Jamie McDevitt

Jamie McDevitt reviewed a book.

“The word “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit root “yuj” which means to join. Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice with the ultimate goal as the union between the self and a higher being. The Hindu’s call the self, Atman and the higher being, the Brahman. This book focus on the...”

“The word “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit root “yuj” which means to join. Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice with the ultimate goal as the union between the self and a higher being. The Hindu’s call the self, Atman and the higher being, the Brahman. This book focus on the explanation, modeling, and practice of Hatha yoga which concentrates on posture and breathing or asanas and pranayama. This type of yoga is meant to bring balance and positive energy. Yoga has many benefits which include improving blood circulation, enhancing muscle tone, strength, flexibility, and overall physical wellbeing. In prolonged practice, the spine actually lengthens, reducing backaches, improves digestive health and abdomen muscles, reduced heart rate, blood pressure, and breath rate. In addition to physical health, yoga is directly linked to mental health, the movements calming the mind and improving concentration, controlling anger as well as other emotions. This will lead to increased positive energy and happiness. All which can translate into a spiritual experience for some practitioners. Yoga becomes a very meditative practice and its effect can be felt in many different aspects of your life.

Yoga is a very physical practice as well as a mental and spiritual exercise. It begins and focuses on the awareness of the breath and breathing. When practicing yoga, upward movements are done when inhaling and downward movement on exhaling, to release tension or relax. You should never hold your breath when practicing yoga and you must listen to your body. It is never healthy to push yourself into postures or movements that feel painful or “wrong.” Yoga is safe for all body types and ages –but you must pay attention to safe practice guidelines and continue to listen to your body as all people are different. Warm-up before beginning a yoga session, do not eat large meals or practice yoga while pregnant. Maintain positions that are right for your body – do not lower your head below your heart if you have high blood pressure, heart diseas,e, or even glaucoma. And as always, before starting any new routine, look into other possible risks associated for your personal body.

In addition to the science and health discussion, the book continues to illustrate proper stretching and offers detailed explanations for all postures and poses from the head and neck, to shoulders, limbs, back, core, legs, and feet. The illustrations demonstrate what each position should look like in addition to the safe steps for assuming each. The end of the book offers the relaxation or warm-down exercises equally as important as the warm-up and yoga session itself. There are standing and seated positions, as well as breathing techniques for all exercises. There is a corresponding DVD as well.

This book is an excelled health, wellness, and physical fitness resource. It would make a great unit in a physical education class. Students can research the forms of yoga, the history and benefits as this book offers, before practicing the exercises in class. This would be an excellent opportunity to bring in an expert from the community to lead students in correct practice of this form of exercise.
In addition, this can be part of any athletes’ or students’ physical wellness plan. There are many forms of yoga and it is likely that there is one that works best for you based on your current body type and physical wellbeing.

As I was reading, I learned a lot about the technique of yoga and the connections to different areas of the body that I was not aware of, especially in the safe practice session. I feel confident that these exercises could be performed at home without a class or group because of the description and pictures for each type of stretch. This can definitely be intertwined with any physical fitness program – even in small doses!
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Jamie McDevitt finished reading a book.

Jamie McDevitt added a book.

Jamie McDevitt reviewed a book.

“The word “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit root “yuj” which means to join. Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice with the ultimate goal as the union between the self and a higher being. The Hindu’s call the self, Atman and the higher being, the Brahman. This book focus on the...”

“The word “yoga” comes from the Sanskrit root “yuj” which means to join. Yoga is a physical, mental, and spiritual practice with the ultimate goal as the union between the self and a higher being. The Hindu’s call the self, Atman and the higher being, the Brahman. This book focus on the explanation, modeling, and practice of Hatha yoga which concentrates on posture and breathing or asanas and pranayama. This type of yoga is meant to bring balance and positive energy. Yoga has many benefits which include improving blood circulation, enhancing muscle tone, strength, flexibility, and overall physical wellbeing. In prolonged practice, the spine actually lengthens, reducing backaches, improves digestive health and abdomen muscles, reduced heart rate, blood pressure, and breath rate. In addition to physical health, yoga is directly linked to mental health, the movements calming the mind and improving concentration, controlling anger as well as other emotions. This will lead to increased positive energy and happiness. All which can translate into a spiritual experience for some practitioners. Yoga becomes a very meditative practice and its effect can be felt in many different aspects of your life.

Yoga is a very physical practice as well as a mental and spiritual exercise. It begins and focuses on the awareness of the breath and breathing. When practicing yoga, upward movements are done when inhaling and downward movement on exhaling, to release tension or relax. You should never hold your breath when practicing yoga and you must listen to your body. It is never healthy to push yourself into postures or movements that feel painful or “wrong.” Yoga is safe for all body types and ages –but you must pay attention to safe practice guidelines and continue to listen to your body as all people are different. Warm-up before beginning a yoga session, do not eat large meals or practice yoga while pregnant. Maintain positions that are right for your body – do not lower your head below your heart if you have high blood pressure, heart diseas,e, or even glaucoma. And as always, before starting any new routine, look into other possible risks associated for your personal body.

In addition to the science and health discussion, the book continues to illustrate proper stretching and offers detailed explanations for all postures and poses from the head and neck, to shoulders, limbs, back, core, legs, and feet. The illustrations demonstrate what each position should look like in addition to the safe steps for assuming each. The end of the book offers the relaxation or warm-down exercises equally as important as the warm-up and yoga session itself. There are standing and seated positions, as well as breathing techniques for all exercises. There is a corresponding DVD as well.

This book is an excelled health, wellness, and physical fitness resource. It would make a great unit in a physical education class. Students can research the forms of yoga, the history and benefits as this book offers, before practicing the exercises in class. This would be an excellent opportunity to bring in an expert from the community to lead students in correct practice of this form of exercise.
In addition, this can be part of any athletes’ or students’ physical wellness plan. There are many forms of yoga and it is likely that there is one that works best for you based on your current body type and physical wellbeing.

As I was reading, I learned a lot about the technique of yoga and the connections to different areas of the body that I was not aware of, especially in the safe practice session. I feel confident that these exercises could be performed at home without a class or group because of the description and pictures for each type of stretch. This can definitely be intertwined with any physical fitness program – even in small steps.
”

Jamie McDevitt reviewed a book.

“Little Roo, Country Mouse, and Quacker Duck are three very different friends. They all love to play together, but sometimes they don’t get along very well. When they were resting after piling up a mountain of leaves, Little Roo said to his friends that he could jump over a big log and they he bet...”

“Little Roo, Country Mouse, and Quacker Duck are three very different friends. They all love to play together, but sometimes they don’t get along very well. When they were resting after piling up a mountain of leaves, Little Roo said to his friends that he could jump over a big log and they he bet Quacker Duck couldn’t. So Quacker Duck tried, but ducks aren’t made for jumping. Little Roo and Country Mouse laughed at Quacker Duck. So Quacker Duck told them that he could do something that they couldn’t – paddle and float. Country Mouse tried his best to paddle and float, but mice aren’t made for swimming gracefully on the water. Little Roo and Quacker Duck laughed at Country Mouse. So he told them that he could do something they couldn’t –catch his tale. Little Roo tried and tried but there was no way that he could catch his short tail. Country Mouse and Quacker Duck laughed at Little Roo.

All three friends were very sad and upset that each laughed at the other for something they couldn’t do. When Mrs. Roo came and told the friends that no one likes to be laughed at, so why can’t you show each other what you can do and be friends again. So the three friends watched as each showed their skills and applauded each other. They agreed that it isn’t nice to laugh at others and promised to be friends again.

This is a sweet story for elementary school students to help teach the themes of friendship, personal strengths, and advice. This can be a good companion story to the Bucket Book – who is filling buckets and who is dipping buckets? Students can identify what actions dipped the buckets of the three friends and how they could be bucket fillers instead.

In addition, students can talk about their own special abilities and share with the class things that they are good at… This can help students understand how to treat others when something that might be easy for you isn’t easy for another. It is an important lesson to learn, critical for building inter-personal skills in any elementary classroom.

Older elementary school students could read this book to younger students and have a talk, kids-to-kids about what it means to be kind and how to treat others in our school. This would build a mentor program between grade levels in the school.
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