Are you looking for a book to help you develop a home yoga practice? Do you want suggestions for brief yoga routines to do at home? The OM Yoga Guide to Daily Practice may be want you are looking for.
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, OM Yoga: A Guide to Daily Practice
by Cyndi Lee, provides a simple solution.Highly Recommended
