YOGA / EXERCISE"Biff Mithoefer has created the most useful written material available for exploring Yin Yoga. Much more than an asana book, The Yin Yoga Kit teaches energetic principles, mental disciplines, and patient mindfulness. I highly recommend it!" --PAUL GRILLEY, author of Yin Yoga: Outline of A Quiet Practice "Yoga and qigong are much more alike than they are different, causing many practitioners to say, 'Chinese yoga is Indian qigong.' The Yin Yoga Kit serves as a bridge between the two disciplines. It is like a mountain trail between China and India, probably through Tibet." --ROGER JAHNKE, O.M.D., director of the Institute of Integral Qigong and Tai Chi, author of The Healer Within and The Healing Promise of Qi Yin Yoga is known as the quiet yoga. Many of the most popular forms of yoga are fundamentally yang in nature, based on rhythmic movements of the muscles and focused on the need for change and attainment. Yin Yoga, in contrast, concentrates on connective tissue and bones, the parts of our body that are closest to our core and critical to our physical well-being and range of motion. The postures are all practiced on the floor and each is held for a lengthy period, usually three to five minutes. This intense non-movement allows the muscles to relax and the deep connective tissue to be gently stretched, encouraging the free flow of energy throughout the body. Above all, Yin Yoga is a gentle practice that brings yoga back to its internal meditative roots, teaching us to relax and accept ourselves just as we are. In The Yin Yoga Kit, Biff Mithoefer presents 14 postures used in Yin Yoga and explains the benefits of each, including which meridians and chakras will be mostpositively affected. The full-color posture cards included illustrate the poses for those who are very flexible--and those who are not--and assist users in designing a personalized practice. The 75-minute CD contains a guided routine narrated by the author, with each pose presented on a separate track so listeners can rearrange them or shorten the routine as needed. BIFF MITHOEFER teaches Yin Yoga at Omega Institute, Nosara Institute in Costa Rica, and throughout the United States. He lives in Dorset, Vermont.

A therapeutic yin practice that activates the body's self-healing potential through total relaxation and stillness
- Presents gentle, adapted postures to promote recovery from injury and illness and relief from stress and fatigue
- Includes transitional yoga movements and stretches to perform between the postures to release stiffness and lubricate the muscles
- Contains a deck of 16 posture cards and a 75-minute audio CD of guided practice
In "The Therapeutic Yoga Kit," Cheri Clampett and Biff Mithoefer combine the gentle healing of Therapeutic Yoga and the quiet awareness of a yin practice to present 16 gentle postures that relieve stress and fatigue and promote recovery from injury and illness. Therapeutic Yoga is a blend of Restorative Yoga, gentle yoga, breathwork, and meditation that releases the body from the fight-or-flight response caused by traumatic events and life's everyday stresses. A yin practice encourages the attitude of acceptance and helps us leave behind our yang need for constant striving and action.
Each pose represents a gentle, adapted posture that is held for 10 minutes or more in a fully supported state. The authors also include transitional yoga movements and stretches to perform during the routine to release stiffness, rejuvenate the muscles, and lubricate the joints. The 16 posture cards and 75-minute audio CD of guided routines and meditations that accompany the text facilitate the creation of a personalized practice. The authors emphasize achieving total relaxation in the specific postures to activate the body's self-healing abilities. It is in this place of comfort and stillness where true healing begins.