ACCESS YOUR INNER POWER

A yoga instructor and therapist outlines best practices for healthier living.

Schnable, a yoga instructor and therapist, takes an Eastern approach to healthier living. The author outlines Indian Ayurveda, yoga and Qi views of energy and how they manifest in the body with regard to different physical and emotional ailments. She asserts that there are three distinct energy systems—gunas, doshas, and vayus—each “constantly occurring even within your own body.” Schnable unpacks yoga’s history and tradition, as well as the purpose of harnessing this ancient practice to keep the body and mind nimble and healthy. She describes a central notion in yoga tradition, the chakras, or “spinning vortices of energy” that are within us all. She lists the specific parts of the body and potential afflictions associated with each of the seven chakras that run vertically from the neck down to the legs: crown, third eye, throat, heart, solar plexus, sacral and root. Also here is practical advice on what foods and gentle yogic exercises nourish the different chakras. Diagrams illustrate the easy-to-replicate yoga postures that aim to promote health and healing. Schnable founded a unique hybrid of yoga and Qigong which she coined “Qi Infused Yoga,” geared for the baby boomers who might not be able to handle the acrobatic yoga positions commonly practiced. Schnable asserts that Qigong and yoga are similar, as “they are both considered mind/body practices” and “breath essential.” The practice itself has “equal focus on physical movement and the movement of energy.” Schnable’s ability to strike a tone that’s respectful of both Western thought and Eastern practice makes the book palatable to a broad audience. The accessible descriptions and how-to pictorial models for her Qi Infused Yoga bring new ideas to the flooded market of instructional yoga books.

An enlightening, alternative approach to nourishing emotional, mental and physical well-being through Eastern philosophy and practice.