Yoga and Scoliosis

Yoga and Scoliosis: A Journey to Health and Healing is a deeply soothing form of moving meditation and a physical activity and is a safe way to rebuild strength, stamina and flexibility and to address the spinal curvature of Scoliosis without surgery. The book presents an evidence-based look at how this approach works. Dr Fishman has been treating individuals with Scoliosis with yoga for many years and has collected x-rays of his work, before and after, demonstrating actual lessening of the degree of curvature from the practise of Iyengar yoga.Yoga and Scoliosis: A Journey to Health and Healing is a source of encouragement, knowledge and healing for those who have Scoliosis and need to treat it, but want to avoid braces and/or surgery. It briefly covers the history and treatment modalities of Scoliosis and discusses the development of the spine in the embryo. Yoga and Scoliosis explores the complexities of the concept of alignment in the body, with the main part of the book showing how to address Scoliosis utilising Iyengar yoga. Four chapters give instruction in yoga asanas for Scoliosis and another chapter discusses yoga practise in daily living. Finally there is a Foreword by B. K. S. Iyengar, the founder of Iyengar Yoga.

Marcia Monroe has created a dynamic, practical, and comprehensive guide to understanding how to approach the challenges of spinal asymmetry due to scoliosis. It is based on her many years of uncovering and re-patterning the habitual movements underlying scoliosis in herself and in others whom she has helped. Th rough awareness of the body's subtle movements in relation to the rebounding forces of gravity and spatial tension, she provides specifi c guidance on how to create an individualized yoga program for scoliosis. Th is book will be of significant value to anyone seeking deep insight and support of how to bring the spine into more balanced alignment and ease. -Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Developer of Body-Mind Centering , author of Sensing, Feeling and Action "" Thanks to large-scale screening programs which make it possible to identify spinal deformity in its early stages, long before surgical intervention is an issue, 999 of every 1000 patients diagnosed with scoliosis are not 'treatable' by surgical approaches 99 % of patients who do not need surgery DO need help. Marcia Monroe's book off ers one avenue that patients can explore for that much-needed help in coping with the eff ects of scoliosis over a lifetime.""-Martha Hawes, PhD, author of Scoliosis and the Human Spine ""Marcia Monroe's book chronicles her personal journey with idiopathic scoliosis using modifi ed postures of yoga to help achieve balance, comfort, and stability. While contrary to medical thinking, meeting Marcia after thirty years of experience treating patients with scoliosis has led me to accept that she has chosen the best option. Th rough her dedication to yoga, Marcia has been able to maintain the necessary stability, articulation, and flexibility of the spine without pain."" - Luis Carlos Schettino, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Orthopaedics, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil ""Marcia, through her knowledge and understanding of the intricacies involved in addressing scoliosis in yoga provides an invaluable contribution with her book Yoga and Scoliosis: A Journey to Health and Healing. Marcia's unique approach, derived from personal experience and years of study, offers clear and precise instructions for addressing scoliosis for individuals as well as yoga teachers.""-Patty Townsend, Director of Yoga Center Amherst, MA and Director of Embodyoga Teacher Training and Th erapeutics Study Programs

is originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She was first certified as a Yoga teacher by the Integral Yoga Institute in New York City for levels 1, 2, and 3. She has been studying with the Iyengar family since 2001 and in 2005, she received certification from B.K.S. Iyengar at the Iyengar Yoga Institute. She now teaches children in New York City at the Bloomingdale Family Program. Marcia is a Body Mind Centering teacher, an Infant Developmental Educator, is registered as a somatic movement educator, and is one of a handful of people who have worked extensively with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, founder of The School for Body-Mind Centering. Marcia has taught Yoga internationally, in Brazil, Canada, India, New Zealand, and the U.S. Currently she teaches classes and workshops on yoga and scoliosis and maintains a private practice in New York City and Rio de Janeiro.||Loren Martin Fishman, MD, BPhil (oxon.) attended Rush Presbyterian St. LukeÇ Medical School and received his certification to teach yoga from the Iyengar Yoga Institute in Poona, India. He is Assistant Clinical Professor in Rehabilitation at Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons and former President, New York Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Treasurer, Manhattan Institute for Cancer Research (Philanthropy).