What can yoga do for you?

If you’ve never stepped foot on a yoga mat, tiptoe over to one and give it a try. And while you’re at it, bend over and try to touch your toes. Go ahead, go for it. Before you know it, you’ll be doing things with your body you never thought possible. If you keep thinking about trying yoga but never get around to doing it, stop procrastinating and get going! Yoga can do so much for you, no matter what age or physical condition you’re in. In fact, once you start doing yoga it’ll make you feel better all over, whether you’re 18 or 80.

According to The Everything Yoga Book, by Cynthia Worby (Adams Media Corporation 2002), yoga:

• Gives you lots of energy.
• Helps you to age gracefully by keeping your spine healthy.
• Helps you stay fit.
• Improves your circulation.
• Eases menstrual, perimenopausal and menopausal symptoms.
• Helps keep your reproductive organs healthy.
• Relieves chronic ailments.
• Relieves stress.
• Helps you relax.
• Creates a sense of inner fulfillment.
• Develops self-esteem and positive body image.
• Improves your posture.
• Increases your bone density.
• Has a profound impact on your emotional health.
• Improves your sex life.
• Focuses the mind.

Want to learn more about yoga? Get a copy of The Everything Yoga Book.  In this easy-to-read book about yoga, you’ll learn what yoga is, what it can do for you, the many styles of yoga, how you can get started, and breathing basics. This helpful book also includes lots of photos of warm-up poses, standing poses, seated poses, twists, supine and prose poses, inverted and balance poses, back bends, and sample practice sequences. Toward the end of the book you’ll find special sections about how to practice the sun salutation, relaxation poses, pranayama, meditation, and special applications (such as poses for pregnancy or cancer, for example). My copy is dog-eared, with little tabs scattered about, because I refer to it again and again. It’s one of the most important books in my yoga library.

I wish you the best in your yoga journey. Namaste.

Eat, Pray, Love an inspiring read

I hadn’t even thought of picking up Eat, Pray, Love until a co-worker of mine recommended it to me. Kathy, a middle-aged woman who took off for a weekend alone leaving her husband and her grown epileptic son to try to come to terms with her sad and unfulfilled life, is like many women in this world — unhappy and rooted to lives they chose yet don’t have the heart or the mind to leave.

Eat, Pray, Love, a #1 New York Times Bestseller and now a major motion picture, is the true story of Elizabeth Gilbert who, after realizing that life wasn’t all it was cracked up to be, goes out on a limb to find meaning in her life. She and her husband had just bought a house in New York and were in the prime of their lives, ripe for having a baby and starting a family. But Elizabeth didn’t want to be a mother, and she was convinced there was something wrong with her. While Elizabeth grappled with the reality of her life, one nagging thought kept taking over. I don’t want to be married anymore. So she did something about it.

She leaves her husband once and for all and starts to pray, meditate, do yoga, and travel the world. She finds herself in the most unlikely places, in the midst of cultures far beyond anything she’s ever experienced, and fosters friendships with people she never thought she’d meet. Hers is a life guided by the God she never met before, a life that gets sewn back together after a deep unraveling, and a life reshaped by a vision only she can see.

If you haven’t yet read Eat, Pray, Love, get your copy today!

Meditations from the Mat an inspiring read

I wanted to tell you about a treasure of a book called Meditations from the Mat, Daily Reflections on the Path of Yoga, by Rolf Gates and Katrina Kenison. This is another one that I read from several times a week before a yoga practice. Expanding on the teachings of the Eight-Limb Path of Yoga, Meditations from the Mat offers inspiring daily readings that draw on the authors’ knowledge and experience on beginning and sustaining a yoga practice and incorporating valuable lessons into daily living. Each chapter is a joyful compendium of how to live fully and completely as we walk singularly on our own path toward yogic consciousness.

If you’re interested in deepening your yoga practice and drawing on the teachings of Patanjali, this book is a must. Every day I learn and grow from the excerpts and it gives me strength and encouragement to get on my mat and cultivate the wisdom of the words I just read. Sometimes when I open this book at the place where I last left off, I am surprised to learn that the next excerpt is just what I need for an “ah ha” moment.

In the introduction, author Rolf Gates says: “Yoga is essentially a journey inward. Whether we squeeze into a class of seventy, practice alone in front of a video, or pair up with a partner at the beach, we all experience solitary periods in our practice. We are often far from the support of our teachers when we practice yoga, and further still from their guidance as we seek to truly live our yoga from one moment to the next.”

I encourage everyone who is truly serious about their yoga practice to get a copy of Meditations from the Mat. Click here to order your copy today.

Live your yoga every day of the year

I bought A Year of Living Your Yoga, a little jewel of a book written by Judith Hanson Lasater, Ph.D., P.T.  at the Yoga Journal Conference in Estes Park, Colorado, last year after I had the pleasure of going to one of her restorative yoga workshops. Okay, I was a little starstruck. Judith Lasater is one of my favorite teachers, and I’m a big fan of restorative yoga if you haven’t noticed already from my other posts. I can’t say enough about how restorative yoga has changed and shaped my life, and I’m planning to become a certified Rest & Relax Restorative Yoga Teacher next February when Judith visits Salt Lake City and teams up with Charlotte Bell for a 20-hour teacher training. I can’t count the days on my calendar fast enough.

A Year of Living Your Yoga is a precious compilation of daily practices and quotes that will inspire and shape your life. This little book graces my yoga room and I read a passage every day before I start my practice. For example, today’s passage renews us with the value of wonder: 

If you want to understand wonder, look at the face of a child closely examining a bug. Living your yoga: Losing touch with your wonder is sad. Wonder perfectly combines curiosity, gratitude, and presence. Today find something to observe in wonder: a flower, the sky, a tree, and notice how this reconnects you with life (A Year of Living Your Yoga, August 16, 2009)

Every day graces us with a lesson on how to live life through the practice of yoga, on and off the mat. Consider adding this little gem to your yoga library and become inspired by Judith’s wisdom. Buy your copy now by clicking here.

Book Review: A Woman’s Book of Yoga & Health

A Woman’s Book of Yoga & Health is an important reference that should be part of every woman’s library.  I keep it in my yoga room and, because I take it out pretty frequently, it’s pages are becoming dog-eared, but that’s okay, it’s worth it.

Written by Linda Sparrow, with yoga sequences by Patricia Walden, and a foreword by well-known restorative yoga guru Judith Hansen Lasater, Ph.D., A Woman’s Book of Yoga & Health (Copyright 2002, Shambhala Publications, Inc.) is an inspirational and practical guide to life-long wellness crafted especially for women as they experience the many cycles of life.  This well-written and thoroughly researched book is complete with pose sequences (and exceptional photos!) for menstruation, menopause, post-menopause, pregnancy, depression, digestion, immunity, back pain, and headaches.  There’s also comprehensive chapters covering restorative yoga poses, and yoga poses for strengthening your heart and how yoga can help those suffering from osteoporosis.

“Today more than ever, it’s crucial that we include practices in our daily lives that promote health and spiritual growth.  The state of the environment, the stresses created by the world’s ever-increasing population’s demand on dwindling resources, and political unrest are signposts of the critical state we face.  If we want a world worth living in, and worth leaving to future generations, we need to take responsibility by creating well-being in our lives and by supporting others as they choose healthier lives. In other words, to transform the world, we first have to transform ourselves.” (Excerpted from Foreword written by Judith Hansen Lasater, Ph.D., P.T. in A Woman’s Book of Yoga & Health, a Lifelong Guide to Wellness.

If you only buy one book this year to inspire your yoga journey, this should be the one! To order your copy, click below!

Yoga & Meditation ebook great for beginners with little time

I came across the Beginner’s Guide to Yoga & Meditation and had to tell you about it.  Even though I’m not a beginner yogi, I tend to read everything I can get my hands on because there’s always so much to learn.  If you’re struggling with stress and you can’t seem to find a few moments out of your life to just breathe, then get yourself a copy of this informative and instructional ebook that is easy to read and easy to follow to help yourself along the path to a more centered life. In this ebook you will:

• Learn basic yoga and meditation without having to attend classes
• Learn different styles of yoga and which one is best for you
• Learn basic yoga poses
• Learn how to make the most use of your personal yoga space
• Learn how to meditate for health and wellness
• Learn how to get rid of headaches with simple yoga poses
• Learn how to relieve menstrual cramps with yoga
• Learn how to do simple yoga poses at your desk to relieve tension
• And so much more!

Through the Beginner’s Guide to Yoga & Meditation you will learn basic yoga poses and simple techniques that will enhance all aspects of your life and bring peace and stillness to an otherwise chaotic existence, and you only need to put aside a few minutes a day to get started.  I don’t doubt that your daily schedule is riddled with responsibilities — work, kids, carpools, cooking, gardening, and whatever else you’ve scribbled on your calendar.  Most likely, you have no time to go to a yoga class much less get to bed at a reasonable hour.  If you want to feel better and ease that stress in your life, now’s the time to make a commitment to yourself and start a yoga practice, and the easiest way to do it is to start one at home, one step at a time.

The Beginner’s Guide to Yoga & Meditation not only teaches basic yoga poses, but it teaches you how to meditate using Universal Mantra Meditation, Relaxation Meditation, Energy Healing Meditation, Color Healing Meditation, and Centering.  It’s not that easy starting a meditation practice.  Take it from me.  But this little ebook will start you on the right track. It’s worth the time you’ll scribble on your calendar, it really is.

It’s no secret that millions of Americans today have taken to the yoga mat to bring quiet and purpose to their life.  Learn how to do it all in Mike Busch’s ebook Beginner’s Guide to Yoga & Meditation. Click Here to order your copy today!

And, not only will you get a copy of this conveniently downloadable ebook, but you’ll also get a 100% 56-day money back guarantee. And, it doesn’t stop there! You’ll also get three more downloadable BONUS ebooks, including:

• How to Eliminate Stress and Anxiety
• How to Boost Your Metabolism
• Fitting Exercise Into a Busy Schedule

Click Here to order your copy today! and start your journey toward a healthier body and a more spacious mind.  Get rid of that stress and call your life your own again. What do you have to lose but your sanity?

Namaste.