Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis: A Journey to Health and Healing

Yoga for people with multiple sclerosis? Absolutely! Today, people with a wide range of medical problems use yoga successfully. Because of its emphasis on relaxation, breathing, and deliberate movement, it can be especially beneficial for individuals dealing with a neurologic disease like multiple sclerosis. Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis, coauthored by Dr. Loren Martin Fishman and Eric Small, a yoga teacher who first embraced these techniques as a way to manage his own symptoms of multiple sclerosis, is a comprehensive guide to applying the principles of yoga to the management of MS. The first section is a straightforward but gentle introduction to yoga - a therapeutic approach to the practice itself. The second part is functionally oriented. Different yoga poses that work toward a common goal, such as combating fatigue, reducing spasticity, and increasing range of motion, are included and illustrated. This user-friendly guide Describes how yoga works Includes photographs and descriptions of each pose Explains effects, advantages, and contraindications Contains starter poses that will help the uninitiated or physically challenged to gently achieve a posture Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis: A Journey to Health and Healing is an excellent guidebook and tool for people with MS, people who undertake yoga on their own, and for all members of the medical and yoga communities. "

Table of Contents:
"Part I Restorative Sequence Energy Sequence Movement Sequence Ambulatory Supportive Relaxation Sequence Part II Yoga for Functional Improvement Introduction Specifically Directed Poses Fatigue Range of Motion Spasticity Strength Coordination, Calm, and Balance Breathing"

About the Author :
Loren Martin Fishman, MD, BPhil, is Assistant Clinical Professor in Rehabilitation at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and former President, New York Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Treasurer, Manhattan Institute for Cancer Research (Philanthropy). Eric L. Small holds a Junior Intermediate Level Three Certificate from the B.K.S. Iyengar Institute in Puna, India. Eric also conducts teacher training workshops in therapeutic yoga around the United States.

Review :
...A must-have book... It offers hope, inspiration, adaptive practices for all levels of mobility and ability, and reasons why yoga works for particular symptoms. For yoga teachers, this book offers valuable practices and insights that teachers can use to make yoga accessible and appropriate for students who have multiple sclerosis and other health challenges. For the medical community, this book offers great visuals for adaptive yoga postures and explanations for how yoga works, from a peer with years of experience in the field of rehabilitation.--International Journal of Yoga Therapy""Encompasses every aspect of using yoga with MS, no matter where your disease has taken you... I recommend this book as a worthwhile purchase to use to increase our abilities to move throughout days better and take care of our bodies to make living with MS less stressful.""--MS World ""...An invaluable book that will serve the MS population and the people who work with them on their path to improved health... A useful refresher for those immersed in the field and an introduction and addition to hands-on training for those interested in the realm of therapeutic yoga.""--LA Yoga Magazine ""Ideal for the non-specialist general reader, Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis describes how yoga works. The text is enhanced with photographs and descriptions of each yoga pose... An important acquisition for personal and community libraries, Yoga and Multiple Sclerosis is especially recommended for those who are experiencing symptoms across the MS spectrum.""--Midwest Book Review Ç For decades, yoga teachers all over the United States have acknowledged the work of Eric Small as the ultimate in helping them work with their own students with MS. No doubt they are now celebrating because Small and long-time yoga student and back expert, Loren Fishman, MD, have produced the definitive book on the topic. Not only does this book offer insight into yoga practice and self-transformation for those living with MS, it also offers something even more important: hope. To say this book will become a classic is an understatement.Ç Judith Hanson Lasater, PhD, PT, yoga teacher since 1971, and author of six books on yoga