"Tales From the Yoga Studio" by Rain Mitchell

When you set foot in a yoga studio you step into a place where everything in the world is left outside, where life becomes about slowing down and breathing in the moment. You instantly become a part of a community of diverse people all working toward the same goal. Yoga isn't just exercise, it's a life-changing practice.

Rain Mitchell's Tales From the Yoga Studio takes you inside this world and introduces you to the many people whose lives are touched by yoga. Lee is the studio owner who is being courted by a trendy yoga chain. Their offer is to good to be true and Lee struggles with letting down her faithful clients who have flocked to yoga at turning points in their lives.

I began a regular yoga practice six months ago so I instantly gravitated to this novel. Knowing how much it has changed my life and the strength I have found through it, I was thankful that someone wrote a book detailing the life changes and friendships that emerge from yoga centres.

This book is a quick, fun read that captures the yoga experience excellently. It isn't about those perfectly toned, extremely bendy yogi's who seem to be off in some other world (though it does include some hilarious extreme types), it's about real people with real problems who turn to yoga to help them get through. And that is what I greatly appreciated about this novel.

I felt that the book was lacking a bit of depth when it came to the characters, their development felt a bit rushed in order to get everything included and tied up by the end of the novel. As well the friendships that were formed between the ladies seemed a little out of the ordinary and I found it a bit difficult to believe. However, this is just the first book in a series so hopefully this will correct itself and in the books to come we'll be able to go deeper in these areas.

If you have your own your own yoga practice or even if you have just dabbled in it a bit you will enjoy Tales From the Yoga Studio. If you don't think yoga is for you, pick up this book anyway, as you will enjoy the theme of female friendship in a new setting as well as the easy read.