Customer Reviews

OM Yoga: A Guide to Daily Practice

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love this book! I take a weekly class, but this book gave me the tools to incorporate yoga into my daily schedule. The routines are short (15 minutes or so, though you can make them longer if you want to), there's variety so each day focuses on different challenges, and everything's well explained.

My favorite features are: 1. there's a single-glance spread of the day's poses (no flipping while you're doing the routine!) as well as detailed drawings/descriptions of each pose so you can check your form, 2. the spiral binding, which makes it easy to lie open flat and flip as needed, 3. there are 'variations' of the more difficult poses, so it truly can be used by beginners and more advanced practitioners, and 4. it isn't overly wordy - just practical and straightforward.

If you're interested in trying yoga out, take the occasional class, or are just looking for a new way to approach your practice, TRY THIS!!

Cyndi Lee has given those who practice yoga a practical and useful book, even for beginners. The book was written and illustrated by Cyndi, who explains easily the concepts of yoga and the easy to understand illustrations demonstrate the proper way to do each pose. The book is divided into 9 sections, by tabs. The Daily Warm Up, plus Daily Pratice guides for each day of the week, as well as a Recipes section which helps readers put together their own routines. The book also explains the proper way to sit and breathe, as well as the meaning of Om. Each day is a different day; Sunday (Restorative poses, they create a sense of relaxed awareness and teach us how to receive); Monday (Sun Salute, generates energy and creates heat in the body); Tuesday (Standing poses, create strength and develop correct posture); Wednesday (Balancing poses, teach harmony of effort and release inner and outer awareness); Thursday (Seated Poses, calming to the mind and rejuvenating to the organs); Friday (Back bends, encourage us to be brave and openhearted); and Saturday (Inversions, which rejuvenate the entire body/mind system). As well she goes into detail with meditation. To quote the book it says "The practice of yoga is not about trying to be different from who you are, but rather understanding that we all have many aspects and that we are vast enough to contain numerous emotions and qualities." This could not be more true. This is a wonderful book for any yoga fan, very helpful and useful.

Is your schedule awfully hectic but you still want to manage to stay fit and pliant? You crave spirituality but all that Sanskrit mumbo-jumbo seems too removed from your everyday concerns? Then this is the perfect no-nonsense yoga system to shoehorn into your busy agenda. Beyond the nifty presentation you will find amazingly intense (and yet positively short) routines that will do wonders for your posture and flexibility, and tips on how to combine them when you have more time (that ever dwindling commodity) available to you. The simple guidelines will positively seep into your psyche and boost your living quality as well. Whether you're fit or have rusted down the years, there's no way you'll miss any exercise. Besides, you will be happy to keep the book handy for its breathing and relaxation routines to wind down after a stressful day. You can do many things for others, but the time you spend devoting yourself to OM YOGA is the best gift you'll ever do to yourself, maybe the only one throughout a busy day. Five stars for Cyndi!

I bought this book while deployed in Kosovo and I absolutely love it. The spiral binding makes it easy to look at while performing the exercises and the tabbed sections make for quick reference. I had never done Yoga before and this book really made it easy. I'm still not perfect at some of the exercises, but even though I sometimes stumble while trying some of the balancing poses, I still am able to laugh at myself and realize it's going to take work and dedication to become proficient at it. This book makes Yoga fun and uplifting. Don't hesitate to try it!

This book is very informative without being overly technical. I didn't believe I could do a good home yoga practice on my own. But first I got OM yoga in a box and then I got this book and between the two of them, I start every day with yoga on my own. It's really been great for my body (not to mention my spirit).

I have a large collection of yoga books on my shelf. OM Yoga - A Guide to Daily Practice is one of the handful of books, I use on a regular basis. This is the book that helped me first establish my personal practice when I moved to rural northern Wisconsin. It's very practical and user-friendly.

The OM Yoga Guide to Daily Practice, is a wire bound book for laying flat while being used, written and illustrated by Cyndi Lee, director of the OM Yoga Center in NYC, who has been teaching yoga for over 20 years. Her ability to simplify yoga routines to do at home with a completely unique teaching approach shines through in this book. Many yoga books are long on wordy directions and short on pictures. The Om Yoga Guide to Daily Practice is just the opposite. Each daily series of yoga poses is presented entirely through easy-to-follow illustrations with streamlined instructions and tips.

The book begins with a brief introduction and instructions for how to use the book. It has 9 tabbed sections - one for each day of the week - plus daily 'warm-up' and 'Recipes' for combining the poses into longer customized yoga workouts sections. The first two pages of each section provide a "Yoga Sequence at a Glance" presentation with illustrations of each pose to be performed, so you don't have to stop your daily yoga routine to flip pages. Each pose is further explained with more detailed alignment suggestions on subsequent pages, for those who want additional guidance. Variations and modifications for the more challenging poses are provided making this accessible to beginners and more experienced yoga practitioners alike.

Each daily yoga routine is brief - just 10 to 15 minutes in length - with a specific focus:

*Monday's practice is dedicated to sun salutes designed to help build physical strength, stamina, and mental focus.

*Tuesday's focus is standing poses such as warrior and triangle to develop strength.

*Wednesday's poses are all about balance with poses like tree, warrior 3, half moon and side inclined plank included.

*Thursday's practice focuses on sitting poses designed to help you slow down and rejuvenate at that point in the week where you may be losing steam.

*Friday's practice is dedicated to various backbends designed to increase spinal flexibility while opening up the shoulders, chest, and torso.

*Saturday's practice focuses on inversions, where you get to explore poses that turn you upside down, helping you to gain new perspective physically and mentally.

*Sunday's series is all about relaxation with restorative poses designed to help you let go of tension and receive the benefits of passive yoga poses, such as legs-up-the-wall pose and supported child's pose.

The daily warm-up is a flowing series of poses should be done at the beginning of each day's outlined practice or any time you are feeling a little sluggish. It is designed to loosen up your spine and energize your entire body while preparing you for the day's practice and should be done 3 to 4 times.

If you are looking for a practical guide to help you develop a daily practice, The Om Yoga Guide to Daily Practice by Cyndi Lee, provides a simple solution.

Highly Recommended

This is unlike any other book on yoga. It is informative and interesting, and beautifully presented!!!

I like this book in part because of the cute illustrations instead of real photos. Besides, there are captions in case you get confused. I try to "study" the lesson before doing it so that the flow doesn't get disturbed but i still have to refer back to the book. I guess that's true with any book - it isn't as easy as being in class and having someone verbally tell you what to do. I'm guessing it will get easier with practice. I would not recommend this book to a complete beginner as there are complicated inversions that I believe would require some supervision and mentoring in person. Also, it's easier to figure this stuff out if you've done it before. I'd suggest this if you've had a few months of yoga class and want some guidance to keep you at it. I was trying to keep doing yoga after I left my job with workplace yoga, but it wasn't as nice and flowing as a class. This book really motivates me to do yoga each day since there's a session for each day of the week - in binder/tab format.
Also, I made the mistake of buying it for $20 at the store - gee it's only $8 here!

I took classes, but those tend to be expensive on a budget for a family of five. I checked this out from my library before buying it. Even without classes this book would be easy to use. What's even better is my kids (5 and 3 yrs. old) decided to join me!

This is my favorite book on yoga. Unlike most yoga books (which are designed for reading, not for following along while doing yoga) this book is spiral-bound and all of the poses for each workout are on a single pair of pages. This way you can lay the book open and follow along while you're doing your exercises. Most other books I've seen I need to open it, look at the pose, mark the page, put the book down, do my pose, finish my pose, pick up the book, open it to the next pose, and repeat. Not this book..... Open it and lay it on the floor, and all your poses for the whole day are laid out. You can workout and never have to touch the book. Nice diagrams and nice explanations.

My only minor gripe is that the titles of the poses are printed in light orange, which is sometimes difficult to read against a white background. But maybe that's just my failing eyesight :-)

-Andy Frazer