The Practice of Mindful Yoga

I received a digital copy of The Practice of Mindful Yoga from #netgalley and author Hannah Moss in return for an honest review. As a lover of yoga and someone who practices at least 5 days a week I found this beautiful ok really interesting. It showed the importantance of breathing and mindfulness when doing your yoga practice. I think the benefit would have benefited from some illustrations of yoga postures instead of just verbally talking the reader through the postures, this would definitely have helped the newer yogi who wasn’t familiar with some of the,postures. Overall a good book and an interesting read.

Wow! This book is a distillation of probably 10 topics within the yoga realm. It provides a comprehensive overview for the beginner. I have been practicing yoga for many years so much of it was not new to me. What was intriguing is incorporating loving kindness phrases while practicing asana.

This book had the misfortune of being in my “To-read” stack right after “Yoga for Everyone: 50 Poses for Every Type of Body”. If I were going to recommend a must have Yoga book, it would be Yoga for Everyone. That said, I do appreciate this book for what it is. And if what you want is a text book that is a lot more detailed than just poses, especially one with a focus on the meditative aspects of Yoga, then this book is for you. It’s well written and Is exactly what it claims to be.

Mindful Yoga is a primarily spiritual discipline, connecting our body, our breath and our mind so that we can turn our inwards and start getting to know ourselves a little better."
This one the description given by Hannah Moss the author of this new and fascinating book by Quarto: The Practice of Mindful Yoga A Connected Path to Awareness.
Hannah decided of writing this book because once she experienced yoga, but she added it became to her like another insignificant moment of her day. It lost all the fascination it had and most important, the purposes and reasons why she did it. Then thanks to a local teacher she discovered Mindful Yoga, a Yoga in grade to let her keep focused in the present and in her most vivid experiences and positive sensations blocking the sadness and frustrations in grade to keep her body sick.

Mindful Yoga is important because it gives you consciousness about problems. With Yoga you don't escape problems but you see them under other perspectives.
Divided in five chapters you will discover everything about this ancient way of living in grade to help you in a daily base, from breath to posture, and at the end, following the steps of ms Moss you will be regenerated and more conscious of your self.

Highly recommended.

I thank NetGalley and Quarto for this eBook.

Recently I have gotten into the strange world of mindfulness and crystals. I've recently started to practice yoga as a way to combat my mental and physical health. This book was insightful and interesting. I'd recommend it to any beginners to the art such as myself!

Many thanks to NetGalley, Leaping Hare Press, and Hannah Moss for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. My opinions are 100% my own and independent of receiving an advance copy.

Hannah Moss has been practicing yoga for 20 years. There was a period of six years where she was practicing Ashtanga yoga and noticed that after a while it became mechanical. It became a task, something she “should” do, it became rote and she was no longer listening to her body. Thankfully, she started to search around for different styles, teachers and finally found something that spoke to her. It was no longer about the perfect pose, but rather how she felt on the inside. This was when she discovered mindful yoga.

This book was not what I expected. I’m not sure that I had expectations, but whatever they were, Moss blew them out of the water. This is the most comprehensive, insightful, instructive approach to combining mindfulness and yoga that I have read. Moss not only explains in a down to earth, easy to understand, completely relatable way what mindfulness is and what yoga is, but what a mindful yoga practice should feel like. She breaks down the roots of yoga and what the different practices can be and how they tie into a mindful way of living. Moss also instructs you on the basics of meditation in a nurturing and supportive way. She then ties in how to use that breath from meditation to the breath control you use in yoga. In living a mindful life, she reminds us how to destress and focus on what is important. You learn how to be kind to others and how to be kind to yourself. Moss has an approach that is real and concrete so that you can easily apply these lessons to your daily life. It isn’t a bunch of buzz words or cliche sayings about how you should be. She gives you the real tools that you can use in steps that are achievable, always reminding us that it is the practice of doing that is important, not the end result. Also discussed are body scans and gratitude practices. She touches on so many important aspects of any yoga practice and the traps of what can happen when you are trying to be mindful. She discusses the important qualities to look for in a good teacher and how you need to be given permission to move in a way that is comfortable for you, connecting to how it feels, rather than trying to achieve some goal of how far you can reach. Letting go of the ego is a huge part in living a mindful life.

Moss really bring home the point of if it is not making you happy and living a better life, than why are you doing it? Having a holistic approach of connecting your mind, to your breath, to your body, is really the best way to achieve that. Taking that extra breath, thinking of others, becoming aware of what you are feeling can make all the difference in living a more fulfilled life. Her exercise on awakening your senses, or breathing are all geared to helping you achieve those ideals. Accepting the way things are, whether it is as simple as trying to touch your toes, or the bigger picture of where you are in your life right now, can lead to a happier, more content way to live. Practicing is the key. You never achieve completion, because we are human and this is a human practice. There are ups and downs. Some days are better than others. You step onto the mat because you want to, not because you should, or because it is the ‘right’ thing to do.

So much of this book spoke to me, either to reinforce what I have learned in the past, or to teach me something new. One part that was especially meaningful was when she talked about deep listening, loving speech and loving kindness. She also warns of the downfalls or traps that we can sometimes get into when trying hard to do it the right way. Jumping on a bandwagon, trying to achieve an ideal, or conforming to one way of doing things is not the way to do yoga mindfully. The last part of the book gives you several different sets of yoga sequences that you can adapt as part of your practice.

I cannot tell you how much I learned in this book. Moss combines not only theory, but practice as well. She is relatable, knowledgable and covers the material in an approachable manner. It is something that I will read over and over again because it has so much in it. I found it inspiring and it made me feel like I wanted to learn more, do more and recommit to doing things in a mindful way. I will be gifting this to everyone I know. Really, one of the best reads on this subject that I have read in a long time.

This is a memoir of a woman's journey through different forms of yoga as her life needs changed. I think anyone who prioritises yoga to this extent while it is not their living, may be lacking something else constructive to do, but that's just me. I used to ride horses and that's a completely different issue but it still eats up all your time and concentration.

The author took up yoga and over a couple of decades found that she was not thinking consciously about it anymore, just using it to keep herself supple and stretchy. Well, for many of us, that is what yoga is for. The author wanted to return to the path of mindfulness and tried a different teacher and class. This suited her better and she enjoyed her sport again. I tend to think that focusing this hard on an exercise is a self-obsession and doesn't help others or build anything. But by sharing her experiences the author is creating the book and sharing help to others. So maybe the book is what she needed to do to return her sense of purpose.

What we can learn from this is that doing the same routine for too long becomes boring and by rote, so the mind needs to be shaken up by having to learn and adapt. This supports the modern neuroplasticity observations and applies to any area of life. I highly recommend going back to college to learn new skills and innovations.

Some yoga poses are described for us, not the Sun Salutation and others which I'm familiar with, just basics like Downward Dog, Cow, Tree.
I downloaded the book from Net Galley. This is an unbiased review.

Thank you Quatro Publishing - Leaping Hare Press and Netgalley for an ARC in return for my honest review..

I wish I had this book before many of the yoga classes I have previously tried. Asanas are explained in a simple, effective way which finally gives me the confidence to be able to have a small daily yoga routine at time. The book joins yoga and mindfulness as a way to guide daily life in a calmer, more present manner.

This book has enthused me to enrich my meditation practice by beginning with a physical yoga asana practice. The author clearly explains ways to life mindfully, how to meditate, the basics of what a yoga practice is and how to goes beyond the physical asanas, and how to bring these all together to have a mindful yoga practice as part of daily life.

I love the compassionate way the book was written, encouraging the practitioner to trust in how the body feels throughout practice.

I highly recommend this fabulous book.

I imagine this is a fantastic book if you are a new or experienced yoga practitioner. I, however, don’t currently practice yoga, and thought there was a lot in here that was useful for me.

I picked this book out because I’ve been thinking a lot about mindfulness lately and how it relates to different parts of my life. It had been a couple of months since I’d thought about it and this book was an excellent reminder.

The intent of this book is to connect mindfulness to yoga, and show how each impacts the other. But it was also a great reminder for mindfulness in our everyday lives, as well as an introduction to yoga - for those interested in learning about it - and how it should incorporate mindfulness. The second chapter is a decent standalone primer on meditation.

The mindful practices discussed in chapter 3 can help anyone - regardless if you are interested in yoga or not. And things like Deep Listening can make all of our relationships better.

The final chapter may not be as interesting - or accessible - to those unfamiliar with yoga; but it’s still a nice introduction to some of the different poses and how to be mindful while doing them.

My point is, while this book may be more useful to a yoga practitioner, it is still useful for someone like me, who wants to practice mindfulness, and might be interested in yoga.

<i>Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group - Leaping Hare Press for a copy in return for an honest review.</i>

Mindful ist das neue Schlagwort in aller Munde - auch in Sachen Yoga.
Die Autorin geht sehr umsichtig mit diesem Thema um und zeigt anhand ihrer eigenen Geschichte auf, welch großes Potential Mindful Yoga für jeden haben kann.

In her book " The Practice of Mindful Yoga", Hannah Moss discusses the benefits of mindful yoga and how integrated the two are. It is an excellent introduction to the practice of mindfulness that can be done anytime, not just during yoga. Yoga without mindfulness is simply an exercise routine. It's is when we practice mindful yoga, the way yoga is intended, that it helps benefit our mental as well as physical health.

This is one of the best books about yoga and mindfulness that I read. And that's saying a lot since I read a lot of books about yoga and a lot of book about mindfulness, but this one not only combines the two subjects, but does them justice. You get a proper history of yoga and mindfulness and all the information necessary to start your journey in either of these practices or combine them like the author does.

But most importantly, this book is about the importance of mindfulness while doing yoga and how it's more important to be aware and present in the moment rather than getting a yoga pose perfectly. Loved it!

This is a lovely book if you're into either yoga or mindfulness, but is especially nice if you're into both. Through personal stories and guidance, Hannah Moss helps the reader to think about the breath, its application to movement and how wider mindfulness exercises can help a person both on and off the mat. This was a lovely read and should be accessible even for a dabbler in either practice.