Yoga for Depression: A Compassionate Guide to Relieve Suffering Through Yoga

Description

A Compassionate Guide to Relieve Suffering Through Yoga Take the natural path to mental wellness More than 25 million Americans are treated with antidepressants each year, at a cost in excess of $50 billion. But the side effects of popular prescription drugs may seem nearly as depressing as the symptoms they're meant to treat. Veteran yoga instructor Amy Weintraub offers a better solution-one that taps the scientifically proven link between yoga and emotional well-being as well as the beauty of ancient approaches to inner peace. Addressing a range of diagnoses, including dysthymia, anxiety-based depression, and bipolar disorder, Yoga for Depression reveals why specific postures, breathing practices, and meditation techniques can ease suffering and release life's traumas and losses. Weintraub also reflects on her own experience with severe depression, from which she recovered through immersing herself in a daily yoga routine. Yoga for Depression is the first yoga book devoted exclusively to the treatment of these debilitating conditions. Amy Weintraub will help readers see their suffering and themselves in a vibrant new light.

AMY WEINTRAUB, MFA, RYT, is a senior Kripalu teacher and an award-winning fiction writer. She teaches yoga and fiction writing and contributes to national magazines, including Yoga Journal, Poets and Writers and Psychology Today. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.

"Yoga for Depression is a godsend: beautifully written, medically accurate, and very practical. I highly recommend it!" --Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause "This is a book about integrating the mind and the body, about using movement to mend oneself; in a world obsessed with psychopharmacology, reading it was a refreshing reminder that, in some cases, the tools we have to cure depression reside not in a pill, but in our own bodies, if we are willing to try." --Lauren Slater, author of Prozac Diary and Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir "...A sensitive, intelligent, painstaking exploration of the deeper psychospiritual issues that make up the complex experience of depression. That in itself would be a significant contribution, but Yoga for Depression also offers a brilliant illumination of how the ancient wisdom of the yogic tradition can penetrate the often intractable challenges of depression.... --Phil Catalfo, Yoga Journal, January/February 2004 "In the compassionate voice of someone who definitely knows the territory of depression, Amy Weintraub presents Yoga science and personal stories, research results and poetry, and practice instructions that are genuinely interesting in this very readable book that is both comprehensive and totally inspiring." --Sylvia Boorstein, author of That's Funny You Don't Look Like a Buddhist and It's Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness "Amy Weintraub's work is some of the most important in our world today for helping humanity understand more deeply the significance of the mind-body connection. Her insights are inspirational for yoga teachers and all readers. Her in-depth understanding of her subject is an important basis for personal, as well as societal transformation." --Rama Jyoti Vernon, Founder, American Yoga College "This is truly a beautifully written encyclopedia of yoga for depression. It is rare to find such a generous soul, willing to embrace all approaches to yoga, unbiased and yet having intelligent discernment and advice for those searching for help. Amy offers many guidelines and solutions through yoga, to both those who suffer from depression and to yoga teachers working with them." --Angela Farmer, internationally-known master yoga teacher