Yoga for Pain Relief: Simple Practices to Calm Your Mind and Heal Your Chronic Pain
It's no secret that yoga increases muscular flexibility and strength, but you may not know that yoga is a proven treatment for back pain, knee pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and other chronic pain conditions. Yoga also helps to ease the stress, anxiety, and depression that can create and reinforce pain, making you feel more comfortable in both your mind and your body.
Written by a yoga instructor and former chronic pain sufferer, Yoga for Pain Relief is packed with gentle postures and practical strategies for ending pain. This complete mind-body tool kit for healing also includes deep relaxation practices drawn from the yogic tradition and psychological techniques for helping you make peace with your body and dissolve pain. As the ancient practice of yoga releases the hold that chronic pain has over your life, you will begin to feel more like yourself again.
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Kelly McGonigal, Ph.D., is an award-winning instructor at Stanford University, where she teaches yoga, psychology, and healthy back classes. She is a leader in mind-body science and practice, and provides teacher trainings and continuing education for yoga, fitness, and health care professionals. McGonigal is editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Yoga Therapy and a frequent writer for publications such as Yoga Journal and IDEA Fitness Journal. Visit her online at www.kellymcgonigal.com.
Foreword writer Timothy McCall, MD, is a board-certified internist, medical editor of Yoga Journal, and author of two books, Yoga as Medicine and Examining Your Doctor. He currently lives in the San Francisco Bay area, and presents lectures, seminars, and yoga workshops internationally.
-Penney Cowan, executive director of the American Chronic Pain Association
"Kelly McGonigal's Yoga for Pain Relief is easily one of the best books I have ever read on yoga therapy, and includes plenty of research and practical tips for dealing with pain. This book is perfect for anyone who lives with any kind of physical or emotional pain, as well as for those working with these conditions professionally, including both conventional and alternative health care providers and yoga teachers. The book has heart and soul, is both kind and informative, and recognizes the individual experience without being reductionist or prescriptive. This book will be required reading for all of the students in my yoga therapy training program."
--Molly Lannon Kenny, MS-CCC, founder and director of The Samarya Center, an internationally recognized training institute for yoga and yoga therapy
"Yoga for Pain Relief will help you to find your ease, courage, and ability to transform your chronic pain. Unlike many other pain treatments, McGonigal's book illuminates a path free of adverse side effects that is synergistic with your present pain therapy. Yoga for Pain Relief is a jewel, and its brilliance and clarity will touch the heart of healing within."
--Julie Good, MD, DABMA, clinical assistant professor of pediatric pain and symptom management at Stanford University
"Yoga for Pain Relief is an empowering toolkit for people living with pain or illness."
--Halle Tecco, founder and executive director of Yoga Bear, a nonprofit organization that teaches yoga to cancer patients and survivors
"In this important book, McGonigal elegantly and simply empowers us, through science and ancient practices, to compassionately transform pain and suffering into ever-present joy blossoming in our hearts. A gift for us all!"
--Nischala Joy Devi, international yoga teacher and author of The Healing Path of Yoga and The Secret Power of Yoga
"Yoga for Pain Relief is an epic book for an epic condition. McGonigal is a quintessential teacher and a brilliant author. Highly recommended for healthcare providers, yoga teachers, or anyone in pain." --Larry Payne, Ph.D., director of the Yoga Therapy Rx Program at Loyola Marymount University and coauthor of Yoga for Dummies, Yoga Rx, and The Business of Teaching Yoga
"Whether you are in pain now or you treat those who are, Yoga for Pain Relief will broaden your view of suffering and change your life. McGonigal outlines a clear, step-by-step method, evidence-based yet ancient, to reconnect with the wisdom and joy that is your birthright--the source of wellness that is so much bigger than your pain."
--Amy Weintraub, MFA, E-RYT 500, is founder of LifeForce Yoga Healing Institute and author of Yoga for Depression
"In this book, McGonigal provides insightful pathways that can lead those with chronic pain toward a healthier life. Highly recommended for those suffering with chronic pain as well as healthcare practitioners and yoga teachers who work with people in pain."
--Shoosh Lettick Crotzer, director of Mobility Limited and Enhancement, Inc., and author of Yoga for Fibromyalgia
"From a place of personal experience, McGonigal reaches out of these pages with clarity, knowledge and warmth. I was not only educated about my pain, but left hopeful that I could come to view it as a beloved teacher. This book not only provides a map for developing a yoga practice through which I can change my relationship to pain, but also empowers me to find my own way via my unique experience."
--Elissa Cobb, director of programs at Phoenix Rising Yoga Therapy and author of The Forgotten Body
"Yoga for Pain Relief provides accurate, easily understood principles of self-care in a user-friendly format. The book offers professionals immediate activities for clinical adaptation with the best, most up-to-date evidence. The person in pain can celebrate the artful bridging of ancient wisdom with the genius of the author in creating an easy-to-follow, personalized road map that is sure to sustain hope and allow him or her to remember joy!"
--Matthew J. Taylor, PT, Ph.D., RYT, president of the International Association of Yoga Therapists and founder and owner of the Dynamic Systems Rehabilitation Clinic
