Wateryoga: Water Assisted Postures & Stretches for Flexibility & Wellbeing

So you thought caring for your body was only for serious athletes? Anyone - healthy and disabled, swimmer and non-swimmer, female and male, young and older - will enjoy the stretches, moves and postures taught in this book. Did you think body-care is expensive? A flexible plastic noodle and a water bottle are the only equipment needed for water yoga, this new mode of body care.Coleman writes a convincing book about water-assisted stretches and gentle moves that enhance any body's flexibility and well-being. Water yoga can be done in a Jacuzzi, swimming pool, therapy pool, ocean beach, lake, shower, hot tub, or bath tub. The book starts with a brief history of water yoga. Coleman, once a champion springboard diver and swimmer, suffered decades of back pain. After unsuccessful surgeries, she combined warm water with her yoga practice. This personal experience restored her health. She won a silver medal in the 1999 World Championship Masters' Swim Meet. Now she teaches aquatic therapy classes, trains water yoga "apprentices," and continues to bring home medals at Masters Swim Meets.Warm water is the optimum environment for stiff muscles, tight tendons and aching joints. The aquatic environment frees the body from its own weight, enhances circulation, and minimally resists movement. Water's soothing benefits to mind and body were recognized by Greeks and Romans; they built "baths," pools to contain water warmed by hot springs.Coleman's book presents eighty-five stretches and postures of water yoga. More than seventy diagrams and photographs enable readers to visualize these moves with or without a teacher and to learn the body parts involved.Water yoga can provide a non-invasive alternative to surgery and a non-toxic alternative to anti-pain drugs by addressing causes that generate pain as well as symptoms for those coping with arthritis and other maladies. Water yoga enhances range of motion rehabilitation after surgery long before exercising without the support of water is tolerable. This book should be required reading for orthopedic surgeons and physical therapists! For a pregnant woman, submerging in water lends support and relieves strain of her unbalanced load.A glossary, reading list and directory of resources will guide readers inspired to explore further. Spa devotees will want to dip into the history of spa and bath. "Library Journal" highlighted WaterYoga as one of the best resource books for this health-oriented generation.Jill Coleman packs this book with an expert explanation of how to live more comfortably inside your body. This book is for everyone who treasures well-being!