Yoga Made Easy: A personal yoga program that will transform your daily life.
By Howard Kent
Copyright 1993 Quarto Publishing plc
Published in U.S. 1994, People’s Medical Society
ISBN: 1-882606-12-4 (trade paper)
ISBN: 1-882606-13-2 (hardback)

Ten years ago I was looking for a way to cope with exhaustion, physical and mental. I was working a stressful fulltime job that I carried with me 24/7/365. I also was Mom to four daughters, had a new grandchild living under our roof, and felt pressure from every direction to be 100 percent in every aspect of my fragmented world. Add to that, I was writing fiction—or trying to—in the evenings. To say I was stressed out didn’t even come close. Who had time to study yoga?

I went to the bookstore on my lunch hour and perused the section of books on well-being. I wasn’t looking for a book long on reading. I didn’t have time to read a lot. I was a newspaper editor. I had children and homework to supervise, laundry to take care of, cleaning, cooking, kitchen cleanup. I barely had time to change my mind! I just wanted a basic book, lots of pictures would be a plus. Get in, get what I needed to know, get back out again.

Yoga Made Easy: A personal yoga program that will transform your daily life caught my eye. “Real power lies in the mind,” I read. How many times had our mother told my brothers and me how important it is to be self-controlled because when one becomes angry, the battle is lost?

Though the book is an old one with a 1993 copyright date, it is a good one. There are various yoga systems. Yoga Made Easy is based on hatha (pronounced ‘hatta’), which involves the use of body positions, called ‘asanas.’ This system also uses breathing activities, ‘pranayama,’ which are a series of conscious controls of breathing which…stimulate brain activity for specific purposes.”

Yoga Made Easy is broken down into 12 monthly sections, photos for every pose, and directions are short and sweet. Get in, get what you need to know, get back out again.

Following the book’s instructions was simple and easy. All I had to do was find the time for the practice. I lit candles and played relaxation music to set the mood. I focused on breathing steadily and on meditation. My attention was focused, the result was balance of body, mind and soul. I felt less stressed, more energized and able to cope with the daily life of a family…as long as I took the time to do it.

You’re never too old to begin the practice of yoga. Over the years I have periodically gone back to that first yoga book that I ever bought, Yoga Made Easy, and I’ve adapted some of the poses to my own personal workout plan.