Yoga for Diabetes by Rachel Zinman
I wish I had this book when I was diagnosed with type one diabetes 25 years ago! My journey with yoga and Ayurveda as a path to self-healing is right in line with the teachings offered in Yoga for Diabetes by learned yogini Rachel Zinman (check out her blog!). Yoga has been a life-saver for me, emotionally, physically and as a steady, consistent way to connect to spirit every single day.
Yoga for Diabetes includes Compassion
Reading this fun and real book will make it easy for you to live better, healthier and longer and perhaps with a more gentle, loving and compassionate attitude than before. Whether you are living with diabetes or you are a caregiver for someone in your family, this is a sweet book (no pun intended).
The theme of this book is: What does one do when faced with a lifelong illness that will need to be managed rather than cured? Rachel tells it like it is. She describes what it is like to live with diabetes and how to integrate daily yoga and meditation. Rachel also discusses how to incorporate the Ayurvedic lifestyle practices that are right for you.
This is ambitious. In reality, it’s a book about at least four subjects. Yet Rachel gracefully guides us through and leads us gently to the practices. The offerings conveyed in each chapter will be up to you, the reader, to try.
Yoga for Diabetes includes Individualized Advice
Since Ayurveda is an underlying theme here, Rachel reminds us of the importance of understanding our uniqueness. This is true even among people with a similar diagnosis. In the book, she encourages each person to discover their own approach to managing moods, diet, and connection to spirit through food, yoga postures, mantras, breathing practices, lifestyle balancing habits, and meditations.
Her discussion of asana includes inviting color photos of three different yoga students taken in three breathtaking nature settings in Australia.
The kapha-stimulating section is set on the beach with the aqua blue ocean behind.
The pitta-cooling, calming section is set in a leafy jungle.
For the third dosha, the vata-grounding section is set in the sandy mountains.
Rachel offers an A-Z guide to yoga asana with instructions on how to move in and out of poses safely while discovering their many benefits. She can make the sound of taking some full breaths or doing a lunge very appealing.
Recommendations for Yoga for Diabetes
This book is a fun companion to the world of yoga. I recommend it for everyone from beginners to experienced practitioners. The stress of living with a chronic condition like diabetes requires you to dig deep and keep some self-care tools handy. Your nervous system will thank you if you follow these practices. In addition, you may notice increased cooperation from your physical response to insulin, food intake, and glandular balance. In closing, I suggest this book to anyone who is on the fence about giving yoga a go. Learn more about the book Yoga for Diabetes here.
Sarah Tomlinson is a British born Yantra expert, internationally acclaimed Yantrika (Yantra teacher and practitioner), yoga teacher and artist, with renowned fans across the globe including Elena Brower and Sharon Gannon, co-founder of Jivamukti Yoga. Sarah worked extensively with her mentor Harish Johari in India, he initiated her into the spiritual practice of painting Yantras. Sarah is the creator of the Yantra Bliss Oracle Deck, 2017, and author of Coloring Yantras (Shambhala Publishing, 2017). She leads retreats and Yantra workshops around the world and enjoys lots of time by the ocean with her husband and two young boys.