Matthew Sanford – Waking, a Memoir of Trauma and Trancendence
A horrible car accident that happened when he was 13 left Matt Sanford paralyzed from the chest down. Forced to explore what it truly means to live in a body, he emerges with an entirely new view of what it means to be a “whole” person. If you can no longer feel your body how do you connect with it? Matt’s journey eventually leads him to become a yoga teacher in a wheelchair who teaches non-disabled people. Very inspiring if your own body does not do what you think it should be able to do!
The Frozen Shoulder Workbook: Trigger Point Therapy for Overcoming Pain and Regaining Range of Motion
Author Clair Davies' own case of frozen shoulder led him to undertake an extensive study of trigger points and referred pain that eventually resulted in his best-selling Trigger Point Therapy Workbook. Now this renowned bodywork expert and educator revisits the subject of frozen shoulder with The Frozen Shoulder Workbook, offering the most detailed and comprehensive manual available for this painful and debilitating condition, a useful resource for self-care-with and without a partner-and for bodywork practitioners looking to expand their treatment repertoire.
Cami Walker – 29 Gifts, How a Month of Giving can Change your Life
Cami Walker gets diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis in her early thirties. Coming to grips with her disease leaves her in a funk that seems impossible to break. Then she gets the order to give away something, mindfully, for 29 days in a row. Simple, but powerfully effective! And so is the book.
Esther Gokhale – Eight Steps to a Pain Free Back
I personally don’t believe that better posture is the be all and end all of curing your back pain, but it certainly helps! This is the best book I have seen that adresses postural issues and their contribution to back pain. The book illustrates beautifully what good posture is and why and then goes on to explain step by step how to lie down, sit, stand and walk. Whether you need help with your back pain or need to address your postural issues in general, this book is great.
Mark Hyman – The Ultra Simple Diet
This is not a diet. And it is not simple. What it is, though, is a good week-long cleanse that will leave you feeling lighter and healthier. It provides you with plenty of food that tastes good too, so it won’t leave you feeling weak and tired like some other cleanses do. For those struggling with weight and food addictions it can be eye opening to realize how much the food they eat affects the way they feel. It is also tremendously empowering to cut those ties to sugar and caffeine and other foods that we thought had power over us.
Clair Davies - The Trigger Point Therapy Workbook: Your Self-Treatment Guide for Pain Relief
and/or
Donna Finando - Trigger Point Self-Care Manual: For Pain-Free Movement
If you hurt, whether it is your shoulders, your back, your hips or your feet and just doing yoga isn’t resolving it, you need to work on your trigger points. These are tiny little spasms in your muscles that don’t release by stretching and that refer pain elsewhere. Your sore elbow may have its source behind your shoulderblade. Releasing the trigger points can work miracles. The Clair Davies book is a bit more thorough in describing causes and solutions, but the information is harder to find. Donna Finando’s book has excellent pictures to help you locate the trigger points that may matter for you, and she has stretches, but the information is a bit sparse.
When you start working with your trigger points, there are several other tools you may want to get to help you: The BodyBackBuddy is especially helpful for triggerpoints in the upper back and shoulders.
A foam roller for the glutes and leg muscles, especially for those that are so tight that a tennis ball is too much.
Not sure what you need? Book a private session with me and we’ll set you up with a plan!
Erich Schiffmann – Yoga: The Spirit and Practice of Moving into Stillness
One of the best explanations of what yoga is all about can be found in the first 80 pages of this book. Even if you never look at the pose descriptions that follow (which are very well done too), or the chapters on meditation, this book is worth getting for the first 8 chapters alone. If you want just one yoga book, get this one.
Jill Bolte Taylor – My Stroke of Insight, A Brain Scientist’s Personal Journey
Jill Taylor has a stroke at age 37 in the left side of her brain. Turns out, it’s the right side of your brain, which now dominates in Jill, that holds that inner sense of peace and belonging we strive to reach in our yoga practice. While the book is a little repetitive it is a fascinating description of how the physical structure of our brains correlates to our emotional state. Puts your chattering monkeymind into perspective.
Ambika Wauters – Chakras and their Archetypes, Uniting Energy Awareness and Spiritual Growth
A book full of insights on how imbalanced chakras can manifest in your life. Helps you recognize whether you acting out any of these archetypes. Are you the Victim, the Martyr, the Servant, the Silent Child? Very recognizable for most of us. Gives helpful meditations and exercises how to move on from these caricatures into a more balanced personality.
Anodea Judith – Chakra Balancing Kit
A nice set with an excellent, relatively simple introduction to the chakras, meditations that can help you picture the state of your chakras and short, simple yoga routines for each chakra. Comes with two audio CDs.
Timothy McCall – Yoga as Medicine
Dr McCall has gathered a ton of information and scientific evidence on how yoga can be beneficial for many ailments. He has also asked many renowned yoga therapists to create routines for each of these ailments. Of course, it is just one teacher’s take in each chapter on a certain condition, and sometimes I would have liked to hear someone else’s opinion too, but the book is big as it is! Excellent source for those who are wondering how yoga might help.
Judith Lasater – Relax and Renew
The sad fact is that the people who really need this book and this kind of practice are not going to do it. Because they don’t think they have time for it or because they believe the only way to de-stress is to do a strenuous physical activity. Type A anyone? If stress is a part of your life, you can’t do yourself a bigger favor than to practice the poses in this book. Check out the routines for back pain, headaches, insomnia, etc
Judith Lasater – A Year of Living your Yoga
Short and concise inspirational sayings and meditative reflections in Judith Lasater’s typical no-nonsense style. One for each day with a suggested daily practice. Great for your night stand!
Sri Swami Satchidananda – The Living Gita
There are many translations out there of the Bhagavad Gita, one of the important texts in Yogic philosophy and admittedly, I have not read them all. The Gita is part of a greater poem that on the surface tells the story of a conflicted warrior on the battlefield. It contains a wealth of life lessons for dealing with our inner struggles to become better people. Very clear explanations and examples.
Sri Swami Satchidananda – The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali Another one of the essential yogic texts, written almost as verses. It helps students memorize important aspects of the practice. This version has the original text, pronunciation, translation in English and explanations that expands on the verse, making this dense text very accessible.