Plus-Sized Yoga: Beginners Yoga for People of All Sizes

by Donald Keith Stanley, Laura Terry (Editor), Regan Johnson (Illustrator)

Yoga has been practiced for more than five thousand years, and close to eleven million Americans are enjoying its health benefits currently. However, those who are not height/weight proportionate have been excluded from trying yoga to improve all aspects of their lives. Unfortunately, there are very few yoga classes that are geared toward those who are plus-sized. After clearly explaining the components of Kundalini Yoga and how to practice yoga and meditation at home, the book then details nine postures, seven yoga sets, and eight meditations. Guidance is provided on possible challenges the plus-sized might experience. There are even short (three-minute) meditations for those who don't have time to meditate. Those with smaller waists will also find the material in this book helpful. All this is done with lightness and humor while stsill being true to all elements of yoga.

232 pages, Perfect Paperback

First published April 16, 2010

About the author

Donald Keith Stanley spent twenty-two years in the natural foods industry, and after retiring, pursued his dream of helping others achieve their potential. Stanley has been a spiritual seeker and truth student for twenty-five years. He has traveled literally around the world accumulating a wealth of knowledge and experience. He has been a yoga student for many years as part of his own spiritual path. Yoga has been instrumental in his physical, emotional, mental, and spiritual growth. To write this book, he hired a yoga teacher with more than thirty-five years of teaching experience, held workshops with the plus-sized to test the yoga, and had six yoga teachers review the book during production. All this effort led to the book receiving the Seal of Approval from the Kundalini Research Institute. It is his hope that the practice of yoga can begin to help many others.

Reviews

[Melinda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I would categorize this book as a reference yoga book. It is definitely a beginners book for yoga. There are illustrations of poses but not photos. It's a straightforward book but I would not recommend the book for experienced yogis of size. The book is somewhat comic book in appearance because the illustrations, but on the whole the book is a good basic intro to yoga and meditation. For the size/body person who is more radical about their size acceptance, this book may not have the right tone for that audience.

I am glad I read it. I'm even more glad that it exists. The more resources the better.

[D.K. Stanley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wrote the book, so I like it. It's a great book to start a home practice with, especially if you've never done Kundalini Yoga before. It's divided into three sections - how to do Kundalini Yoga at home, yoga and meditations, and the last section is about how you think about yourself. As a former plus-sized person, I thought this was important to include. Dealing with the cultural perceptions of "excess" weight can be daunting. Dealing with one's own self-doubt and judgement moment-by-moment is the key to becoming happier. Being centered and focused on the present helps one make better decisions and this book will aid anyone on their self-improvement path.

[Valerie]

This book truly is a beginners book, and as such it was useful to me, and I appreciated the introduction to kundalini yoga, a form of yoga I have never before had the opportunity to practice. I wish it had more of a fat-acceptance, HAES approach, and I found the final section--all about trying not to hate yourself for being fat--a little cloying, but the yoga instruction was useful. I would've liked more illustrations, however, but I especially enjoyed the information on the kriya aspect of kundalini.