This is an excellent book about how to use yoga to dial down chronic pain. The poses are gentle and relaxing, and there is an excellent integration between using the breath in an almost meditation manner while doing the poses to facilitate both stretching, energizing, grounding, and relaxation. The poses are basic yoga poses, none of which are complicated, and many contain recommendations for modifications if necessary. Throughout the book, there are links to a website provided by the publisher that one can listen to or watch for guided instruction. While I personally have not yet investigated those links, given the quality and clarity of the illustrations and instructions in the book, I would assume that the online sections are equally good.

One of the things I really liked about this book was the layperson-friendly discussion and inquiry, backed by science, to the complexity of pain and the emotional and other factors that can exacerbate it, as well as the way to rewire the brain so that pain is not so hardwired and embedded neurologically. I also liked the worksheets and journal prompts included for each aspect of the program.

I have not started the program, at least not yet; most, if not all, of the poses are things I already do in my own back pain management practice. However, I am so intrigued by the way the book and program are organized that I think I will give it a go.

I received this book as an ARC from NetGalley. Due to some glitches, I was not able to see the illustrations, and the author and publisher graciously sent me a hard copy of the book, for which I am most grateful.

Wonderfully holistic approach outlined here, with a majority of the focus on breathing, meditation and mindfulness practices rather than just asana. I appreciated the good explanations of various scientific concepts including pain pathways and theories, and the explanations of how the suggested yoga exercises would address them.

I cannot say whether this gentle yoga helps with pain, since I thankfully don't have issues like that yet, but I hope to avoid pain by staying strong and flexible. In addition, I think that this book could help my parents and others who will want its gentle approach if they are to try yoga. I will encourage them to try it!

This book is yoga based but more importantly uses mindfulness (being aware of breathing, physical and emotional feelings, etc.) is stressed.

This book teaches the reader how to be aware of why we have chronic pain and how to be aware of why we have chronic pain and how to be aware of how our minds and bodies react when practicing ways to deal with chronic pain. The author states

… posture practice is just one of yoga’s many beneficial tools, so equating ‘yoga’ with ‘posture’ is not only inaccurate, it neglects the richness of the man other practices rooted in this ancient tradition.

With regards to Mindful Yoga, they state”

As you refine your relationship to sensations moment by moment during your posture practice, and you focus attention on how sensations interact with your thoughts and emotional responses, you can gradually ‘rewire’ your brain so that uncomfortable sensations are not interpreted as quite so threatening.

This book is comprised of an eight-week program which includes postures for each week. I recommend the actual book as opposed to the eBook. Much of the learning requires writing what you do and learn. The book contains workbook entry area and posture illustrations.

My favorite quote and the main reason I recommend this book is:

Research has also identified specific health benefits of yoga that contribute to improvements in chronic pain and related symptoms, including:
*an increased ability to relax deeply,
*a feeling of enhanced physical and mental invigoration and
*a greater capacity to accept and adapt to our life challenges.


I received an ARC from Newharbinger Publishing through NetGalley. This in no way affects my opinion or rating of this book. I am voluntarily submitting this review and am under no obligation to do so.

I enjoyed the reading part of this book immensely. As someone with chronic pain, I felt it was very helpful in describing how pain affects our every day lives. I have not done the practical hands on part of this book yet but I do plan to and based off the stories in the book, I do believe it will be helpful in pain management.

I was considering not offering a review of Relax into Yoga for Chronic Pain on my blog as I think reading the ebook version has limited my overall experience. The book is informative and useful, instructing one on how to breathe and be mindful, both of which help to eliminate stress and focus on losing tension in the body. Tension increases pain, thus the “relax” in the title. The authors emphasize how important it is to be aware of stress and work through it rather than try to deny or eliminate it.

All of the information provided is valuable. Now, reading the ebook, the authors provided links that I could not use due to format. Also, whether the hardcopy provides diagrams of the poses used, I cannot tell you, so this review fails you in that respect. I did try to view pages on Amazon but these were limited although I was able to ascertain that diagrams and worksheets not provided in my ebook were shown there.

Poses are described and these are gentle in nature, but without graphics or pictures, I was not as impressed as I would have been. I appreciate pictures in yoga books so that I can get the correct position and understand more clearly. As I mentioned above, I cannot tell you for certain that there aren’t graphics. I’m waiting on some information from the publisher regarding this and will update next week.

Despite this, I found the information to be extremely valuable. What a difference it makes to be mindful and breathe!

I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Note: the rating on this title may change

This is an excellent book with some very useful advice. I have been trying out the breathing techniques and finding them helpful in the control of pain. Obviously it needs a longer time and regular practice to achieve the full potential so I expect even better results over time. I am disappointed with the actual asanas (poses) because there are no illustrations and it isn't always practical to have to keep going online to check these out whilst reading. I also believe the actual physical book would be much easier to work with as it would be easier to turn back and forth to chapters that I find more relevant or need to study more deeply. I think it would be well worth buying the physical book for this reason and may well do so myself. Thank you to the publisher and to Netgalley for a pre-release copy of the book in return for my honest and unbiased opinion.

Relax into Yoga for Chronic Pain is a very informative book. I have suffered with chronic pain for over ten plus years. I love the personal stories and information given. Make me feel that I am not alone with my pain. I highly recommend this book for anyone looking for relief from chronic pain.
I reviewed a digital arc provided by NetGalley and the publisher. Thank you.

As a newbie to yoga, and one who struggles with pain, this book was exactly what I needed. The gentle moves described were easy to follow and the rational behind it was encouraging. I've recommended this to my yoga instructor friends and look forward to expanding my practice.

As a long term chronic pain patient I was pleased to review this book. Thank you to the publisher and to Net Galley. My review opinion is my own. I highly recommend this book for chronic pain patients.

I found a wealth of information here on natural treatment of chronic pain as well as unique and helpful guides to slow easy yoga poses. I appreciate that the author recognizes that all of us are at different levels with our chronic pain and therefore some of us can approach only a very few poses and stretches. This was very helpful to me in my personal holistic approach to my chronic pain. I highly recommend this book for all. of us suffering who previously thought any Yoga was out of the question. The author shows us that we can start very slowly and achieve easy stretches and poses without feeling pressure for the entire yoga experience. Very well done to the author and she has a accompanying website. As a patient who does not believe in meds that doctors try to force on us I appreciate the holistic outlook here and recommendations by the author for mindfulness and meditation are very good.

This book makes yoga accessible and less intimidating. Even if all you're able to accomplish is the breathing exercises you will still get some benefit. I wish more content was in the book instead of needing to go to a website to see the postures, but if you're looking for an alternative to drugs for help with chronic pain, this book is worth a shot.

This book gives the principle of why yoga is good for you because it allows you to rewire faulty wires firing in your brain. However I went to look at the poses via the book and the website it gave. Beware this put an unwelcome program on my computer. I can't really review the book without seeing the poses and I am annoyed that this unwanted device been put on my computer. Please be aware. Therefore I don't feel I can review the book so hence the one star.

This is an excellent book for getting started with yoga to help with pain management. It is such a natural and accessible way for people to do something active and positive to help themselves. The benefits both physically and mentally are huge. The authors have done a great job of producing am easy to follow course so everyone can benefit safely and immediately, The book is brimming with information and advice, and should give anyone the confidence to get started and give it a go. The only downside was the lack of illustrations in the digital version.