Yoga for Every Body: A beginner’s guide to the practice of yoga postures, breathing exercises and meditation

Yoga is good for what ails you. No one ever disputes that. But seeing it laid out as matter-of-factly as it is in Luisa Ray’s Yoga for Every Body is eye opening.According to Ray, yoga can reduce stress, relieve anxiety, reduce inflammation, fight depression, prevent heart disease, decrease lower back pain, reduce chronic pain improve sleep quality, improve flexibility and balance, increase strength and balance, help improve breathing, improve digestion, and help with weight management.For all of that, though, yoga isn’t a panacea. It’s not like one of those drugs or supplements that promise you the moon and very little develops. With yoga, it’s thousands of years tried and true, but you have to do the work.What Ray does better than many is state the work succinctly, in language that almost anyone can understand. Additionally, well executed line illustrations demonstrate the postures. Interestingly, though, unlike many yoga primers, we’re not just seeing supermodels or super skinny yoginis doing the postures. In Ray’s book, the postures really are being done by every “body” and this inclusivity makes the postures — and the practice — seem all the more approachable.Ray’s book is one that those new to yoga will find themselves referring to again and again as they deepen their practice. The author describes how to do a pose as well as how not to do a pose and variations that will allow you to either simplify the pose to work with your body or deepens it to get even more out of your practice.Yoga is for Every Body is the book I wish I’d had when I started yoga; a simple yet sophisticated primer that really is for every body.

I had tried a couple yoga classes in the past and always hated them. However, as I got older I realized that yoga might be helpful with the tension in my upper body and just stress reduction in general. I really did not want to do classes again because I just never had a good experience with them. Everyone seemed to be pros at yoga and it did not relax me in the slightest and I ended up feeling more stressed.I decided I wanted to try yoga on my own and this book was the PERFECT find. It gives you the background of yoga and what it can do for you. Each pose comes with a photo and breakdown of how to do the pose. It also tells you what that pose can help with. And the illustrations sold me. They made sure to illustrate with people who actually look like everyday people. The combination of all of these elements really made me feel empowered and like I could be "a yoga person". I've used this book for a couple weeks now and it has been great. 100% would recommend to anyone who is new or hesitant to try yoga.

Lots of great poses with detailed instructions. Covers many different aspects of yoga and gives a quick history lesson of yoga to help you better understand. Explains benefits and gives alternatives shall one have a physical restriction. Perfect for anyone!

Yoga for Every Body is a winner. Firstly, I loved the intro with the author’s story of how she began her journey into yoga. The book is written in a very encouraging and reassuring way. It felt as if the author was talking directly to me.The author, Luisa Ray, briefly covers the history, the many benefits, and the myths that surround yoga. She takes the time to create a safe context for practice, explaining that ideally a book shouldn't take the place of an instructor or a class.There are many exercises in this book and each has a description, images, instructions, benefits and information about when you shouldn't use this exercise. Many of the exercises also have further information about how you can challenge yourself further with the particular exercise.It is helpful that the various chapters divide the postures into those for boosting energy, keeping you grounded, getting stronger, increasing your focus, make you feel younger and help you to wind down.As someone who is very much a beginner to yoga, wanting to learn and increase my ability in a safe way I highly recommend this book.

Lets see, this book showed me that I am truly out of shape and inflexible. Honestly I struggled to do most of the poses BUT what I really loved about the book was the info included about each pose. I plan to get this body together and I am thankful to have a book to guide me. I chose this book because I am a VERY diverse type of person and I really appreciated the different shapes, colors, and gender of each individual displayed. I also Loved the important info provided like when not to do a pose or what the pose is used for. I would definitely recommend this book, best wishes to all!!

Great for beginners, with clear explanations and inclusive illustrations. This is the required textbook for my college yoga class. The book offers great modifications for when your balance/flexibility/strength just aren’t there yet, as well as tricks to challenge yourself in the poses. Highly recommend!

I've been wanting to get into yoga, but never really knew where to start. This book has been so helpful with that! I liked that it started out with a list of benefits of yoga and myths. I loved that it went over every pose, how to do it, and its benefits, and also that it had helpful pictures. It also had chapters that were meant for different things, beginners, boosting energy, increasing your focus, and so on. Definitely a great resource for a beginner. I'm excited to get started! Thank you. I will be recommending this.

I am a complete beginner to yoga. In my sixties. I have purchased several yoga books, but this one is my favorite. I love the drawings and the layout. The size of the book. The welcoming atmosphere that the author creates. Everything about it. It is just really nice. If i could have only one beginning yoga book, this would be it.