Never been busier? Take heart. In OM Yoga Today , renowned yoga teacher Cyndi Lee offers a simple and realistic approach to integrating a daily yoga session into even the most hectic day with a yoga sequence for any schedule and tailored to meet specific needs and fitness goals. Through her signature easy-to-follow illustrations, Cyndi provides straightforward instruction for yoga sessions that last five, fifteen, thirty, sixty, or ninety minutes each sequence building on the one before. Designed to be used during practice, this user-friendly book for the free-time challenged has easily referenced tabs for locating particular sequences quickly, and a concealed Wire-O format that lays flat on the floor alongside the practitioner. With sage words on meditation, breathing, and dedicating your practice, OM Yoga Today creates the possibility for a meaningful yoga practice in the privacy of the home no matter how busy the day.
Cyndi Lee is the first female Western yoga teacher to fully integrate yoga asana and Tibetan Buddhism in her practice and teaching. In 1998, she founded the OM yoga Center in NYC, which became a mecca for yogis worldwide. One of the most influential teachers in the U.S., Cyndi is known for her dynamic and contemplative classes, creative, safe and sane sequencing, smart and soulful teachings -- all offered in a non-competitve environment of goodness. Be prepared to move, to apply clarity to your alignment, to watch your mind, to sweat, to stay steady, to get bored and let go, to engage and be inspired.
When she's not on the mat and cushion, Cyndi writes. Her newest book is the The New York Times critically acclaimed May I Be Happy: A Memoir of Love, Yoga and Changing My Mind. Other books include Yoga Body, Buddha Mind and OM yoga: A Guide to Daily Practice. She writes regularly for Yoga Journal, Shambhala Sun, Yoga International and Tricycle Magazine. Cyndi is a long time student of Gelek Rimpoche.
I picked up this little tome at the bookstore--something I rarely do anymore since becoming a librarian and learning how to acquire books. But I loved the use of little stick figures to represent the poses of yoga moves. I actually think that by using these stick figures instead of photos of humans that the movements are better illustrated and easier to follow.
That the book breaks up yoga sessions in terms of time available is another feature of the book that interested me. Whether one has five minutes or an hour, the book provides guidance for a good, quality workout.
The Cyndi Lee books sat on my shelves for years. I struggle to understand the stick figure drawings, but I like the concept. This is good for someone who is new to yoga and has a bit of knowledge so that they could have a home practice.
I was hoping for lots of new poses. This mainly has the same poses as the first book just repeated more with some meditation thrown in at the beginning.
When I first got this book I knew nothing about yoga. Never took a class or watched a dvd either. I thought it was nicely organized, looked sharp but it wasn't particularly inspiring. Now that I've learned a little about yoga and how to do the poses and the oh so important breathing, I find this book much more useful. The book has stick people guides of the usual poses which make alot more sense to me now that i've seen them properly demonstrated on the two dvd's I have. Today was nice cos I could skip the dvd, use the book and therefore listen to music, something my dvd's lack. Oh, it is a hardcover book with pages that lie flat cos of it being a binder inside. You can choose to do yoga sessions from very short to 90 minutes. There are some pages with some directions about how to do the poses but I am some kinda dummy cos most of that made little sense to me till I saw it demonstrated by a real person on a video.
I liked the workouts, though I only did the five and fifteen minute versions. The illustrations were sparse, literally stick figures, so I would say this isn't a book for beginners, but rather people already familiar with the poses. I liked the illustrations, but I would have preferred there also to be some indication of "breathe in" and "breath out." If I end up buying this book I will add my own symbols. Overall, a good book to have around, I would say.