re: Stretch Your Way to Better Health

Tesla — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 02:38:48 GMT

I believe in stretching and "Bob's" book may be the best there is,

but the lack of sound information and the extensive propaganda

for the book make me wish that this article was labeled "infomercial"

so I could have skipped it.

re: Stretch Your Way to Better Health

YogaRob — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 13:37:34 GMT

I have no doubt that The Genius of Flexibility is a great book. But this book and Dr. Mercola still appear to be practicing the habit of previous decades - not common now - of mostly avoiding using the word Yoga, which they may view as "tainted" with Eastern mysticism. If it walks like a duck, quacks like a duck then it probably is a duck. I teach something called Iyengar Yoga developed by BKS Iyengar whom Time Magazine named one of the 100 Most Influential people in the world in 2004. He uses props to help stiff people do yoga with correct alignment. If the woman in the picture above was sitting on some height for example, her knees would come lower, her front groins would be open and her spine would be erect rather than slumping. This kind of picture and this kind of stretching was common before Iyengar wrote Light on Yoga in 1966, a book which has now sold more than 1m copies in 20 languages. Iyengar is a living genius, which is why the BBC called him, "The Michelangelo of Yoga" and why at least half a dozen MDs who are his students have written books on how his style of yoga helps people who are suffering from a wide array of complaints. Check out the first three chapters of The Runners Yoga Book to hear a compelling argument as to why yoga and stretching are different, and why Iyengar Yoga is the most effective form of yoga. Also check out who is BKS Iyengar on my website: yogastudiocalgary.com/index.php

I would be interested in hearing from others on this subject. I am surprised that Dr, Mercola, whose emails keep me up to date in many areas, has not really grasped the full impact and benefits of yoga and Iyengar Yoga in particular.