Exercise & Fitness / Memoir Book Review | YOGA GIRL by Rachel Brathen

Title: YOGA GIRL
Genre: Exercise & Fitness, Biography/Memoir
Author: Rachel Brathen
Rating: 5+++ stars

SUMMARY:

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
By the yoga instructor who inspires more than one million followers on Instagram every day.

Whether she’s practicing handstands on her stand-up paddleboard or teaching Downward-Facing Dog to the masses, Rachel Brathen—Instagram’s @Yoga_Girl—has made it her mission to share inspirational messages with people from all corners of the world. In Yoga Girl, Brathen takes readers beyond her Instagram feed and shares her journey like never before—from her self-destructive teenage years in her hometown in Sweden to her adventures in the jungles of Costa Rica, and finally to the beautiful and bohemian life she’s built through yoga and meditation in Aruba today.

Featuring spectacular photos of Brathen practicing yoga with breathtaking tropical backdrops, along with step-by-step yoga sequences and simple recipes for a healthy, happy, and fearless lifestyle—Yoga Girl is like an armchair vacation to a Caribbean spa.

REVIEW:

Full disclosure: I am a HUGE Rachel Brathen fan. I get so much inspiration from her, it's almost ridiculous. So unless she wrote complete drivel, I knew I was bound to love this book.

And I did.

First of all, the images and photos in this book are stunning. As on her Instagram and Facebook pages, we get a peek of the real Rachel, doing her Yoga Girl thing, in all kinds of gorgeous, sunny locales. She lives in Aruba, so you can imagine how many beautiful photos are taken there.

Beyond that, the content itself is fantastic. She's included healthy recipes (that are actually duplicatable), some background on her upbringing (which I really enjoyed reading), yoga sequences and advice (of course!), and her trademark "love yourself, you're fucking amazing" pep talks (my favorite thing about the entire book and about Rachel in general). And she does all this in her fun, relatable, very REAL voice.

This is one of those (very few) books that I pull out over and over. Rachel gives little checklists/summaries throughout the book - action items, if you will - and they are awesome to refer back to as you travel on your journey toward your higher self. I would say I flip through or re-read parts of this book once every couple weeks. Honestly.

Finally, as a GIRL BOSS, I can really appreciate the phenomenal job Rachel has done in branding herself. One look at her social media accounts and you know EXACTLY what this girl is all about. And she's making a great living out of it. If you want a case study in how to use your talents to create an incredible life and future - while growing as a human and giving back to the world - Rachel Brathen is the perfect subject.

Bottom line: Whether you're a yoga junkie like me or not, you'll love this book. It's as much about self-care and self-worth as it is yoga ... and then there's that whole 175+ pages of eye candy thing. ;-) You'll love it. I promise!

Reviewer's Note: I purchased and read this book on my own volition. I did not receive a review copy.

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