Being with Dying or Yoga for Arthritis

Being with Dying: Cultivating Compassion and Fearlessness in the Presence of Death

Author: Joan Halifax

In this long-awaited book of inspiring and practical teachings, Buddhist teacher Joan Halifax offeres the fruits of her many years of work with dying people. Inspired by traditional Buddhist teachings, her work is a source of wisdom for all those who are charged with a dying person's care, facing their own death, or wishing to explore and contemplate the transformative power of the dying process.

Halifax offers lessons from dying people and caregivers, as well as guided meditations to help readers contemplate death without fear, develop a commitment to helping others, and transform suffering and resistance into courage. She says, "Why wait until we are actualy dying to explore what it may mean to die with awareness?"

A world-renowned pioneer in care of the dying, Joan Halifax founded the Project on Being with Dying, which helps dying people to face death with courage and trains professional and family caregivers in compassionate and ethical end-of-life care.

Publishers Weekly

In this moving meditation on palliative care, Halifax tells a story about a dying Zen teacher who confesses to his students: "Maybe I will die in fear or pain. Remember there is no right way." This sentiment forms the core of a book that provides practical and philosophical guidance to caregivers. Drawing on her 30 years of experience in the "contemplative care of the dying," Halifax honestly enumerates the challenges of being with the dying while exalting it as "a school for unlearning the patterns of resistance... [it] enjoins us to be still, let go, listen, and be open to the unknown." According to Halifax, "bearing witness to dying" can teach innumerable lessons to the living—assuming "we give up our tight control strategies, our ideas of what it means to die well." Halifax is a Zen priest, and while many of her teachings derive from Buddhism, her supremely readable book will attract readers of all faiths who will appreciate her clarity and compassion and the poignancy of these stories of ordinary people facing their final hours with quiet courage. (June)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Look this: The Glitter of Gold or Foundations of Human Sociality

Yoga for Arthritis: The Complete Guide

Author: Loren Fishman

A comprehensive, user-friendly medical yoga program designed for management and prevention of arthritis, with over 400 illustrations.

Arthritis restricts movement; yoga increases range of motion: these two were made for each other. Arthritis is the leading cause of disability in this country, limiting everyday activities for more than seven million Americans. Drugs, surgeries, and steroids can alleviate some of the discomforts, but study after study has shown that exercise is most beneficial to most forms of arthritis, specifically low-impact, flexibility-enhancing exercises—hence, yoga. In this comprehensive and thoroughly illustrated guide, Loren Fishman and Ellen Saltonstall, who between them have seven decades of clinical experience, help readers understand arthritis and give a spectrum of exercises for beginners and experts. Broken down into chapters focusing on each major joint, there are 100 classical yoga poses and numerous imaginative and physiologically sound adapted poses, all with step-by-step instructions and easy-to-follow photo demonstrations. The authors welcome readers into the philosophy and principles of yoga and show how to use yoga to find lasting relief from arthritis. Over 400 illustrations.

Elaine M. Lasda Bergman <P>Copyright &copy; Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. - School Library Journal

Fishman (medicine, Columbia Univ.) and yoga instructor/massage therapist Saltonstall combine their respective expertise to good effect in this useful, instructive book providing essential information about the practice of yoga and how yoga's concepts relate to the condition of arthritis. In this way, they arm arthritis sufferers with the knowledge necessary to begin the proper practice of yoga. The authors start with an easy-to-understand explanation of the affected anatomy and a brief history of yogic philosophy. They then clearly describe various asanas, or poses, meant to enhance flexibility and range of motion. After some general-purpose "All-Star" poses, remaining poses are organized anatomically (e.g., hands and wrists, knees, spine), with some repeated in other chapters. Modifications appear for various levels of ability, and photographs and illustrations clearly depict proper alignment. The physiological details and many features of the pose instructions (e.g., purpose, contraindications) make this one of the more thorough and well-written yoga guides currently in print. Highly recommended for public and academic/medical libraries.

Table of Contents:

List of Illustrations     9
List of Tables     11
Acknowledgments     13
Authors' Note     15
Introduction     21
Arthritis     23
Yoga     37
The Physiology of Yoga     45
Prelude to the Poses     52
The All-Stars     58
The Shoulders     96
The Hips     114
The Lumbar Spine     130
The Cervical Spine     170
The Knees     183
The Sacroiliac Joints     194
The Wrists and Hands     217
The Feet and Ankles     232
Scoliosis     248
Ankylosing Spondylitis     274
Appendices     298
Alphabetical Index of Poses     298
Poses by Chapter     303
Alignment Principles from Anusara Yoga     309
Glossary     313
Notes     324
Resources     334