Yoga Minds Writing Bodies

This book argues for the inclusion of Eastern-influenced contemplative education in writing studies as a means of exploring the active engagement writers maintain with their bodies throughout the composing process. It explores how this engagement can be navigated by integrating yoga and mediation into the instruction and practice of writing.

Emphasizes the spiritual side of yoga practice.

With a diversity of bodies and perspectives, this portrait collection presents over eighty yoga practitioners posing and sharing their personal yoga stories. Artfully capturing yoga’s vibrant spirit, Yoga Bodies presents full-color yoga-pose portraits of more than eighty practitioners of all ages, shapes, sizes, backgrounds, and skill levels—real people with real stories to share about how yoga has changed their lives for the better. Some humorous, some heartfelt, others profound, the stories entertain as they enlighten, while the portraits—which joyously challenge the “yoga body” stereotype—celebrate the glorious diversity of the human form. Yoga Bodies is a source of endless inspiration for anyone seeking fresh perspectives on how to live well. “Unpretentious and delightful . . . A collection of first-person portraits of more than 80 people who practice and enjoy yoga. It’s not a book only for yogis—it’s a book for people.” —RealSimple.com

The author of Yoga Journal's most-read column presents the first holistic guide to yoga A user-friendly guide illustrated with 240 two-color photographs and illustrations, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit sets forth the tenets of this gentle yet rigorous exercise as no other book has. Integrating the teachings of every tradition, internationally renowned yoga instructor Donna Farhi reveals how yoga enhances the connections between the mind, body, and spirit. She outlines the seven simple movement principles that underlie all human motion and provides exercises to help readers understand how they can achieve all yoga postures. She also discusses the ten ethical precepts that are the foundation of all yoga teachings and explains how to incorporate them into a spiritually and emotionally rewarding inner practice. At the heart of Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit are more than seventy-five yoga asanas or postures. Each is one pictured and described in detail, and they are arranged into related groups--including standing postures, sitting postures, arm balances, and breathing practices--or easy reference. A selection of yoga practices of varying lengths and levels of difficulty provides challenges and inspiration for beginner, intermediate, and advanced students. A huge resurgence of interest in yoga is sweeping the country. With its broad scope and holistic approach, Yoga Mind, Body & Spirit is the ideal book for today's mainstream audience.

Many of us face daily demands and overwhelming difficulties that cause seemingly uncontrollable feelings of anxiety and fear. When you feel this way, it's healing to calm yourself and to reclaim your sense of innate goodness and well-being. For centuries, yoga has offered a quiet retreat away from life's pressures and has enabled us to reconnect to our inner wisdom and peace. Regular yoga practice has been proven to calm stress, enhance concentration, and reduce the symptoms of anxiety. This book offers meditations, mindfulness practices, self-inquiry exercises, and yoga poses that soothe anxious feelings and develop mental clarity. Before long, you'll free yourself from the anxiety and fears that hold you back and learn to live with a more open heart and resilient mind. Just as yoga helps you feel more at home in your body, the mental and physical practices in Yoga for Anxiety help you increase your sense of contentment in life.

This guide to yoga is based on the five principles synthesized by Swami Vishnu-Devananda: exercise; breathing; relaxation; diet; and meditation and thinking. The book offers a lifestyle strategy for health and happiness that anyone of any age or fitness level can practice.

For the creative fulfillment of writers who identify as runners, walkers, or movers, Running, Thinking, Writing: Embodied Cognition in Composition unveils the varied understandings of the relationship between writing activity and physical activity. Jackie Hoermann-Elliott provides an interdisciplinary overview of relevant research from the fields of composition studies, cognitive science, neuroscience, and sports psychology before proposing a new theoretical framework for explaining what happens to writers when they are moved to develop their writing while their bodies are in motion. She shares illuminating accounts from runner-writers working in the industries of journalism, academia, and youth literature. She also provides pedagogical insights from working with student writers on embodied writing assignments as well as introductory activities for instructors to try in their own classrooms. With a running metaphor guiding the chapters in this book, readers will be challenged to view writing as embodied cognition and to realize the benefits of embodiment for all writers.

Presents postures and total body sequences, offers breathing and meditation techniques, provides advice on finding the right style of yoga and shares a nutrition plan centered around clean, calming foods.