Lasater - Relax and renew : restful yoga for stressful times

Praise for Relax and Renew

I welcome this fine book to our anxious and weary world. We all need the wisdom it contains.... Restorative yoga has been helpful for my patients with such diverse conditions as back pain, neck pain, high blood pressure, asthma, migraine and tension headaches, stress-related diseases, chronic fatigue, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and cancer.

M ARY P ULLIG S CHATZ , M.D. , Author of Back Care Basics and Relaxation Basics

In Relax and Renew, Judith Lasater writes with insight and clarity about a subject she loves: restorative yoga. These techniques will help you ease stress and live well.

D EAN O RNISH , M.D. , Author of Dr. Dean Ornishs Program
for Reversing Heart Disease; Eat More, Weigh Less; and Stress, Diet, and Your Heart

Judith Lasater brings wisdom and experience to this remarkable book. Her suggestions for menstruation, pregnancy, and menopause are invaluable for women today.

S ADJA G REENWOOD , M.D. , Author of Menopause, Naturally

This book can help anyone develop and deepen the practice of yoga, and use it in the work of healing not only ones body, but ones life. The detailed recommendations for practicing the various postures are extremely valuable. Restorative yoga can be a gateway to deep relaxation and the cultivation of mindfulness. Enter, enter!

J ON K ABAT -Z INN , UMMC Center for Mindfulness in Medicine,
Health Care, and Society, Author of Wherever You Go, There You Are
and Full Catastrophe Living

Relax and Renew is a major contribution to the study of relaxation. It offers you skillful ways to mind the body and mend the mind.

J OAN B ORYSENKO , P H .D. , Author of Minding the Body,
Mending the Mind and The Power of the Mind to Heal

RELAX AND RENEW

B OOKS BY J UDITH H ANSON L ASATER

Living Your Yoga (2000)

30 Essential Yoga Poses (2003)

Yoga for Pregnancy (2004)

Yoga Abs (2005)

A Year of Living Your Yoga (2006)

Yogabody (2009)

What We Say Matters (2009)

Relax and Renew (2nd edition, 2011)

Restful Yoga for Stressful Times

Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., P.T.

Foreword by

Mary Pullig Schatz, M.D.

Copyright 1995 and 2011 by Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., P.T. Interior photographs copyright 1995 by Fred Stimson. Cover photograph copyright 2005 by David Martinez Inc. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by an information storage or retrieval system, without written permission from Rodmell Press, www.rodmellpress.com .

Second edition

17 16 15 14 13 12 11 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

ISBN 978-1-930485-29-7

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available.

Editors: Holly Hammond, Linda Cogozzo
Indexer: Ty Koontz
Design: Gopa & Ted2, Inc.
Photographer: Fred Stimson
Cover Photographer: David Martinez Inc.
Illustrator: Halstead Hannah
Lithographer: Walsworth Print Group

Text set in Meridien LT

Distributed by Publishers Group West

Grateful acknowledgment is made to the following for permission to reprint previously published material:

Carol Publishing Group: Excerpt from The Wellness Book by Herbert Benson, M.D., Eileen M. Stuart, and the Staff of the Mind/Body Medical Institute of New England Deaconess Hospital and Harvard Medical School; copyright 1992 by The Mind/Body Medical Institute. Reprinted by permission of Carol Publishing Group.

Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc.: Excerpt from Sappho: A Garland translated by Jim Powell; copyright 1993 by Jim Powell. Reprinted by permission of Farrar, Straus & Giroux, Inc.

Times Books: Excerpt from Living Beyond Limits by David Spiegel, M.D.; copyright 1993 by David Spiegel, M.D. Reprinted by permission of Times Books, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.

In addition, we thank:

KD Dance: For permission to use their handloomed knitwear in the interior photographs; (800) 443-1371, www.kddance.com .

Hugger-Mugger Yoga Products: For permission to use their props in the photographs; (800) 473-4888, www.huggermugger.com .

Marie Wright Yoga Wear: For permission to use their unitard in the cover photograph; (800) 217-0006, www.mariewright.com .

For Charles Miles Hanson

I will let my body flow like water over the gentle cushions.

S APPHO

L IKE MOST PROJECTS in life, writing a book is a team effort. I gratefully acknowledge the members of my team:

My children, Miles, Kam, and Elizabeth, for their love and willingness to make room in their lives for Moms book. I also appreciate their computer expertise and frequent help for their low-tech Mom;

My daughter-in-law, Liz, for her good nature, for supporting Miles, and for caring about our family;

My grandson, Owen, for his enchanting laugh and love of life;

B.K.S. Iyengar, for his teachings. I have gained tremendous insight from his work and an invaluable foundation in yoga;

My students, who have inspired me to teach and write about yoga through the years;

Linda Cogozzo, my editor, for her ability to see the book in a new way, over and over again;

Kathy Glass, Holly Hammond, Katherine L. Kaiser, and Patricia Kaminski, for their valuable editorial assistance;

Mary Pullig Schatz, M.D., who gave of her time and expertise to write the foreword;

Gopa & Ted2, Inc., whose designs gave life to the second editon of this book;

Fred Stimson, for his sensitive and skillful asana and nature photography;

Amanda Stimson, for her expert assistance and generous spirit;

David Martinez, for his simply beautiful cover photograph;

Halstead Hannah, who brought elegant clarity to the illustrations;

Theresa Elliott, Carol Nelson, Richard Rosen, and Carol Wong, who modeled for the cover and interior photographs with patience and good humor;

Sara Chambers, Tricia Kaye, and Ray Kerr, who helped with some of the production details for the photo shoot;

And finally, Donald Moyer and Linda Cogozzo, who are friends and publishers extraordinaire.

I WELCOME THIS FINE BOOK to our anxious and weary world. We all need the wisdom it contains. In Relax and Renew, Judith Lasater presents a synthesis of ancient knowledge and modern science, informed by her experiences as a wife, mother, yoga teacher, and physical therapist. She gives sound advice to the caregivers of the world: It is imperative that we take care of ourselves, otherwise lifes stresses will make us unable to care for those who depend on us. Then she shows us, step-by-step, how to make the most of precious private time by doing less through the techniques of restorative yoga. By so doing, we can release ourselves from the destructive forces of chronic stress.