Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times [Paperback]

P.T. Judith Hanson Lasater Ph.D. (Author), Fred Stimson (Author), Judith Lasater Ph.D. P.T. (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 1995

Experience the rest of your life with restorative yoga, the supported poses and breathing practices that will help you heal the effects of chronic stress. In Relax and Renew, the first book exclusively devoted to this work, the author offers in-depth guidance in the Basic Relaxation Pose (Savasana), the heart of restorative practice. In addition, this book provides yoga sequences for busy days, including a fifteen-minute practice, yoga at your desk, and the Totally Invisible Relaxation; programs for back pain, headaches, insomnia, jet lag, and breathing problems; a special section for women during menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause; a guide to props; and resources for finding a yoga teacher, recommended books, magazines, newsletters, audio programs, yoga vacations, and more.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Relax & Renew is the first to devote itself entirely to restorative yoga, providing a series of yoga postures designed to relieve chronic stress. Exercise programs are introduced with a series of insights and stipulations which instructs on yoga techniques for everything from insomnia to basic relaxation. -- Midwest Book Review

About the Author

Judith Lasater has taught yoga since 1971. She holds a doctorate in East-West psychology and is a physical therapist. Judith is president of the California Yoga Teachers Association, and serves on the advisory boards of Yoga Journal and the Yoga Research and Education Center.

Her yoga training includes study with B.K.S. Iyengar in India and the United States. She teaches ongoing yoga classes and trains yoga teachers in kinesiology, yoga therapeutics, and the Yoga Sutra at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco. Judith also gives workshops throughout the United States, and has taught in Canada, England, France, Indonesia, Japan, Mexico, Peru, and Russia.

She writes extensively on the therapeutic aspects of yoga. In addition to her best-selling Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times (Rodmell Press), she is the author of Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spiritual in Everyday Life (Rodmell Press).

Her popular "Asana" column ran in Yoga Journal for thirteen years, and she continues to contribute articles on a variety of subjects. In addition, her writing has appeared in numerous magazines and books, including Yoga International, Natural Health, Sports Illustrated for Women, Prevention, Alternative Therapies, Numedx, International Journal of Yoga Therapy (formerly The Journal of the International Association of Yoga Therapists), Complementary Therapies in Rehabilitation (Slack), Living Yoga (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Perigee), American Yoga (Grove Press), The New Yoga for People Over 50 (Health Communications), and Lilias, Yoga, and Your Life (Macmillan).

Judith Lasater lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Rodmell Press; 1 edition (August 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0962713848
• ISBN-13: 978-0962713842
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.6 x 10 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (44 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #193,989 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Judith Lasater has taught yoga since 1971. She holds a doctorate in East-West psychology and is a physical therapist. Dr. Lasater is the president of the California Yoga Teachers Association, and serves on the advisory boards of Yoga Journal and the Yoga Research and Education Center.

Her yoga training includes study with B.K.S. Iyengar in India and the United States. She teaches ongoing yoga classes and trains yoga teachers in kinesiology, yoga therapeutics, and the Yoga Sutra at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of San Francisco. In addition, she leads workshops and retreats throughout the United States and abroad.

Dr. Lasater writes extensively about yoga. Her feature articles, columns, and essays appear in numerous books, magazines, and anthologies. She is the author of Relax and Renew: Restful Yoga for Stressful Times (Rodmell Press), the first book devoted to the supported yoga poses and breathing techniques called restorative yoga.

Judith Lasater lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband and three children.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

71 of 71 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The art of relaxation made easy. August 4, 1999

By A Customer

Format:Paperback

This book is all about letting go by doing nothing purposefully. Judith Lasater, a very experienced Iyengar yoga teacher, shows the reader in words and pictures how to use everyday props (e.g., blankets, pillows,walls and floors) to travel the highway to the state of relaxation. I had the opportunity to practice restorative yoga with Ms. Lasater in Montana about two years ago and I can attest to the fact this yoga works to relax both the mental and physical muscles in the body if practiced regularly. Since most people can't go off to Montana to practice yoga, this book is the next best thing to being there.

58 of 58 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A comprehensive guide for using yoga to relieve stress August 12, 2004

By Beth Cholette #1 HALL OF FAMETOP 50 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback

This book is written by Judith Lasater, renowned yoga instructor and physical therapist, and it centers around restorative yoga, a form of yoga practice aimed specifically and reducing stress through increasing relaxation. Restorative yoga has its basis in the Iyengar tradition, which encourages use of props to allow one to relax more deeply into the yoga postures. In this book, a wide variety of specialty props are used; Lasater helpfully breaks down the props into necessary and optional categories, and she offers suggestions for everyday objects which can be substituted for the traditional yoga equipment.

The book is very well-organized into several general themes. Part One provides an introduction to restorative yoga as well as a description of the most important posture, basic relaxation pose; it also includes both a general restorative practice and a practice for busy days. Part Two focuses on specific issues, including lower back pain, headaches, insomnia, breathing difficulties, and jet lag. The third section is designed specifically for women and offers practices for menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause. Finally, Part Four provides additional information such as breath instruction and general stress reduction strategies, and several useful appendices conclude the book.

The instructions for performing each pose are beautiful illustrated with clear black and white photographs, and the accompanying written directions are meticulously detailed, incorporating sections on setting up, being there (relaxing into the pose), coming back (getting out of the pose), benefits, and cautions. For every posture sequence, Lasater offers both a summary of the poses involved and options for doing a shorter or longer practice. The gentleness of the included postures makes this book completely appropriate for beginning yoga practitioners, but more experienced yogis will also benefit from adding a restorative component to their practice.

I highly recommend this book for anyone who is looking to release, let go, and relax.

30 of 30 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars What so many people are looking for! September 7, 2004

By Justine Vance

Format:Paperback

As a yoga instructor teaching an active, flowing style of yoga, I would have several students ask me if I could also teach yoga just for relaxation and stress-reduction. Initially, I was a little stumped as to what I could teach that would still provide a tremendous benefit while using very little "exercise" (other than meditation). Then I came across this book. She not only educates her readers about stress, she shows us specific poses to counteract that stress. And she explains clearly what benefit we are receiving from each pose. The "General Restorative Practice" is amazing. You truly do feel relaxed and renewed. She even offers a shorter series for those days when time is too scarce or while traveling. And the series for pregnancy is a God-Send for those expecting! I have just begun using these restorative poses in my classes and my students absolutley love it!