Yoga for Depression: A Compassionate Guide to Relieve Suffering Through Yoga

Long-time yoga teacher and writer Weintraub offers readers yoga as an alternative to antidepressants, which, she explains, treat the symptoms of the problem but not the whole person. By contrast, "a daily practice of yoga will bring your physical body and your emotional body into balance, restoring a sense of well-being and energy." Weaving in her own triumphant story and those of her students, Weintraub seems to beg readers to give yoga a chance to relieve their suffering. She constructs a convincing, if at times plodding, case by reviewing the medical evidence, such as the practice's impact on stress levels and the healing principles of yoga, which include developing both your energy and your self-awareness. Weintraub also discusses the roles of breathing and meditation, and, most interestingly, explains how holding certain poses can help release trauma that may be "stored" in the body. Although descriptions and pictures of specific stretches, poses and breathing exercises are scattered throughout, Weintraub encourages readers to use the book as a guide and to find a class taught by a qualified yoga instructor. Perhaps some readers will be motivated to do so because of the author's enthusiasm and well-researched material. But the New Age language-"Ishvara-pranidhana can mean that separations between you and your partner may begin to dissolve so that you experience the wholeness of sacred union with the divine through your partner"-might discourage others.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Depression has become a worldwide epidemic; in the U.S. alone more than 17 million Americans are diagnosed with clinical depression each year. Weintraub makes a viable case for incorporating yoga in the treatment of depression. A writer and yoga teacher, she suffered from debilitating chronic depression and spent many years on antidepressant medications. Through yoga, Weintraub was able to gradually go off medication, and she has been free of a recurrence of depression for more than 15 years. Through her own story and the stories of others, she defines and describes various types of depression, anxiety, and other emotional disorders, and offers yoga techniques for their treatment. Beyond anecdotal evidence, Weintraub presents summaries of several scientific studies that show that various yoga techniques have measurable effects on relieving depression for people all over the world. Jane Tuma
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“Yoga for Depression is a godsend: beautifully written, medically accurate, and very practical. I highly recommend it!”
--Christiane Northrup, M.D., author of Women’s Bodies, Women’s Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause

“This is a book about integrating the mind and the body, about using movement to mend oneself; in a world obsessed with psychopharmacology, reading it was a refreshing reminder that, in some cases, the tools we have to cure depression reside not in a pill, but in our own bodies, if we are willing to try.”
--Lauren Slater, author of Prozac Diary and Lying: A Metaphorical Memoir

“…A sensitive, intelligent, painstaking exploration of the deeper psychospiritual issues that make up the complex experience of depression. That in itself would be a significant contribution, but Yoga for Depression also offers a brilliant illumination of how the ancient wisdom of the yogic tradition can penetrate the often intractable challenges of depression….
--Phil Catalfo, Yoga Journal, January/February 2004

“In the compassionate voice of someone who definitely knows the territory of depression, Amy Weintraub presents Yoga science and personal stories, research results and poetry, and practice instructions that are genuinely interesting in this very readable book that is both comprehensive and totally inspiring.”
--Sylvia Boorstein, author of That’s Funny You Don’t Look Like a Buddhist and It’s Easier Than You Think: The Buddhist Way to Happiness

"Amy Weintraub's work is some of the most important in our world today for helping humanity understand more deeply the significance of the mind-body connection. Her insights are inspirational for yoga teachers and all readers. Her in-depth understanding of her subject is an important basis for personal, as well as societal transformation."
--Rama Jyoti Vernon, Founder, American Yoga College

“This is truly a beautifully written encyclopedia of yoga for depression. It is rare to find such a generous soul, willing to embrace all approaches to yoga, unbiased and yet having intelligent discernment and advice for those searching for help. Amy offers many guidelines and solutions through yoga, to both those who suffer from depression and to yoga teachers working with them.”
--Angela Farmer, internationally-known master yoga teacher

Take the natural path to mental wellness
More than 25 million Americans are treated with antidepressants each year, at a cost in excess of $50 billion. But the side effects of popular prescription drugs may seem nearly as depressing as the symptoms they're meant to treat. Veteran yoga instructor Amy Weintraub offers a better solution--one that taps the scientifically proven link between yoga and emotional well-being as well as the beauty of ancient approaches to inner peace.
Addressing a range of diagnoses, including dysthymia, anxiety-based depression, and bipolar disorder, "Yoga for Depression reveals why specific postures, breathing practices, and meditation techniques can ease suffering and release life's traumas and losses. Weintraub also reflects on her own experience with severe depression, from which she recovered through immersing herself in a daily yoga routine.
"Yoga for Depression is the first yoga book devoted exclusively to the treatment of these debilitating conditions. Amy Weintraub will help readers see their suffering and themselves in a vibrant new light.

“Heal yourself with Yoga For Depression. I absolutely love this book and highly recommend it.”
--Dharma Singh Khalsa, M.D., author of Meditation as Medicine

"Yoga philosophy describes our true nature as free, radiant and vibrant. In a clear, direct and grounded approach, this brilliant and comprehensive book offers guideposts for those seeking to reclaim their birthright of joy."
--Sudhir Jonathan Foust, President, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health

“Amy Weintraub’s Yoga for Depression offers us a powerful and comprehensive guidebook that provides the reader with a precise path for healing from depression. Her penetrating insights are derived with the precision of someone who has traversed the intricate path of healing from depression and has come back to show us the way to our own healing. Amy has experienced the simple truth that yoga works because it offers a comprehensive approach to healing. She has discovered the timeless teachings of yoga that don’t ask us to believe or depend upon someone else’s authority. Yoga puts us squarely in the driver’s seat and shows us how to heal our self. Yoga is a set of applied tools that support us in living, pure and simply, a life that is free of suffering. This book belongs in the hands of every person who experiences depression and in the library of every therapist who works with people suffering from depression.”
--Richard C. Miller, Ph.D., clinical psychologist, teacher of Advaitayana Yoga Co-Founder of The International Association of Yoga Therapy; Founding editor of The Professional Journal of the International Association of Yoga Therapy

"Yoga philosophy describes our true nature as free, radiant and vibrant. In a clear, direct and grounded approach, this brilliant and comprehensive book offers guideposts for those seeking to reclaim their birthright of joy."
--Sudhir Jonathan Foust, President, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health

“With clarity, compassion, and the courage of a person who has lived her own story all the way through, Amy Weintraub offers readers a self-aware, self-creating path through the darker thickets of a life. Her specific, gracefully presented suggestions for joining breath, body, movement, and mind bring one of the great wisdom traditions into a newly useful context, an essential means for renewing and reawakening contemporary life.”
 --Jane Hirshfield, author of five books of poetry, most recently Given Sugar, Given Salt: Poems

"Amy Weintraub is a gifted teacher whose clarity and warmth I have admired for years, but it wasn't until I read this book that I understood the genesis of her profound emotional connection to yoga.  Amy has personally made the journey from the darkness of depression to the light of full aliveness.  The value of this kind of personal experience in a yoga teacher cannot be underestimated, and it jumps off the pages of this book.  If you are looking for an inspiring and trustworthy guide to heal into a whole new life, look no further."
 --Richard Faulds, M.A., J.D., senior Kripalu teacher and author of the forthcoming Kripalu Yoga: A Guide to Practice On and Off the Mat

AMY WEINTRAUB, MFA, RYT, is a senior Kripalu teacher and an award-winning fiction writer. She teaches yoga and fiction writing and contributes to national magazines, including Yoga Journal, Poets and Writers and Psychology Today. She lives in Tucson, Arizona.