Gentle Yoga for 50 Plus
Those who have associated the term “yoga” with words like “difficult” “time-consuming” “boring” or “painful” will find Gentle Yoga for 50 Plus* a lighthearted encouraging and easy-to-follow introduction to a practice which has long been known to provide a multitude of benefits for its practitioners. Initial Western resistance to this Eastern practice has given way to wholehearted acceptance as yoga has brought increased flexibility and balance improved circulation greater range of motion stress reduction weight management and a calmer more centered mind to those who do it regularly. Yoga is now taught in schools colleges and community centers as well as to sports teams athletes dancers and is even offered to employees of corporations worldwide.
Author Subodh Gupta is known in India and the United Kingdom for his more than 500 workshops on yoga stress management Work/Life Balance and the Art of Breathing. He is a certified yoga trainer in the UK and earned masters degrees in India in Consulting Management and Civil Engineering. He has also studied Neurolinguistic Programming in the UK. Corporations that have hosted his workshops include Oracle and the Times of India Group.
According to Gupta it is awareness and correct breathing not awkward contortions that bring improved health to the body mind and spirit; a simple posture done with awareness qualifies as “advanced” in his yoga system. Easy-to-follow instructions on the topics of breathing posture choosing a good place to practice and allowing time to rest during the session make his beginning yoga practice accessible to those with minimal flexibility while correctly preparing the more adventurous for further study. Some of the exercises can be done while seated in a chair making it possible to do them while at work. Plentiful black-and-white photographs show the correct form for each exercise. Although the contrast is good the photos are small and enlarging them is suggested.
Bringing his background of years of successful corporate workshops to the task Gupta has created a user-friendly beginning yoga manual to meet the needs of those not necessarily inclined to seek out a yoga class or private instructor. However while the author’s English language skills may serve him well in a workshop setting making the transition to print requires careful and thorough editing preferably by a native English-speaker. The book has serious flaws in grammar and design which must be addressed if it is to be saleable to an English-speaking public. Nevertheless the author succeeds in communicating his care and concern for his students in this short handbook.
Reviewed by
Kristine Morris
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
