Restore and Rebalance

When most people think of yoga, they probably picture a contortionist pretzeling themselves into one impossible asana after another, or a sweat-drenched yogi blasting through vinyasas and ujjayi-breathing like a dragon. While these aren't *wrong,* they're not everything - the yin to that yang is restorative yoga, or the practice of relaxing into supported poses for long, slow amounts of time. This type of practice is great for all bodies: healing for those with injuries or illness; relaxing for those dealing with busyness or stress; gentle enough for older practitioners; and for those yogis who thrive on challenge, well, they can find it in trying to ignore distractions and remain in stillness for extended periods of time.

This book is a great guide. Each pose is thoroughly explained with pictures, precise prop instructions, a list of benefits from practicing the posture, some things to watch out for, and special instructions for yoga teachers. For some of the more advanced asanas, the book offers variations suitable for beginners or those who need to back off the intensity a bit; for the prop-heavy and complicated postures, there are instructions and pictures outlining the easiest way to move into the pose and onto the props.

My one criticism is that a couple of the poses are VERY prop-heavy - we're talking piles of blankets, multiple bolsters, various sandbags and straps and eye pillows - and this may be a hindrance to both home practitioners, who almost certainly won't have all of these though they can improvise with what's around, and studio practitioners, where props are often limited in number.