Cool Yoga Tricks [Paperback]

Miriam Austin (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 30, 2003

Craving yoga’s benefits but unable to perform even the simplest postures? Think yoga is only for rubber-limbed supermodels?
If your yoga practice is giving you more stress than stress relief, Cool Yoga Tricks is the answer to your prayers.

Although it seems like everyone from Madonna to your eighty-three-year-old Uncle Teddy is practicing yoga, most of us are unable to do even the simplest classic yoga poses without undue stress and strain. Now in this clear, understandable, easy-to-follow book, Miriam Austin offers alternative yoga routines that help you reap the greatest rewards from your yoga practice, and she reveals shortcuts to help you perform yoga like a pro.
Using everyday items, such as chairs, walls, and blankets, Miriam Austin shows how those of us with normal flexibility limitations can experience the very real benefits of yoga—without dislocating our joints, overstretching our muscles, or giving up in frustration. She makes the basics simple, doable, and down-to-earth.

Dog Tricks—lengthen your spine more fully with these Downward Facing Dog tricks, designed to relax your neck, shoulders, and back—and make your Dog Pose much more lovable.
Befriending Backbends—increase your preztebility with a little help from your friends—and from some garden-variety folding chairs.
Tweaking Your Twists—learn the techniques that will stretch your spine and give you more life energy.
Super Stretches—feel as limber as your average bowling ball? Gently coax your muscles to new lengths by practicing the routines in this chapter.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

This delightful book by the author of Yoga for Wimps (2000) is chock-full of practical techniques to help the average person safely perform yoga poses. Austin has studied Iyengar yoga for several years, a style of yoga that often uses props such as blocks, blankets, chairs, and walls to deepen the experience of classic poses. In this book Austin shows both new and experienced practitioners how to use yoga props and provides partner exercises to improve the performance of poses. Clear explanations and numerous photos demonstrate how to make poses easier or more challenging. Having survived various injuries, some caused by overaggressive teachers, Austin seeks to make yoga fun and safe. She encourages the reader to trust the wisdom of the body. Her enthusiasm is infectious--it's almost impossible to read the book without getting up and trying some of her "cool tricks." Jane Tuma
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

“If the idea of stretching sounds about as relaxing as a tooth extraction, Miriam Austin hears your pain. . . . [She] knows how to coax flexibility from a steel girder.”
—O magazine

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Ballantine Books (December 30, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0345465415
• ISBN-13: 978-0345465412
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.3 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #336,561 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #63 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Exercise & Fitness > Stretching

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Solid Iyengar Yoga based book more like 4.5 stars than 4, November 5, 2004

By 

James E. White (Oak Park, IL) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Cool Yoga Tricks (Paperback)

This book does a nice job of talking about and demonstrating many poses that people do in yoga classes and on yoga dvds. This book is broken up into sections (standing poses, seated poses, twisting poses, etc) and does a nice job with providing modifications for the poses. The advanced section towards the back of the book is also very good, and helps people who have a nice degree of flexibility (or who are looking for increased range of motion) to go a little deeper and try some tougher poses. My only problem with this book is that there were not enough seated poses. The book only covered Cobbler's Pose and Full Lotus Pose (I admit to being slightly bias because these are the poses I struggle the most with). While these are great poses to cover, adding a few more of the seated poses would made this book 5 stars for me. Otherwise, this is a great book, and I think anyone from any level or any style of yoga can get something out of this book.

33 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Modify, modify, modify!, February 17, 2004

By 

Beth Cholette "doctor_beth" (Upstate NY USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Cool Yoga Tricks (Paperback)

This book is all about learning to modify yoga poses to make them work for YOU. It begins by helping you to become more aware of your body and how to control the way it moves. For example, many yoga poses include the instruction "roll your thighs outward"--how do you do that? This book doesn't just TELL you how, it SHOWS you how! Using a varitey of props such as blankets, straps, bolsters, chairs, and even helpful friends, you will learn to find comfort in some of the most common yoga poses, such as downward facing dog, standing forward bend, seated forward bend, and headstand. Yoga teachers and students of various shapes and sizes illustrate the many poses included in this book. This book is an excellent tool for anyone looking to further their yoga practice by attaining postures best suited to their ability.

20 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Iyengar, October 6, 2004

By 

ADifferentView "charaka" (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Cool Yoga Tricks (Paperback)

I saw this at the book store last night, and came to order it from Amazon. The person who wrote this book has taken some of the cool tricks from Iyengar classes and written them down. I have trained with some senior Iyengar instructors and forgot what they showed me, until I picked up this book. I think the book is honest to its title.