Um, Like... Om: A Girl Goddess's Guide to Yoga

by Evan Cooper

The perfect primer for yoga enthusiasts, Um, Like... OM goes above and beyond teaching the technique of yoga: it reveals how yoga can help teenage girls face any challenge that comes their way, from dealing with difficult parents to break-ups to the pressure to conform. Written in a hip and empathetic voice by a yoga practitioner who knows all about the ups and downs of the teenage years, this book also provides tips and tricks on how girls can tell...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0316980013
• ISBN13: 9780316980012
• Release Date: April 2005
• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Length: 177 Pages
• Weight: 1.00 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.4" x 7.1" x 7.6"
• Age Range: 11 to 15 years
• Grade Range: Grades 6 to 10

Customer Reviews

Surprisingly serious and useful

A disclaimer: I am a yoga instructor in my mid-thirties. Clearly, I am not this author's target demographic. I took that into account when I first picked it up. Even with that caveat, I initially found the tone so off the cuff and the postures so disorganized that I put it down and walked away. A few years later, after I'd incorporated much more Kundalini into my own practice, I found myself drawn to this book again. This time, much more of what she was offering for asanas/kriyas made sense to me, as well as many of the meditations. That she doesn't include a lot of different movements in each section also made more sense- often times with kundalini you may find that you get more bang for your buck from fewer movements. I liked that she not only tackled serious issues- family pressure, drug use, body image, school stress and romance- but that she also had her own contributions to make about how those issues affected her. Her light, breezy style belied the seriousness of both her own and her students' and how yoga helped address- if not cure- all of them. Like many authors for the younger set, her aim was off- I felt like she was reaching for the older teen, but instead landed on the twelve to fifteen year olds, if not younger. That's probably just as much her style as it is the increasingly jaded affect of all age groups, but it's something to keep in mind. I'd love to see more from this author- I think she has a lot to offer not only this age group but adults as well.

Can't live without it

I loved this book! I never did yoga before, and I tried it once from this book and totally LOVED it. I know do yoga every day, and enjoy it sooo much. PLease get this book! It'll help a girl through just about anything and everything.

Should be on every girl's bookshelf.

Evan Cooper's "Um, like...OM, A Girl Goddess's Guide to Yoga" is a breezy read which accomplishes what all good teachers do best: Imparting with vivid good humor the wisdoms of processes taken beyond the classroom. The target audience here, primarily middle-school girls, calls for a most delicate balancing act: Being bright, fun, and "cool" while explaining the theory, practice, and results of a disciplined approach to yoga. Ms. Cooper accomplishes this masterfully with anecdotes, explanations, and her "girl friend" persona. Scan the table of contents alone and, guaranteed: You're hooked: weight, sex, drugs, peers, parents, and so much else. Add Stacy Peterson's fun, carefully-scripted (by position and motion) illustrations of the exercises, and this fun profound little book will delight and please any "tweener-to-teen." And her mom, who might recover her own "pocket devi" in the process!

This book rocks!!!!

This book is amazing. Evan Cooper knows exactly what every girl is worrying and wondering about and has made yoga work for us! I've tried yoga before and it was okay, but this yoga is the best by far. Reading this book can change your life. --Stephanie, 18