I  received a copy of Esther Gokhale’s pain busting book 8 Steps to a Pain Free Back and a  stretchsit cushion to review. As a fitness professional and yoga teacher I find any tools that I can use to help my clients live a more pain free, happy life to be of the utmost value.  I count this book as one of those tools.Gokhale draws her information from formal academic studies, various cultures, research into biomechanics of the body and her own personal struggle with pain.  

The result is a workbook that provides readers with a step by step guide, via written instruction and well executed photography, to living a pain free life.  I myself I have attempted many of the instructions and found all to be understandable, the only one I have trouble with is the kidney bean shaping of the feet.

I have long held many of the same beliefs about posture that are put forth in this book, and relate during classes studies that show people living in less industrialized nations have less back pain, pelvic problems, etc. Here is the undeniable proof, with pictures too!

As someone who loves to learn, I found the photos of other cultures to be amazingly educational and intriguing – almost too much so at times as their presence in the sidebar drew my attention away from important information about the steps I should be taking.  But that turned out to be ok, each section has a recap at the end that gives clear, delineated photos of what was covered.

Truly this book is a no-brainer.  Who doesn’t want to live pain free? No-one. Who couldn’t follow this book? No-one.  It is easily understandable, even the parts that delve into structure, alignment, and biomechanics.  It is well laid out and informative.  It is broken into small enough bites that anyone can digest them.

Honestly this book should be on the shelves of anyone who works in yoga, fitness, therapy, medicine – just everyone looking to help others manage pain.

To accompany her book, Gokhale developed the stretchsit cushion.  To be honest, I already practice much of what the book relates in regards to sitting (having studied with a Svaroopa yoga teacher) such as stacking the spine.  I tried the cushion for a day in the car on the passenger’s side.  The small ridges were like little massaging air cushions but other than that I did not experience anything different than a cushion effect.  This is not to say that the stretchsit is without merit.  It is compact, designed for its purpose and as such stays put, is not obtrusive, and does a good job, but why take my word for it? Win one for yourself.

Win a Stretchsit Cushion, here’s how…

1. Visit 8stepstoapainfreeback.com and take a look around, post a comment sharing something interesting you found. You can even receive a free chapter from the book and free audio with promotion code 8steps.
2. Retweet “@skyyogastudio is giving away a Stretchsit cushion $49.95 value on http://skyyogastudio.com”
3. Become a FB Fan of Sky Yoga Studio – we will announce the winner chosen at random from all comments.  Each comment is an entry.

March 19th, 2010 | Tags: 8 steps to a pain free back, books, Giveaway, Review | Category: Community, Contest, Core, Daily Post, Fitness, Giveaway, Health, Review, books | Leave a comment

I received a copy of this book by Dr. Aziz to review, and based on the press release was very intrigued by what it had to offer.

Let me preface this by saying since the birth of my son in December 2009 I have been dedicated to losing 75 lbs, which I have done through exercise and counting calories (via measuring my food, etc) and I have been a strict vegan for 22 years.  As a fitness professional, lifestyle and weight management coach I make it my personal goal to spread healthy information to all I can and love to find new ways to support my efforts.

This book is full of great information, in depth research about hormones and their effect on weight loss, even recipes.  A great deal of what Dr. Aziz purports in his book is right in line with what I tell my clients – eat less processed foods, cut back on sugars, up the whole grains, whole fruits and vegetables, etc. and Dr. Aziz takes it to a higher level with research.

Some of Dr.Aziz’s revelations on nutrition include:

• How low-fat diets wreak havoc on insulin levels and increase hunger
• Natural food is always best
• Balancing the 10 key hormones is essential for lasting weight loss
• Staying youthful longer with saturated fats

Shopping Tips:

• Don’t buy low-fat, fat-free, especially fat-free dairy
• Gravitate towards fruits like berries, cherries and cantaloupe
• Love saturated fats!
• Avoid low-carb products with soy protein isolate
• Integrate healthy fats
• Don’t buy products with artificial sweeteners
• If you can’t pronounce it, don’t buy it
• Read ingredients
• Buy organic
• Eat before you go grocery shopping

Almost 10 years ago I went on a raid of our pantry, cabinets and fridge – getting rid of anything with High Fructose Corn Syrup, and Hydrogenated Oils.  I simply do not let items with these in our house.  We aren’t drinkers of soda, we never use artificial sweeteners, and always buy whole grains.  I agree with much of Dr.Aziz’s points but won’t go as far as to give up being a vegan, or buying organic – I know that last one is a shock –but I have never found organic to be truly better when I research it.  At the grocery store an item is considered not to be organic if it goes on a food belt that inorganic items have been on, not to mention different standards in labeling products.  I keep my extra cash and make sure to wash my produce thoroughly, and look for non-GMO products.

Dr.Aziz definitely has written an educational and interesting diet book, which is given credence by his board certification in internal medicine, far better than reading and listening to advice given by some TV personality.  Although I found this book to offer a sound perspective on weight loss and hormones that could help many struggling with weight loss, I am not sure that this Perfect 10 Diet is the only way – but it is definitely a positive step in the right direction for many.

This book touts again and again that low-fat and low-carb are not the way, that calorie counting is not necessary.  I found after reading though that stage one does not allow any grains, and the typical day meal plan seems to be low calorie by design.  The book also suggest you rid the kitchen of BBQ sauce and ketchup because they are full of HFCS, and sugars – this just isn’t so if you go to health food stores, even conventional grocers now have natural alternatives.

Of course my largest beef with this book is the small section on: Is it healthy to be a strict vegetarian? His answer no, because vegetarian diets are often high in carbohydrates and low in fat and protein.  As a vegan for 2 decades who loves to eat, I can tell you this just is not true. The circular logic then given to support this – do you really think you can sculpt a body and tone muscle by eating bread and rice? Is just foolish.  I don’t eat bread and rice and I have the best body of my life after having two children.  Then again I wasn’t reading this because I am struggling with weight loss, I found a way to lose weight – and that is just my point.  This book provides a different perspective on weight loss, it will help many people shed those unwanted pounds and live healthier – but that doesn’t make it the only way.

Do you want a copy

I am giving away my review copy of The Perfect 10 Diet to one lucky reader. So how can you win? Post a comment after each step, each comment is an entry to win! I will announce the winner April 1, 2010 via our Fan Page and Blog. Winner chosen at random from all comments.

1. Join Sky Yoga Studio’s Fan Page

2. Join the Facebook Fan Page http://www.facebook.com/perfect10diet

3. Follow on Twitter http://www.twitter.com/perfect10diet

March 15th, 2010 | Tags: Book, Contest, diet, Fitness, Health, Review | Category: Contest, Daily Post, Fitness, Food, Health, Review, books | Comments (1)

I was not impressed with the content nor the writing style through the remainder of the book.  It was extremely predictable, and as a book that set me to expect an exploration of a coming of age during political turmoil – simple relating that a friend was going crazy because they were drafted, really fell short.  Possibly the whole dive into selling children into prostitution out of Mexico with the help of some Cuban mercenaries was a political foray, but I was not convinced.  It seems as though multiple story lines were thrown together to shock and amaze the reader without any really character development or commentary.  We know selling children is bad – we know back alley procedures are bad – present me with something to think about, give me some new information.

I also was left dry on the what reviewers called evocative descriptions of Mexico.  I’ve been there and think I could have done a far better job calling to mind the small villages, streets, sights and sounds.

This just proves that the next book a choose to read will have more thought to it than – “Hey this is on my best friend’s floor and he bought it at Goodwill – I’ll give it a try….”

My biggest peeve about this book – it ends with a letter from Lily’s Grandmother Zozzie to her being left in a hotel during the frenzied flight away from a murdered Cuban mercenary and it is never mentioned again.  Why mention something to never mention it again? Sure – it could be a sign of the young girl growing up and away from her roots and family (but she was never shown to be close to them), it can be a final kiss goodbye to the life she had before, but the ending pretty much makes that clear without this letter.  It’s similar to a  poorly written show being canceled before the last episode – sure you can pretty much figure out what might have happened, but it still gnaws at you!

After reading reviews on Amazon that thought the ending was breathtaking and inspiring – I guess I just can’t be inspired by a character who had an abortion, is now travelling with an orphan from a sex ring in a country where she does not speak the language, has no job and may wind up as another character earlier described “doing things with men for money” – or hunted by the very people she used to work for – all while the child she travels with begs on the streets for money.

January 11th, 2010 | Tags: book group, Paper Wife, Review | Category: Daily Post, Review, books | Leave a comment

I recently received a review copy of the soon to be released The Handbag and Wellies Yoga Club  by Lucy Edge, a follow up to Yoga School Dropout,  which I can attest is not a required reading to enjoy this book.

The book starts out slowly with an abundance of information and back story about characters I assume the reader would have already met in the previous book.  The first chapter is weighty because of this and can be a bit confusing for a reader trying to keep track of auxiliary characters whose back stories are fleshed out a great amount to only later fade completely into the background of the story.

Past the rough start the rest of the book flows better, and other supporting characters are introduced without as much detail, their characters slowly unfolding as the story progresses. Much of the book is full of colorful descriptions of the countryside and towns which helps to add a down to earth feel and provides a nice contrast and departure from the mentions of high end fashion and the celebrity name dropping.

This novel fills the need of the average mat toting, book lover for the summer – a beach novel.  Books on methodology, asana and philosophy can start to weigh on a reader and this book provides a nice departure from text book theory into real life practice.  The main character’s plight, in essence, embodies the individual’s struggle to find balance in life.

A bonus of this novel is its candid discussion of women’s fertility issues, the media’s portrayal of older mothers and the use of alternative therapies. The author has obvious knowledge of yoga and uses this to sprinkle Sanskrit terms throughout the story and in the cute chapter titles.

It is hard to believe that the story of this novel takes place in a year’s span. I felt during my reading that surely several years must have passed, but that may just be because of the fast paced nature of the characters. Even in a small country town the yoga characters are ambitious go getters who seem to live a fairy tale existence. All of the yoga characters “The Cappuccino Gurus” and “Bad Ladies”, whether in London or Beccles, are extremely colorful and larger than life. Most yoga practitioners do not have similar lifestyles to this cast of characters; however, that made this book even more interesting to me.  I loved seeing how others mold yoga to fit into their lives. This story brings the practice off of the mat, out of the studio and into the grit of the real world – even if it isn’t the average daily life.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys yoga, likes a fast read and wants a great pick up book that creates a new genre “Yoga Romance Novel”.

I have received a few tweets about where people can buy this novel state side with many people commenting it is only available in the UK.  Well it isn’t due out until August 9th, but you can win my copy if you are in the US.

Here’s how:

1. Follow me on twitter: http://www.twitter.com/skyyogastudio

post a comment that you followed me, that is how I will announce the winner

2. Post a link on Twitter to this contest and mention the contest.

3. I will choose a winner at random on Sunday July 19th, winner must send me a US Postal Address and I will send you the copy – as easy as that!

July 12th, 2009 | Tags: books, Lucy Edge, Review | Category: Contest, Daily Post, Giveaway, Review, books | Leave a comment