Book Review: Do Your Om Thing

I definitely need to learn how to chill out more. When I saw that there was a call by TLC Book Tours for people to review Rebecca Pacheco’s new book, Do Your Om Thing, I was excited to volunteer.  The book, after all, promised to be a way for me to not only learn more about yoga, but also a way to learn more about how to meditate and retreat from the stresses of every day life.

I received a copy of the book in exchange for my review.  In addition to Pacheco including a lot of information about the practice of yoga and the practice of meditating, she has a lot of suggested exercises to help readers think more about their lives and about how yoga can be seen not just as something that is done for exercise but something that can help us stress less, reconnect with our bodies more, and get away from those pesky devices that keep wanting to pull us in. 

Pacheco starts off the book fairly early by talking about “the eight limbs of modern life.” These are:

• Yamas: attitudes toward the world
• Niyamas: attitudes toward self
• Asanas: yoga postures
• Pranayama: breathwork
• Pratyhara: withdrawal of the senses or turning inward
• Dharana: concentration
• Dhyana: meditation
• Samadhi: enlightenment (p. 14) 

For each of these limbs, Pacheco goes through and describes different yoga aspects and asks readers to consider some things. For example, questions asked after the section “Practice Kindness” include:

In what ways do my thoughts, words, and actions cause harm? […]

What’s one negative thought pattern (samskara) that I need to change to create more peace in my life and the world?

Instead of being a martyr/victim, how can I respectfully hiss to protect myself? (p. 21)

While at times, the book got a bit hippie-dippy for me, in all, I found it an interesting and well-thought out grounding in the philosophy behind yoga. Later in the book, she discusses yoga postures and practices to help readers become more spiritual. All of this provides the reader (in this case, me) with handy tools to help when stress strikes. 

About Do Your Om Thing

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Harper Wave (September 6, 2016)

Sometimes an hour-long yoga class is the only chance we get to connect meaningfully with our bodies and our minds during an otherwise hectic week. For a brief moment we’re able to let our worries melt away and feel relaxed, centered, and fully ourselves. Have you ever wondered how it would feel to bring that experience out of the yoga studio and into your everyday life?

In Do Your Om Thing, master yoga teacher and creator of the popular blog OmGal.com Rebecca Pacheco shows us how to do just that. The true practice of yoga, she says, goes deeper than achieving the perfect headstand—it is about bringing awareness and intention to every part of our lives. In her warm, personal, and often hilarious prose, Rebecca translates yogic philosophy for its twenty-first-century devotees, making ancient principles feel accessible, relatable, and genuinely rooted in the world in which we live today.

Purchase Links

HarperCollins | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

About Rebecca Pacheco

Rebecca Pacheco is an acclaimed yoga teacher, writer, speaker, and creator of the popular yoga blog OmGal.com. She has been practicing yoga for nearly two decades and began teaching while studying English Literature at the University of Richmond. Previously a master teacher at the Baptiste Power Yoga Institute, Rebecca now offers her signature Om Athlete and creative Vinyasa yoga classes. A longtime runner and Boston Marathon finisher, she is also the resident yoga expert for Runner’s Worldmagazine.

In addition to teaching internationally, Rebecca has had the honor of leading the first-ever yoga class on the field at Fenway Park. She lives in Boston with her fiancé, Dan Fitzgerald.

Find out more about Rebecca at her website, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.