Since it is Yoga Month, I’m going to review a few yoga books on the site!

The No OM Zone: A No-Chanting, No-Granola, No-Sanskrit Practical Guide to Yoga
by Kimberly Fowler
ISBN-10: 1605296740
ISBN-13: 978-1605296746

A lot of people I know feel like yoga is too weird; a little too spiritual and chanty and off-the-wall for them.  Yoga doesn’t have to have all those things to be beneficial, and this book is a prime example of that.  The author, Kimberly Fowler, has a history with triathlons and is very familiar with the tightness that runners and cyclists can develop.   She has classes in LA that are a combination of spinning and yoga, apparently she has a pretty devoted following.

The big thing that I really like about the book is that it is set-up in chapters according to certain body parts.  The chapter begins by explaining how that spot works and the tightness or injury-potential that can develop in that spot.  The next several pages describe various yoga poses that can help that spot, including modifications to make it easier and pointers on alignment.  Lastly, they’re all put together in a short routine.

Many yoga poses can benefit multiple zones, and I like that she repeats those poses in the different chapters.  Some books are formatted as just a reference of all the poses then the reader is left to devise a way to link them together to make it work as a routine.  Fowler takes the guesswork out of this and makes the book a very practical and approachable way to improve (or begin) your practice.

Disclaimer: Nobody paid me for this review… I checked the book out at the library.