Yoga For Life is a collection of essays focused on one regular life as seen through the lens of yoga. In them, yoga's deepest gifts are discovered in the mundane activities of daily life - laundry, grocery shopping, raising children, going to work, friendships, gardening - you name it! These personal, insightful meditations bring yoga's ancient spirituality, wisdom, and mindfulness sharply into modern focus.
Yoga is a practice designed to help us find contentment, happiness and faith in every aspect of our lives. Yoga For Life is written to help you as the reader – no matter the level of your practice – embrace the positive thinking, mental resilience, and transformation that develops by taking yoga beyond the mat and into your life.
The ability to mindfully choose your response to a situation rather than mindlessly reacting goes a long way to smoothing out the rough edges of your experiences. It can make you more patient and more empathetic. It can help you to stay calm and centered. It can help you to understand and to honor your emotions without allowing them to dictate your actions.
The sounds of life around you as you practice are not a distraction. Rather, they are a small reminder that yoga is meant to support you as you live your life, not help you escape from it.
It is critically important that we figure out what re-fills us and schedule these things into our lives. It is only when we do so that we can live our lives as the open-hearted, gracious, generous, compassionate and passionate people that we yearn to be.
Are you feeling burdened by the work of taking care of something or someone else? Yoga teaches us to take care of ourselves so that we’re better able to care for the people and things that fill our lives.
Are endings hard for you? If you get bogged down feeling sad in times of transition, shifting your focus to the new beginning that is hiding in every ending can help boost your outlook and enthusiasm for life’s changes.
Are you addicted to being busy? There are many ways this can manifest in your life and regular “pauses” in your productivity is one way to create a healthier relationship with busy-ness.
Traveling is a sure way to bring out our inner control freak or our inner Zen. But even when we can’t let go, finding a way to let it be often reveals unexpected delights!
Moving heals us inside and out: daily movement can give us all a little extra energy, a shot of healing, and a burst of mental brightness, and transformed my son’s recovery from a chronic disease.
It’s not selfish to take care of yourself. In fact, a regular self-care practice is not just good for you, it actually makes you better able to take care of others too.