There are so many yoga books out there. I should know. I've read most of them. Many of them are good but no other book explains as deftly how a handful of asanas (yoga postures) can transform your mental and spiritual sides or how a relationship with yourself begins, as with all good relationships, with listening.

Baron Baptiste's program for life transformation demands a commitment to yourself not to some fly-by-night program that is cut out exactly the same way for everyone.

Baron Baptiste is like the Stephen R. Covey of Yoga. What he has to share will resonate with anyone courageous enough to look at themselves, their bodies, their habits, their lives with honest and compassionate eyes. I know I will read and reference this book over and over.

47 of 50 found the following review helpful:

Inspiring  Apr 29, 2002
By Cikk "cikk"
Baron rocks! This book has lived near my bed since it arrived a few days ago. I am reading through it slowly, while picking out chunks from here there and everywhere. His writing is expressive and straightforward, his philosphy is simple but deep, his "diet" chapter is inspiring, and the instructions for the poses are clear and concise, as are the photos. The whole programme is laid out, broken down into chunks, and at the end Baron suggests short programmes for people who cannot manage more than 20 minutes.
I have to admit, I love Eric Schiffman's book, but it can be a little TOO wordy. This is not. HIGHLY recommended. (as are his videos - Soul of Strength and Power and Precision are both incredible workouts, and I have only bee practising yoga for a few months - go for it!)

34 of 36 found the following review helpful:

At last! - A guide to everyday yoga  Apr 24, 2002

Baron clears the way for a lot of people new (or newer) to yoga. I have been practicing on and off for a couple of years with tapes at home, read numerous books, but somehow felt as though something I should know was missing or incomplete. This book speaks to people who have busy lives, have no intention of going mystical, but like what yoga does for them. This is a great guide to incorporating yoga into the busy American lifestyle. I plan to buy all Baron tapes that I don't already have. This is really worth your time.

24 of 25 found the following review helpful:

A Great Companion To Baron's Videos and by Itself!  Apr 19, 2003
By CPTScott
I've been doing Yoga daily for over 7 years and have a library full of books and videos pertaining to yoga. "Journey Into Power" is perhaps the most useful of all of my books because it is real-life practical.

It is written in a way that gets to the heart of Yoga so that folks like myself (with real life jobs and families) can actually incorporate and benefit from his approach. This is not a book that is just a bunch of philosophical theory, but rather an approach to Yoga and life that is easy to practice daily.

I'm 45 years old and I'm in the best shape of my life thanks to Yoga in general and Baron's work in particular. A MAJOR key to this is the approach to nutrition that Baron clearly lays out (it is NOT a diet, just a common sense approach to nutrition which is very easy to follow). I now have incredible amounts of energy.

Before I started to eat in the way he recommends, I could only do a Power/Vinyasa practice a few times a week and alternated with a more gentle practice. Since incorporating his dietary principles I've been able to have the energy to do some form of Power Vinyasa Yoga almost EVERY day and my more gentle practices are quite rare.

Just for the record, I generally do between 30 minutes to hour or so of Power Vinyasa Yoga 7 days a week, it's rare that I can do the 90 minutes Baron says is the ideal amount, but he also stresses that it's better to do "a little yoga a lot rather than a lot of yoga once in a while". Trust me, if you do even 20 minutes every day you'll have life changing results.

Anyway, The increase of energy that I now have has been an earth shattering breakthrough for me. I had attributed my previous energy level to my age but now I can see just how much impact upgrading my eating has had on my health and energy level (and I was already eating a pretty clean vegetarian diet for close to 17 years).

As far as the physical side of the practice this book is laid out in a very user friendly way. There are alignment tips highlighted in blue print at the end of each more detailed explanation. This "summary" of alignment details is such a great idea that I wish all Yoga books would do this.

As wonderful as this book is, I don't know if I would use this (or any book) as my sole guide to yoga. I would suggest getting one of his videos/DVDs so that you can be led thru the sequence (of course "live" classes would be ideal, but hard to do on a daily basis, perhaps you can suppliment with classes. Home practice is the heart of developing a significant practice and it's hard to find an excuse not to practice if you can roll out your mat at home :) ).

I don't have his "Journey Into Power" Videos in particular, but I do have "Soul Of Strength" which follows the sequence of the book quite closely. I also love His "Unlocking Athletic Power" and "Core Power" which are shorter practices (under 30 minutes) which are very easy to fit in on any morning. Who can't get out of bed 30 minutes earlier to give yourself the gift of a stronger, more healthier body and calmer mind.

A particular video program by Baron that I found really helpful in implementing his ideas is "Transform Your Life, Yoga W/ Baron Baptiste" which is a documentary (PBS) that takes you on one of Baron's Bootcamps in Hawaii, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!, it also has a 20 minute routine at the end of the documentary so you get a nice short Power Yoga Practice ("Power Yoga Basics" is the title of that section).


One more thing I want to clarify regarding Baron's approach to nutrition.

His idea of the fruit fast is to detox yourself. Whether or not it is scientifically valid or not I can't say, but the main idea of the fruit fast is to give you a chance to clean out your body (and mind) for a few days. So much of eating is psychological and you can see in the video "Transform your life" (which follows the plan laid out in the book) how people who never could have imagined that they could live on fruit only for three days not only "survive" it, but totally thrive on it and feel great after 3 days of fruit.

Still, Baron says that the "Fruit" detox part of the cleansing diet is only a TINY part of his approach to diet, his main focus is on the way one would eat in their day to day lives and their relationship to food. The fruit fast is something you might only do one or two times a year (a total of 6 days in a year)and it is hardly a fast since you can eat as much fresh fruit and drink as much fruit juice as you like (tomatos and avocados are included since they are fruits).

In terms of one's normal cleansing diet, he doesn't "Forbid" folks to indulge occasionally, and in facts encourages it so that you don't have to feel deprived. He is not fanatical or dogmatic in any aspect of this program but always encourages to use ones true intuition to know what's right for you. His approach is very practical and possible for anyone who really wants to empower themselves in so many ways.

Anyway, this book is outstanding and I am grateful to Baron for making this available to those of us who are interested in taking a life changing "Journey into Power".

Namaste

21 of 22 found the following review helpful:

Transformational: Timely and Timeless!  Jun 01, 2002
By Leanne Hoff
This book is of immeasurable value to both novices and master practioners of yoga. Baptiste is a gifted teacher with great heart and caring for his students, which shows in his text and also the photos of him modifying the postures so that even the newest beginner can benefit from the practice.

This book is extremely accessible and is full of good, clear color photos of the postures, many of which are shown in a series of photos representing views from various angles. An empowering and thoughtful "spiritual focus" is given with each pose.

In addition, the book is broken into 5 clearly written sections for easy learning and reference. Sections include a recommended series of postures for time limits and different physical conditions and fitness levels, food/diet and detoxification to cleanse, heal and lose excess baggage, a non-complex section on meditation that is wonderfully simple, but not simplistic. Baptiste demystifies yoga without being unmystical.

Baptiste's style of yoga uses proper form and modifications to help students get deeper into postures and glean the greatest results and there is a very good illustrated section with each pose on how to use these simple physical and spiritual principles - something that's been missing from any other yoga book I've ever seen.

By far this is the best and most useful book on yoga I have ever seen, and I've seen more than a few. This is Mr. Baptiste's first book which has been well worth the wait!!!

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