First Street Yoga - Newberg, Oregon

Ancient Discipline Cuts Lower Back Pain by Nearly Half in a
New Study

By Chris Emery
MedPage Today / ABC News
Sept. 6, 2009

Yoga helped people with chronic lower back pain improve their mood and ability to function, and it eased their pain more than conventional treatment alone, according to a new study funded by the National Institutes of Health.

People who were assigned to take yoga for two months experienced a 29 percent reduction in functional disability and a 42 percent reduction in pain, the authors reported in the September 1 edition of the journal Spine. Yoga was also associated with a 45.7 percent decrease in symptoms of depression over conventional therapy alone.

“Yoga improves functional disability, pain intensity, and depression in adults with [chronic lower back pain],” Dr. Kimberly Williams of West Virginia University and colleagues concluded. “There was also a clinically continue reading »

If you’re eager to begin a home practice but unsure what to do, it’s time to get a basic practice book. First Street Yoga has several options to choose from depending on your needs and interests. Here are three favorites.

Yoga: The Iyengar Way, Silva Mehta, Mira Mehta, and Shyam Mehta.

Yoga books tend to come and go. This classic, first published in 1990, remains the basic standby for beginners due to clear, accurate instructions coupled with large, detailed photos. The variety of asanas, from beginning to intermediate, means you won’t grow out of this book for years. Basic sequences offer a course of study for structured students as well as remedial courses for specific problems.

The Woman’s Book of Yoga & Health: A Lifelong Guide to Wellness, Linda Sparrowe and Patricia Walden.

This informative book structures asana instruction around the stages of women’s lives, from puberty to menopause and beyond. It has obvious advantages for women dealing with a variety of problems, but it is also an excellent, easy to use reference for any woman who would like to learn basic asana sequences for continue reading »

Change your mind.

My mother is considering another dalliance with the cabbage soup diet. She does this periodically. She says she doesn’t mind the soup and she always loses a fair amount of weight. After a couple months, the weight comes back, usually with a little bit extra. This fact never enters into her diet considerations. It should. Weight gain after a diet is as common as weight loss during the diet. What we know, scientifically, about diets can be summed up in three words: They Don’t Work. None of them. Most everyone gains the weight back. While a few individuals are successful in maintaining weight loss, they are the exceptions and there is no evidence that dieting was an aid in their success.

The good news is there is a proven method for achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. Better still, it doesn’t involve a lot of self-denial or austerity. You never have to count a calorie. This method has many side effects besides healthy weight: improved mood, increased immunity to disease, and greater physical comfort continue reading »

An excerpt from Yoga As Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing by Timothy McCall, M.D.

Many of yoga’s benefits can be explained in ways that conform with Western ways of knowing.  Here are forty ways that yoga facilitates better health, both as prevention and as treatment, that are supported by evidence.

1. Increases Flexibility
2. Strengthens Muscles
3. Improves Balance
4. Improves Immune Function
5. Improves Posture continue reading »

Back Care Basics – A Doctor’s Gentle Yoga Program For Back and Neck Pain Relief

Author: Mary Pullig Schatz, MD

Back Care Basics

As the title suggests, this book is geared toward those with injuries, but I think this may be too limiting. I found it extremely helpful and think it would benefit many students, including those looking for a gentle home practice or sequences to help relax and de-stress. It will also assist a student interested in learning more about the anatomy of the spine and how we are put together structurally.

I think this book takes the topic of relaxation to a new level. The variety of restorative poses and the pictures showing different ways the props could be used offer diverse practices tailored to fit each person’s body. It is precise (with an entire section devoted to the rolling of the towels correctly), and it is nice to see that many of the props are everyday home items like chairs and towels.

continue reading »