress on your neck. It doesn't make much sense to put it in an otherwise casual book about yoga.

For that reason, I think this book should not be recommended for yoga beginners.

I also think that calling any of these poses or series of poses "cures" for anything is dishonest. While Tara points out that none of these cures are guaranteed to work, I think the whole premise of the book is a little shady.

Disclaimer: I won this in a goodreads giveaway.

[Kristy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Yoga is wonderful and beneficial and the moves in this book are great, however, yoga will not cure acne or diabetes or hereditary under eye dark circles or the flu. It’s irresponsible to say it could.

[Layla ✷ Praise the sun ✷ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tara Stiles gives easy to follow Yoga routines with pictures and verbal descriptions for the following ailments in this book:

Aches and pains, acne, ADD/ADHD, allergies, anxiety, arthritis, bingeing, blurred vision, broken heart, bulging belly, chilling out, cold repair, couch-stination, cellulite, depression, diabetes, droopy shoulders, exhaustion, fear, fibromyalgia, foot cramps, flu, hangover, high blood pressure, hot flashes, jiggly thighs, killer car rides, lack of self-esteem, laziness, migraine, monkey mind, office body, office mind, obesity/overweight, party pooper, PMS and cramps, pregnancy discomfort, runners aches, saggy booty, saggy pecs, scattered mind, shin splints, sugar cravings, tension, thyroid imbalance, traveler's anxiety, tummy trouble, under eye bags and dark circles, vertigo, wrinkles, getting sleep.

Apart from those sequences, Stiles gives general advise on lifestyle, touches upon food habits and gives complete Yoga routines for mornings and evenings.

As for the cure thing, "cure" might be a strong word, but the daily exercise of the routines helped me a lot with a few things. As the most drastic example, for three years I had refused to go by car with anyone out of fear. After one to two month of daily Yoga routines, among others the traveler's anxiety one, I just did it, I went by car with people, and after a few rides I was even fine doing it.

All in all, I cannot seize to be amazed at how much even just a little daily Yoga routine can improve ones life, physically and mentally, and this book is one of the few books that I have always ready to read at home. And I cannot recommend it enough.

[Jennifer Lynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not sure that I've officially "FINISHED" with this book but I have read through all of it, just not in much of an order. Its one that I will refer to again and again in the future. I had the pleasure of taking a class with Tara earlier this spring. She is from a nearby town and good friends with the gym owner where I practice yoga. In fact my yoga instructor is trained in Tara's methods, so it's almost like I practice with Tara every week! Yoga has done amazing things to my body and this more gentle style of yoga is easy to do, yet still a great workout. This book presents many different movements and flows to help with a variety of illnesses. As I don't have any illnesses (right now) I've used it as a guide for my own practice at home. Just choosing different flows and combining different poses for myself. Highly recommend this book for anyone who loves yoga as much as I do.

[Aline · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'd say that this will be especially useful for the beginner and if you don't know anything about yoga yet.
The poses are mostly very basic. It's not for learning yoga in general. As the title says it's for healing and helping with certain things. Because of this you might not make use of the whole book, but only of the chapters you need.
It starts with ~40 pages of information about yoga and then goes into the different chapters on the conditions and which poses are helpful for it.

[Lady · Rating 5 out of 5]

To say it curtly, this is a fantastic book. It is well illustrated and includes poses and techniques for many different health dilemmas. I've just finished reading through it and am thrilled to try all the new routines. Great book to have in everyones home.

[Nicole Perkins · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoy this book. Tara Stiles' instructions are clearly worded with photos so even yoga newbies like me can figure out what (and how) we are supposed to be doing. Going to pick up a copy for myself, because I keep taking this one out of the library.

[Mdg2810 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Un manuel très riche (plus d’une centaine de postures) et bien détaillé. Parfait pour les débutants ou pour ceux qui sont un peu plus confirmés.

[Tammy Bayer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book. The first part teaches about yoga. The second part is a reference for ailments with poses to help those ailments. I plan to refer back to this book in the future.

[Cecilee · Rating 2 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I skimmed this to take a gander at the poses.

Eh. It’s weird how often headstand came up. And it wasn’t the most body positive language at times. I dunno. The at home retreats section was cool.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

Recently I picked up yoga and decided to borrow a book about it to learn more about it. This is the book I chose and it didn't disappoint. It wasn't informative like a medical book or something, more like it tells you what poses are good for PMS, what are good for blurry eyesight, and so on. There is also a snippet written by Tara Stiles herself and also some info about what yoga is basically about and how it works for you. If you've done yoga before, you would probably know that she is on youtube teaching yoga too! It's all very clear cut, which is what I really liked about it. There are a good lot of poses in the book and I can assure you that you will be satisfied with it! I would recommend the book more for yoga intermediates because the poses in it might be a lil bit difficult for the beginners but it is still great for beginners as well!

[Iris · Rating 5 out of 5]

this book helped me a lot especially with hangovers. LOL

[Carolyn Craven · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this! It’s one of the best go-to guides for day to day yoga flow needs.

[Kirsten · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yoga ist nicht nur Sport, für viele ist es eine Lebensform. Für die Autorin ist es auch noch die Lösung für viele Leiden. Von Angstzuständen über Hängebusen bis hin zum zerstreuten Geist: für alle Probleme zeigt sie Übungen die helfen sollen, sie zu lösen.

Schon der Titel hat bei mir ein kleines bisschen Abwehr hervorgerufen. Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass Yoga heilt. Ich weiß, dass Yoga hilft, Beschwerden zu lindern. Aber die Ursache heilen, das wäre zu viel versprochen.

Kann ich mit dieser Einstellung das Buch überhaupt noch neutral bewerten? Ich glaube schon. Vielleicht sogar besser als jemand, der sich noch nicht mit dem Thema „Yoga“ beschäftige hat. Nach einer kurzen Einführung darüber, was Yoga ist, geht es um das Zusammenspiel von Körper und Geist. Aus Erfahrungen in meinem Bekanntenkreis weiß ich, dass der spirituelle Aspekt oft belächelt wird. Das ging mir auch so, bevor ich mich wirklich damit beschäftigt habe (und bevor ich das Glück hatte, an eine gute Lehrerin zu geraten).

Gleich bei einem der ersten Bilder ist mir ein Fehler aufgefallen. Beim Stehen haben Bild und Beschreibung nicht zusammen gepasst. Das war aber der einzige Fehler, den ich entdecken konnte. Allerdings kenne ich nicht alle der gezeigten Asanas, deshalb will ich nicht ausschließen, dass es noch andere Unstimmigkeiten gibt.

Was mich auch ein bisschen stört ist, dass nur die Endhaltung gezeigt wird und nicht, wie man in diese Haltung kommt. Das wird nur erklärt und ist für jemand, der noch nie oder noch nicht lange Yoga macht, nicht immer einfach nachzuvollziehen. Außerdem vermisse ich ergänzende Erklärungen zu manchen Asanas wie z.B. dass bei der Vorwärtsbeuge immer die Hände flach auf dem Boden liegen sollen und es deshalb besser ist, die Knie zu beugen als die Hände hängen zu lassen.

Gut gelungen finde ich die Lösung der einzelnen Probleme durch Yoga. Die Autorin erklärt genau, wie die einzelnen Asanas wirken und weshalb sie das Problem lösen können. Sie beschränkt sich dabei nicht nur auf den Aspekt Yoga, sondern gibt auch praktische Tipps aus dem Alltag.
Nachdem sie sich 50 Beschwerden gewidmet hat, gibt es im Anhang zwei Wochenendprogramme zur Entrümpelung und Inspiration mit Übungsfolgen für morgens und abends und ein kleines Programm zur Inspiration. Am Ende gibt es eine Übersicht über alle gezeigten Asanas.
Für jemand, der schon Yoga gemacht hat, ist dieses Buch eine nette Ergänzung. Für einen Yoga-Neuling ist es allerdings nichts, denn nur mit Bildern und ein paar Erklärungen wird er nichts oder nur sehr wenig anfangen können.

[Jessi Waugh · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a good book for a beginning yoga practitioner with a specific goal in mind - the book has chapters on all sorts of different ailments, from ADHD to wrinkles. However, you'd need an otherwise healthy body to follow these yoga "cures," and as it lacks detailed direction on alignment and safety, you should look to another source for poses you use frequently. It doesn't have anything new for those well-read on yoga philosophies and practices.

I don't like the format of yoga for ailments - it doesn't seem to me to be the right way to approach yoga, and after the first sections, the book is very repetitive. The best part is the beginning - the author describes yoga and its purpose very well, beautifully, and the book is worth reading for the first 50 pages.

[Dna · Rating 3 out of 5]

Obviously, the whole of the book won't apply to any one reader -- but if it does, get thee to a doctor! I can't practice for extended periods of time, so I found the relevant chapters really useful in helping me create shorter, but still-rewarding routines. Good book. I will definitely borrow it again.

[Julie Gentile · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read all of Tara's books and have taken a Strala Yoga intensive training with her, and she writes and leads in an incredibly friendly, approachable way. I always walk away feeling inspired to live and lead with more ease and grace.

[Charley · Rating 1 out of 5]

Do not understand how she thought this was a good book; it's fat shaming, has all the advanced poses for a beginner book and has no warmups, transitions, counter poses or any contraindications listed. Please don't hurt yourself reading this book.

[Sandi · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love yoga and meditation and try to do some every day. This book talks about different ailments and conditions--both physical and emotional and gives specific poses for each condition. Also gives plans for daily at home retreats and a library of poses and breathing techniques. A great resource.

[Hannah Bloodworth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love the breakdown of poses in this book. Even as someone who loves yoga already, this increased my appreciation for all that it can do!

[Lanigan Vitaceae · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love the simple moves. Easy to make your own routine.

[Angie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Wonderful book!

[samantha lee hurrell]

Good information for all levels.
Tara styles never fails

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Meh

[Iroquois · Rating 4 out of 5]

Purchased as a kindle ebook and when read on my iPad it includes demo video of each pose so that's helpful.

[Jeanne · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars, I would give it 4, but the word "Cures" in the title is a little too strong for what yoga does. The book is calming just to read. It includes a brief history of yoga, medical studies of yoga as a treatment, personal stories of "real-life cures," and a wonderful Yoga pose library that is worth the price of the book. I believe, from personal experience, that yoga is more of a preventive than a cure. I have used yoga daily to strengthen my back and the side effects are a calmness that carries me through my day. Yoga is a great alternative to popping pills for routine aches and pains.