Meditations from the Mat

Author: Rolf Gates
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 0307773949
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 450

Book Description
365 daily reflections offering a way to integrate the mindfulness that yoga teaches into everyday life, from the acclaimed yoga teacher, Rolf Gates who offers "a healthy way to find peace and a sense of coming home, day by day” (USA Today). As more and more people in the West pursue yoga in its various forms, whether at traditional centers, in the high-powered atmosphere of sports clubs, or on their own, they begin to realize that far from being just another exercise routine, yoga is a discipline of the body and the mind. Whether used in the morning to set the tone for the day, during yoga exercise itself, or at the end of the day, during evening reflection, the daily reflections in Meditations from the Mat will support and enhance anyone’s yoga journey.

Meditations on Intention and Being

Author: Rolf Gates
Publisher: Anchor
ISBN: 1101873507
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 386

Book Description
Take the mindfulness of yoga off the mat and integrate it into every aspect of life with 365 inspirational daily reflections from acclaimed yoga teacher Rolf Gates. Gates draws on twenty years of teaching experience to help readers—from experienced yogis to novices seeking a little tranquility—fundamentally reconsider their relationships with their minds, bodies, and the universe around them through self-reflection. Over the course of seven chapters, he explores Effortlessness, Nonviolence, The Spirit of Practice, Mindfulness, Compassion and Loving-kindness, Equanimity and Joy, and Intention and Being, giving readers the tools they need to effect positive changes in their lives.

Daily Reflections on Addiction, Yoga, and Getting Well

Author: Rolf Gates
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
ISBN: 1401953964
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 433

Book Description
Deeply personal essays and daily prompts for self-reflection while healing from addiction and walking the road of recovery from the author of Meditations from the Mat and Meditations on Intention and Being. You are a process that has called forth a teaching for this day. This teaching will not be new to you; rather it will be reminding you of what you already know. Reminding you of who you already are. Rolf Gates, author of Meditations from the Mat, has walked the walk of the 12-step method of recovery while traveling down the Buddhist eightfold way and practicing the Eight Limbs of Classical Yoga. His integrated approach has been the key to his understanding of sobriety for over 25 years. In his series of 365 essays, Gates explores the lessons and experiences from his own practice and study, classical teachings, and his career as a teacher and coach. Each eloquent and brief essay is accompanied by a self-reflection prompt to help guide you on your journey of introspection and change. As the co-founder of the Yoga + Recovery Conference at Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health and Esalen Institute, Gates has made a significant contribution to understanding the role that yoga can play in recovery from addiction. With his personalized approach to both the modern and classic teachings and by embedding it within the space of the human heart and everyday life, Gates is a solid guide to finding and living the freedom that lives within each of us.

Meditation for the Love of It

Author: Sally Kempton
Publisher: Sounds True
ISBN: 1604073292
Category : Body, Mind & Spirit
Languages : en
Pages : 422

Book Description
Meditation is like a love affair with your innermost self. At times it can be ecstatic and entrancing, other times simple and still—and sometimes you might not even feel its profound effects until later. Now with Meditation for the Love of It, Sally Kempton shares practical secrets to help us turn meditation into an unconditional embrace of the fullness of our experience—on and off the meditation cushion. With the gentle wisdom and compassion of one who understands the nuances of practice, she opens us to the joy of exploring the deep and mysterious inner landscape of the heart, mind, and body. Drawing on her 40 years as a teacher and a fellow meditator, Sally teaches us how we can connect to our inner longings and creative shakti energy to allow the transformative gifts and blessings of meditation to unfold. With playfulness and devotion—two key attitudes in sustaining a daily practice—she shares indispensable guidance for this voyage of self-discovery, including: How to tune in to your own “meditation channel,” a bandwidth of tranquillity, energy, and joy Why you don’t need a quiet mind to meditate How the force known as Kundalini can fuel your practice Connecting to your ever-present Inner Beloved to let go of conditioned ideas about yourself and make space for the True Self to come forth Ripening your practice beyond technique into the “sweet mysterious expanse of spontaneous meditation” More than 20 practices for bringing the peace and insight of meditation into your daily life “Remember: what you seek in meditation is your own Beloved, your own inner intelligence, your own Awareness, and your own Truth,” teaches Sally. Meditation for the Love of It points us back to our own intimate heart of hearts, our own deepest experience, and the bliss of existence itself.

Skill in Action

Author: Michelle Cassandra Johnson
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1645470482
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 226

Book Description
Transform your yoga practice into a force for creating social change with this concise, eloquent manual of social justice tools and skills. Skill in Action asks you to explore the deeply transformational practice of yoga as a way to become an agent of social change and work toward a just world. Through yoga practices and philosophy, this book explores liberation for ourselves and others, while asking us to engage in our own agency—whether that manifests as activism, volunteer work, or changing our relationships with others and ourselves. To provide a strong foundation to begin this work, Michelle Cassandra Johnson clearly defines power and privilege, oppression, liberation, and suffering, and invites you to make changes in your life that promote equality and freedom for all. This revised and expanded edition offers journaling practices and prompts in each chapter; includes more material on how power and privilege inform the yoga industry; explains how to integrate justice into teaching the eight limbs of yoga; and offers ways to support people as they move through their resistance and discomfort in the face of injustice. This edition also offers a fuller look at how the yamas and niyamas—the ethical precepts of yoga—can be studied in order to create a more just world, and it offers more support for yoga teachers seeking to radicalize their yoga.

Survivors on the Yoga Mat

Author: Becky Thompson, PhD
Publisher: North Atlantic Books
ISBN: 1583948260
Category : Self-Help
Languages : en
Pages : 329

Book Description
An inspiring collection of essays that reveal the healing power of yoga, Survivors on the Yoga Mat is an ideal companion for trauma survivors and yoga teachers alike. Weaving together stories from her classes, travels, and workshops, author Becky Thompson shows the brave and unique ways that survivors approach yoga: the creative ways that they practice, the challenges they face, and the transformative experiences they discover. Thompson skillfully draws connections between yoga and social-justice activism, demonstrating how a trauma-sensitive approach to yoga makes room for all of us—across race, class, gender, religion and nationality. Survivors on the Yoga Mat offers stories, reflections, and meditations for people who are healing from a wide range of traumas—sexual abuse, accidents, child abuse, war, illnesses, incarceration, and other injuries. The book consists of 90 true stories—alternately funny, surprising, and irreverent—that together provide a roadmap for survivors on their journey to wholeness. Organized into six sections, the book explores the challenges of beginning a yoga practice; the unique strengths of trauma survivors; the circuitous path of healing; yoga's value as a lifelong practice; the special role of teachers; and the potential of yoga as an avenue for activism. Also included is a description of Pantajali's Eight Limbs of Yoga, a list of resources, an appendix explaining the different styles of yoga, and a beautiful photo glossary with over 100 photos of the yoga postures mentioned in the book.

Living Your Yoga

Author: Judith Hanson Lasater
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 1930485859
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 173

Book Description
If you think that you have to retreat to a cave in the Himalayas to find the enlightenment that yoga promises, think again. In this second edition of Living Your Yoga, Judith Hanson Lasater stretches the meaning of yoga beyond its familiar poses and breathing techniques to include the events of daily life—all of them—as ways to practice. This edition includes three new chapters (Relaxation, Empathy, and Worship), a full index, and new interior and cover designs.Using the time-honored wisdom of the Yoga Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita to steer the course, she serves up off-the-mat practices to guide you in deepening your relationships with yourself, your family and friends, and the world around you.Inspiring and practical, she blends her heartfelt knowledge of an ancient tradition with her life experiences as a daughter, sister, partner, mother, friend, and yoga practitioner and teacher. The result: a new yoga that beckons you to find the spiritual in everyday life.

Do Your Om Thing

Author: Rebecca Pacheco
Publisher: Harper Collins
ISBN: 0062273396
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 249

Book Description
Yoga, Meet Life. Sometimes an hour-long yoga class is the only chance we get to connect meaningfully with our bodies and our minds during a week otherwise full of work, family, and the daily grind. Have you ever wondered how would it feel to bring that experience of awareness and calm out of the yoga studio and into your everyday life? After all, we know that practicing yoga can give us a leaner body and more sculpted limbs, but isn't its most important benefit the way it makes us feel? In Do Your Om Thing, master yoga teacher and creator of the popular blog OmGal.com Rebecca Pacheco shows us that the true practice of yoga is about much more than achieving the perfect headstand or withstanding an hour-long class in a room heated to 100 degrees. "Yoga is not about performance," she tells us, "it's about practice, on your mat and in your life. If you want to get better at anything what should you do? Practice. Confidence, compassion, awareness, joy—if you want more of these—and who doesn't?—yoga offers the skills to practice them." In her warm, personal, and often hilarious prose, Rebecca translates yogic philosophy for its twenty-first-century devotees, making ancient principles and philosophy feel accessible, relatable, and genuinely rooted in the world in which we live today. And by illuminating how the guiding principles of yoga apply to our modern lives, Rebecca shows us that the true power of a yoga practice is not physical transformation, but mental and spiritual liberation.

Meditate Your Weight

Author: Tiffany Cruikshank
Publisher: Hay House, Inc
ISBN: 1781807965
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 234

Book Description
Hundreds of medical studies have shown the spectacular health benefits of meditation. Now Tiffany Cruikshank, founder of Yoga Medicine, puts that scientific research to good, practical use by incorporating easy-to-use, targeted meditations into a unique weight-loss programme. This 21-day plan optimizes health as well as body image by tapping the hidden strength of the mind. We learn a whole new way to lose weight and it takes just a few relaxing and energizing minutes a day. Learn: • How to get started: advice for new meditators (no weird positions or chants required) • 3, 5, 7 and 10 minute meditations that bust cravings, break self-defeating habits, stress-proof the body and reboot the brain • What to eat - and the top 5 foods to consider avoiding • How to continue your success after your 21-day retreat • Bonus: 10 stress-relieving, cardio-revving yoga exercises to complement the plan Each day of the plan in Meditate Your Weight helps you explore and release what's weighing you down physically, emotionally and mentally – the mental blocks, thoughts, habits and behaviours that stand in your way – to make it easier to think more clearly, make better choices and maximize metabolism. As you lighten up on the inside, you'll lighten up on the outside!

Zara's Big Messy Day (That Turned Out Okay)

Author: Rebekah Borucki
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1734090111
Category : Juvenile Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 48

Book Description
Young readers will join Zara, a clever, responsible, and sometimes anxious seven-year-old girl, in learning a fun and simple breathing exercise to help them mindfully manage their big messy emotions and find peace and calm in any situation. Like a lot of kids her age, Zara sometimes struggles with managing her emotions when confronted with stressful situations. Written by a mother-of-five and celebrated meditation guide Rebekah Borucki, Zara's Big Messy Day will help your child deal with everyday stress in simple but impactful way. Guided by Zara’s mother, both Zara and the reader will learn a kid-friendly breathing technique—a short visualization meditation—that will help them find peace and calm in any moment. And the best part: they'll learn to do it on their own after reading the book just one time! Zara’s Big Messy Day is used by teachers, guidance counselors, and social workers in elementary school cirriculum nationwide to teach students mindfulness and self-regulation. Get free gifts: You'll also get free access to downloadable coloring pages, an exclusive guided meditation for kids, and more! Just use the website link found inside the book to download your exclusive gifts. Praise for Zara's Big Messy Day: “Zara beautifully offers mindfulness for kids and adults alike.” — Rachel Ricketts, activist and author of Do Better “Friends, I cannot recommend these books enough. Get Zara for you, your kids, your nieces, your nephews... They’re just so beatitful!” — Jennifer Pastiloff, author of the National Bestseller, On Being Human