Yoga Girl Book Review

 Yoga Girl by Rachel Brathen

So I've been a Rachel Brathen fan since last summer when I discovered her on instagram under yoga_girl. Seeing her motivational posts, I decided to start doing yoga, something I am glad I did. Her pictures and blogs not only help you to see how healing and wonderful yoga is for the body and mind but it also makes you see how much of a real person Rachel is. She doesn't hide behind her fame, she doesn't hide her pain, and she shows us who she really is through the web. She makes is so anyone can see her motivation.

Since I discovered her, I have used yoga and meditation to help with many aspects of my life. I was doing a painting job that summer and was stressed beyond relief. Being able to step on my mat and breath through any issue helped a lot. Our summer lasted a couple months past August and I was able to go outside near this trail to do my yoga in the warm sun and it was amazing. Just me, the sun, and my mat. I felt so at peace during those moments. and I thank Rachel and her way of showing the beauty of yoga.

I have gone through many ups and downs since discovering yoga that had stopped me from doing it for periods of time. My back pain got worse, I was trying to move out, was out of a job for months, and had tremendous amount of relationship stress. The last thing I wanted to do was take some time to myself. Those were the hardest few months of the year.

But my boyfriend and I finally moved, I finally found a job and I wasn't scared to give myself alone time. I found love at the mat again and started doing my yoga. I started reading Rachel's blogs again, started watching videos on yoga and I was happy again. But what made it all worth it, was receiving Rachel's book in the mail. I had been waiting for months since I pre ordered it and it was a better read than I thought it would be. And I also read it quicker than I thought I would. The night I got the book, I finished reading it.

Rachel became even more of a real person. Her pages from her past were so touching and so relating to my own. To see her transformation from her teenage years to what she is like now was amazing to read. To really see just how important yoga and meditation can be if you need it.

She explains how she had back pain and severe asthma, both I can relate to! Just like Rachel, I am struggling with scoliosis which, as a result, has had me in pain every day for the last year and a half. After one physiotherapist, two chiropractors, many x-rays and body scans, seeing a spine specialist, I am still in pain and have no answers for my pain except my mild scoliosis. Mild enough it shouldn't be causing me as much pain as I am dealing with anyway.  I thought there would be no answer on how to deal with it. But then I found out just how healing yoga can be for back pain and scoliosis. Reading a true story on how yoga and meditation can help has motivated me to step on my mat every single day no matter how I'm feeling.

One thing the book really touches up on is the importance of meditation and breath. I do more yoga than meditating and I now understand that yoga is nothing more than an exercise without the meditative side. One step at a time I will work towards meditating daily, even just for 10 minutes.

If you are looking for some motivation, or some help on dealing with stress, loss, pain.. you name it, this book should be your go to and you will feel like a different, more relaxed person.