Synopsis: Ten years ago, Claire Dederer put her back out while breastfeeding her baby daughter. Told to try yoga by everyone from the woman behind the counter at the co-op to the homeless guy on the corner, she signed up for her first class. She fell madly in love.
Over the next decade, she would tackle triangle, wheel, and the dreaded crow, becoming fast friends with some poses and developing long-standing feuds with others. At the same time, she found herself confronting the forces that shaped her generation. Daughters of women who ran away to find themselves and made a few messes along the way, Dederer and her peers grew up determined to be good, good, good—even if this meant feeling hemmed in by the smugness of their organic-buying, attachment-parenting, anxiously conscientious little world. Yoga seemed to fit right into this virtuous program, but to her surprise, Dederer found that the deeper she went into the poses, the more they tested her most basic ideas of what makes a good mother, daughter, friend, wife—and the more they made her want something a little less tidy, a little more improvisational. Less goodness, more joy.
Type: Memoir
Quick Take: I enjoyed most of this book but thought the ending fell short, which happens with many memoirs. How do you wrap up your life story with a bang when you are still living it?
I would be interested in reading a review from someone who doesn't practice yoga, I understand the poses, the benefits, and what can happen to someone while in a pose. If you don't practice yoga you might struggle to realize that when you do 'camel' pose... if you are holding in emotions you may feel nauseous since you are opening your heart to the sky. I wouldn't believe it if it didn't happen to me. In fact... it still happens to me!
So I enjoyed this book but it's not for everyone... it's one woman's story of self discovery and how yoga helped guide her (and her family).
Rating: 3.75/5 stars
Source: Audio (iTunes)
Challenge: Teresa's Audiobook Challange