Yoga in bed
When I was asked to review ‘Yoga in Bed’ I jumped at the chance. I attend a weekly Iyengar Yoga class, and I adore my bed, so how could I not love it? I set aside a Saturday morning for some initial investigation.
The book has a pleasing square format, and is cleverly spiral bound so that the pages stay open where you want them to. It’s text-light with quite a spacious feel, which I like, and has calming full-page photos of the natural world to illustrate the introductory chapters. It was recommended that I read those pages before jumping ahead to the exercises, so I dutifully did.
Before undertaking any yoga poses, you must always warm up, and here I encountered 2 problems: 1) lack of room to do the initial stretches, and 2) the bemused gaze and dry comments of my partner. Problem 1 was easy to deal with; I amended the stretches so that I could do them sitting up. Problem 2 was dispatched to make tea as I worked through the postures.
The stretches and poses are illustrated with very clear step-by-step pictures. I wondered if I found them easy to understand because I was already familiar with the postures, but when I watched the accompanying DVD later on in the week I was convinced that a complete beginner would be able to understand (if not undertake) the exercises with ease.
For me, the book had a flaw, and that was the ‘in bed’ aspect of it – even though that’s what initially drew me to it. I decided that I would practise my yoga as soon as I woke up but before my partner did, but I could only do a few of the exercises in the space available. I ended up getting up and finishing my practice on the floor, but that was not satisfactory as I was anxious that I would disturb him.
The book is great if you don’t share your bed with anyone, and the exercises are good to do on the floor of another room if you do. I would recommend this book to single people: beginners, the elderly, or those who are not used to exercises, as the postures are easy to understand and to do. If you are not single and share your bed this book is not for you… unless you develop a thick skin quickly or relocate to another room!
