Yoga for Diabetes
How to Manage your Health with Yoga and Ayurveda
- 2017 INDIES Finalist
- Finalist, Health (Adult Nonfiction)
When Rachel Zinman, a health-conscious yoga teacher, developed Type 1 diabetes as an adult, her shock at receiving the diagnosis was followed by years of self-blame. Although she had to face the reality that yoga and all the other helpful modalities she had tried were not cures for her diabetes, she found that the lifestyle guidance provided by Ayurveda, the ancient Indian “science of life,” helped her to balance both her condition and her life. And she found, in the simplicity and discipline of yoga, a “great friend and companion” that she could trust to be there for her through all the ups and downs of living with a complex and unpredictable chronic disease.
Zinman explores and clarifies the complexities of Ayurveda, from its understanding of nature and the five elements—earth, water, fire, air, and space—to the way these exist in the three human constitutional types, or “doshas,” and the different ways diabetes may appear in each type. She describes the beautiful choreography of these three doshas as they manifest, not just in the individual, but in the seasons, times of day, and life stages of all living beings.
In Ayurveda, Zinman found a way to understand the self as an individual, to see things more objectively, and to navigate the changing moods and reactions that arise in a complex and unpredictable disease like diabetes. And in yoga, with its ability to help us separate who we are from the disease we have, she recognized herself as a beautiful, powerful being. Zinman writes that, “Ayurveda and yoga offer the perfect solution to manage the energy system that is the body. Knowledge of your body puts the power back in your hands.”
Reviewed by
Kristine Morris
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. No fee was paid by the publisher for this review. Foreword Reviews only recommends books that we love. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
