While many people practice yoga simply because it helps them feel good, the physiological basis for yoga's effects on the body and mind is often unknown or misunderstood. Understanding these physiological concepts can help to deepen your yoga practice. The Physiology of Yoga separates speculation from fact by examining how the body responds and adapts to yoga within many systems of the body: musculoskeletal, nervous, respiratory, cardiovascular, lymphatic, immune, endocrine, reproductive, and digestive. Straightforward explanations guide you in sorting through conflicting information about what yoga really can help you achieve and in evaluating whether certain yoga methods provide benefits to any or all of those systems. You can experiment with concepts through Try It Yourself sidebars, which focus on mindful movement, meditation, and breathing. The 14 Myth or Fact sidebars explore popular claims about yoga, such as whether a shoulder stand can stimulate the thyroid or if twists can detoxify the liver. You'll get the most current research to determine the validity of various claims so you can avoid practices that could be harmful or counterproductive and can decide for yourself what works for your practice. Finally, experience firsthand how yoga affects your physiology by exploring specific yoga poses and four sequences. Each sequence explains which of the physiological principles from the earlier chapters may be most prevalent in that sequence. With The Physiology of Yoga, you or your students can navigate all the conflicting views and opinions about the impact of yoga and learn to practice yoga while fully enjoying the benefits of mindful movement. CE exam available! For certified professionals, a companion continuing education exam can be completed after reading this book. The Physiology of Yoga Online CE Exam may be purchased separately or as part of The Physiology of Yoga With CE Exam package that includes both the book and the exam.

A newly revised edition of the best-selling classic that launched thousands of people on the road to fitness
The Ultimate Workout Log is an easy-to-use diary and goal tracker with a unique format and six months' worth of space to record training routines and accomplishments. Ever popular and endlessly useful, the log makes it easy for users to note cardio, strength, and flexibility and balance workouts, while also including space for nutrition notations. Research shows that goal setting and daily self-monitoring lead to increased participation and greater weight loss. So whether you're a veteran marathoner or a first-time gym-goer, this log will provide motivation, tools for analyzing patterns in your workouts, and a record of your achievements.
"Bound to help you stay on track."--"Men's Fitness"

Feel great, look good and live well with this simple home fitness and healthy eating plan! In GET FIT, GET HEALTHY. GET HAPPY, TV presenter, footballer and fitness coach Mark Wright introduces the Train Wright philosophy - a simple formula for a healthy lifestyle: live well, eat healthily and train smart. Mark is a big fan of the home workout and firmly believes you can lose weight, keep fit and build strength without going to the gym. Healthy habits for life can begin with small changes - getting enough sleep, eating nutritious but tasty meals at home, developing a positive attitude to wellness and building in short blasts of regular exercise. And the good news is, while it really will change your life, you won't have to make any drastic changes and you'll still be able to enjoy the things you love. The secret of the Train Wright lifestyle is balance. Train smart - a simple six-week exercise plan you can do at home Eat healthily - delicious meals you can prepare easily Live well - simple positive changes that will make you love life This book is the gateway to feeling fantastic, with Mark as your cheerleader you can achieve the body you have always wanted. Using positive affirmations, he will help you to change your mindset, eat better and get fit too. With weekly exercise plans and fresh and delicious recipes, this book is a complete programme for anyone who wants to get back in shape and on the road to a healthy lifestyle.

Achieve lasting happiness no matter what life brings. True Yoga is an inspirational guide to overcoming difficulties and creating sustainable joy through the Eight Limbs of Yoga outlined in the Yoga Sutras. Whether challenged by work, health, relationships, or parenting, you'll find tangible practices to illuminate your material and spiritual life in this comprehensive book. Using daily techniques, self-inquiry questions, and inspiring affirmations, yoga therapist Jennie Lee presents a system that opens the path to fulfilment and helps you connect with your own divinity. Discover effective methods for maintaining positive thoughts, managing stress, improving communication, and building new habits for success. By integrating the ancient wisdom of the Yoga Sutras into an accessible format, Lee puts the formula for happiness within your reach.

A 30 day programme for toning specific trouble spots in only 20 minutes a day, written by the bestselling author of "Callanetics". This new shape-up programme again applies the principles of her deep muscle-toning exercises, graded into different levels of skill.

Presents an exercise system that is designed to help tone and reduce the body, very similar to pilates.

Bring the wheel of the zodiac into your practice and discover how its symbolism inspires new and exciting yoga sequences. Featuring poses, meditations, visualizations, and breathing exercises, Yoga by the Stars showcases the amazing connection between astrology and yoga. Ancient, celestial wisdom can elevate your yoga practice to new heights and give you a greater sense of peace, power, and wellness. Jilly Shipway presents a fascinating approach that connects astrology s signs and symbolism to a yearlong cycle of yoga practice. Aries empowers your inner warrior in the spring, Libra helps you create balance in the fall, and Capricorn shows you how to transcend your limitations in the winter. Each sign has its own chapter that includes hands-on techniques for integrating that sign s energy in your life.

With this yoga guide, you can delve into a sport as good for your mind as it is for your body--and become a part of the vast (and continually growing) yoga community in the US and beyond. Dating back to the 11th century Vedic Indian tradition, the practice of yoga didn't gain prominence in the Western world until the 20th century. Fast forward to the present day, and yoga communities are huge--and still showing steady growth. Yoga is as good for the mind as it is for the body, and its benefits include flexibility, weight loss, stress reduction, pain relief, and spiritual growth. This yoga book for beginners covers the origins of yoga including its philosophy, history, and the various styles of yoga schools as they apply to Hinduism, Buddhism, and Jainism. The Simpkins, neuroscience professionals with over 40 years teaching experience, address the curiosities and concerns of the beginning student, such as: Where do I begin? How do I find a teacher? How do I prepare for my first class? What do the unfamiliar terms mean? And much, much more Yoga Basics focuses on the yoga essentials of breathing, balance, and the yoga poses themselves. Meditation and relaxation techniques are also discussed to complement your yoga exercises or yoga workouts. This accessible and comprehensive introduction is everything you need to learn yoga with confidence and success.

Qigong is an aspect of traditional Chinese medicine that involves coordinating breathing patterns with physical postures to maintain health and well-being. Liu Zi Jue: Six Sounds Approach to Qigong Breathing Exercises is an accessible, fully-illustrated guide to this particular qigong exercise, which focuses on breath control. Liu Zi Jue regulates and controls the rise and fall of Qi (vital energy) through the inhalation and exhalation of six sounds. The exercises feature slow, gentle movements that are safe and easy to learn and are suitable for people of all ages and in all conditions of health. The routine strengthens the liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys, thus helping to balance the energy and functions of the internal organs, and has also been shown to have a calming effect and to alleviate stress. Each routine is described step-by-step, and is illustrated with photographs and key points. The authors also point out common mistakes and offer advice on how to correct these. Complemented by an appendix of acupuncture points and accompanied by a digital download, this book will be of interest to Qigong and Tai Chi practitioners at all levels, students of martial arts and anyone interested in Chinese culture.

Get up, get moving, and walk away the pounds If you're looking to lose weight and get fit, Walking the Weight Off For Dummies will show you just what to do to walk yourself to a whole new you. Whether you want to burn fat, boost your energy level, improve your mood, shed your belly, or just get toned, this easy to read, fun and friendly guide will have you putting your best foot forward over and over again! Inside you'll discover which workouts are the best to achieve your specific goals, how low-impact walking is perfect for fat-burning, how to pick the right pair of shoes for walking, and so much more. Walking is the number one form of exercise in America, and studies show that it is highly effective in achieving multiple health goals from losing weight and decreasing body fat to improving overall health and mental well being. Best of all, walking is very inexpensive and can be done anywhere. With this complete and easy-to-use guide, you'll find that creating and sticking to a walking program to lose weight and feel great has never been easier. * Learn how walking is the ideal exercise to achieve and maintain healthy body weight and improve overall health * Figure out the best techniques to avoid injury and achieve your specific fitness goals * Dive into nutrition tips for fueling up before and after walks to maintain health * Discover how you can fit walking into your life, regardless of your age, gender, and current weight If you've always wanted to incorporate walking into your routine to boost your health and effectively lose weight, Walking the Weight Off For Dummies will show you how.

Tone up, burn calories, stay strong Weight Training For Dummies makes it easy to get started with weight training by offering trusted and straightforward guidance on the latest circuit and resistance training, and all-new information on the highly popular bodyweight and High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT). Whether you're working with dumbbells, free weight sets, or machines, you'll find out how to combine weight training with other exercise to properly strength train and get in the best shape of your life. Along with aerobic exercise and flexibility, body weight training is an integral part of a complete physical activity program. But with all the different equipment and techniques available, getting started can feel overwhelming. Want to get pumped about weight training? Consider these facts: strength training, whether via free weights or a machine, builds muscle. And the more muscle you have, the higher your metabolism and the less prone you are to injuries in and out of the gym. Plus, strength training promotes bone strength, which can significantly reduce your odds of developing osteoporosis. If that's not enough, strength training unlike cardio workouts like running reaps benefits almost immediately. So what are you waiting for? Weight Training For Dummies has everything you need to get started. * Provides examples and directions for powerful 20-minute weight training routines for the time challenged * Features advice to help you choose a weight training system that you enjoy and that fits into your lifestyle * Includes new coverage devoted to warm-ups and the hottest and most beneficial stretches * Introduces using weight training to address specific health or orthopedic conditions Whether you're already in the gym several times a week or are just starting out with a fitness routine, Weight Training For Dummies shows you how to use free weights or weight machines to get results fast.

This fun mix of coloring book and instructional guide demystifies anatomy for the yoga enthusiast and teacher. Yoga instructor, licensed massage therapist, and anatomy teacher Kelly Solloway provides an entertaining and informative journey through the human body, focusing on the bones, joints, and muscles used in yoga. After an overview of helpful terms, Kelly covers the skeletal system, joints, and connective tissue, followed by the muscular system. Each anatomical feature is illustrated with a beautiful black-and-white drawing of a yoga posture, or asana, to color. Coloring the bones and muscles, and their names, will help you to remember their location and function, and 32 perforated flash cards enable readers to quiz themselves and study yoga anatomy on the go.

Using the example and context of Physical Education, a particularly vivid and comprehensive illustration is provided of the processes involved in the development of the National Curriculum for Physical Education in England and Wales between 1988-1995.
The authors draw upon the extensive research to provide an analysis, description and critique of the direct and indirect influences of central government, local education authorities, schools, departments and teachers in the development of policy and practice in Physical Education. The highly political nature of policy developments in education, and Physical Education in particular, is demonstrated clearly throughout.
A valuable contribution to existing literature, this book helps students and researchers piece together the last ten years of policy-making in education and offers a new perspective on the future of Physical Education in the United Kingdom.

eBook available with sample pages: EB:020347693X

The Dragon Dao-Yin exercises are a set of four short sequences designed to work with the subtle energies of the spine. Damo Mitchell teaches and explains the exercises in detail, within the context of a larger discussion of Dao Yin. He covers the theory, history and development of Dao Yin exercises in general, and the effects of the process which a student can go through if they practise them. He also explains the difference between Qi Gong and Dao Yin, including the qualitative differences, and their effects upon the body, as well as the concept of purging as opposed to nourishing or regulating, and how Chinese medical theory relates to Dao Yin training. One chapter is devoted to problems related to stagnation and the the flow of Qi, and covers the different causes and forms of stagnation (including the location of stagnation along the meridian pathways, stagnation in the Qi Men, and in the psyche), and the Chinese medical theory of the process of damage caused by stagnation. Later chapters look at breathing patterns and the extension of Yi, opening the joints, and rotating the bones and spine.The author also discusses stillness as the source of movement, and the philosophical significance of the Dragon and the pearl, as well as the means of hardwiring Dao Yin exercises into the energetic body. Central to the discussion is the concept of the spine, and how to wake it up. The Dragon exercises - Awakening, Swimming, Soaring and Drunken - are described in detail, with photographs and step-by-step instructions on each of the exercises as individual therapeutic exercises and as a form.

Join author Gregor Maehle, a seasoned yogi and compassionate teacher, as he guides you through: the history and lineage of yoga; the fundamentals of breath, bandhas (energy locks within the body), drishti (the focal point of the gaze), and vinyasa (sequential movement); a detailed breakdown of the asanas of the "Ashtanga Primary Series", following the traditional vinyasa count; a lively and authentic rendering of the complete "Yoga Sutra of Patanjali", yoga's ancient sacred text; and a glossary of yoga terminology.In the asana section, Maehle describes each posture with clear, meticulous instructions, photographs, anatomical illustrations, and practical tips. Information on the mythological background and yogic context of specific postures brings further insight to the practice. In the philosophy section, Maehle illuminates the Yoga Sutra using the major ancient commentaries as well as his own insights. This volume makes the entire path of "Ashtanga Yoga" accessible to modern practitioners. Both practical guide and spiritual treatise, "Ashtanga Yoga" is an excellent introduction to the eight limbs of yoga and an invaluable resource for any yoga teacher or practitioner.

Are you age 40 or over and want to maintain your workout intensity even as your body starts to age? Are you not yet ready to give up intense sweat sessions? Ageless Intensity offers a research-backed perspective on how high-intensity exercise can not only maximize health benefits past age 40 but also help minimize the physiological effects of aging. Fitness expert Pete McCall provides straightforward science-based information on how the same high-intensity exercise that provides a number of health benefits-from increased lean muscle mass to burning fat to reduced heart rate-can also influence human physiology in a way that can reduce the biological effects of time. Learn about the impacts of aging on the body and how to keep getting results from working out hard and pushing yourself to your limits while doing it safely, lowering the risk of injury, and building in the needed recovery for a body that may be starting to show signs of aging. You'll gain practical knowledge on the importance of strength and power, mobility work, and recovery as the keys to boosting your efforts to build and maintain muscle, burn calories, and help joints stay mobile as the body ages. The exercises included are designed to be challenging and deliver tangible benefits to middle-aged and older adults. Save time with the predesigned workouts or customize a complete workout plan to maximize your results and combat the effects of aging. Reaching the "over-the-hill" milestone doesn't mean you have to slow down. Ageless Intensity is your guide to maintaining fitness with high-intensity exercise and workouts to remain active, stay in shape, and enjoy your favorite activities for the rest of your life. CE exam available! For certified professionals, a companion continuing education exam can be completed after reading this book. The Ageless Intensity Online CE Exam may be purchased separately or as part of the Ageless Intensity With CE Exam package that includes both the book and the exam.

An immersive, unforgettable, and eye-opening perspective on swimming—and on human behavior itself.

We swim in freezing Arctic waters and piranha-infested rivers to test our limits. We swim for pleasure, for exercise, for healing. But humans, unlike other animals that are drawn to water, are not natural-born swimmers. We must be taught. Our evolutionary ancestors learned for survival; now, in the twenty-first century, swimming is one of the most popular activities in the world.

Why We Swim is propelled by stories of Olympic champions, a Baghdad swim club that meets in Saddam Hussein’s palace pool, modern-day Japanese samurai swimmers, and even an Icelandic fisherman who improbably survives a wintry six-hour swim after a shipwreck. New York Times contributor Bonnie Tsui, a swimmer herself, dives into the deep, from the San Francisco Bay to the South China Sea, investigating what it is about water that seduces us, despite its dangers, and why we come back to it again and again.