If you think that you have to escape to a cave in the Himalayas to find the enlightenment that yoga promises, think again. In Living Your Yoga, Judith Lasater stretches the meaning of yoga beyond its familiar poses and breathing techniques to include the events of daily life—all of them—as practice. Using the time-honored wisdom of the Yoga Sutra and the Bhagavad Gita to steer the course, the author 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, wife, mother, friend, and yoga practitioner and teacher. The result is a new yoga that beckons you to find the spiritual in everyday life.
Customer Reviews
Most helpful customer reviews
146 of 147 people found the following review helpful.
Making It Real
By louienapoli
Here in Manhattan it’s not unusual to go to one of the yoga studios that now seem almost as prevalent as McDonald’s, only to get overpowered by the stench not of sweat but of ego and one-upsmanship (up-yogiship?). It’s like “Any pose you can hold, I can hold better.” Worse, I’ve left class, or home practice, only to wait for the train or bus in a fit of impatience. I’ve meditated only to find myself procrastinating over doing something that needs to be done–six months ago. In short, I’ve practiced a lot of hatha yoga and meditation, and benefited from it, but there was no carry over into my life. Which is what it’s supposed to be about, not an end in itself. And the Sutra’s of Patanjali are nice, poetic semi-haikus but forget about applying them on the A train. Here comes Iyengar veteran Lasater with a book on integrating yoga into everyday life so you don’t leave it all on the sticky mat. Every chapter deals with handling different emotional qualities, from developing courage to conquering fear and impatience. Lasater gives examples from her life. It’s reassuring to read how an accomplished yogi and teacher struggles with the same issues. And the yogic methods she’s found to overcome them. This book is an excellent complement to the standard books on the technique of yoga. Don’t let the title fool you. This isn’t a soft-headed New Age primer full of platitudes. This is a how-to manual full of practical guidance. So good it should come with a karma-back guarantee.
170 of 176 people found the following review helpful.
Finding the Spiritual in Your Everyday Life
By Richard Rosen, deputy director, Yoga Research and Education Center
Though she holds a doctorate in East-West psychology, there’s nothing academic or abstract about Judith Lasater’s approach to “living your yoga.” She writes in down-to-earth language we can all understand, her points illustrated with homespun anecdotes drawn from her life as a student and teacher, wife and parent. The book is divided into three parts, that grapple with an ever-widening circle of contexts and issues, from the intrapersonal (“Yoga within Yourself”) to the interpersonal (“Yoga and Relationships”) to the broadly social (“Yoga in the World”). Each part has seven chapters, with subjects ranging from self-judgment, fear, suffering, impermanence, and greed, to faith, courage, compassion, truth, nonviolence, and love. Each chapter has five sections: an opening quote from either the Yoga Sutra or the Bhagavad Gita, which sets the theme for the chapter as a whole; a pithy essay which expands upon this theme; a simple guided practice that helps us to integrate the theme in our everyday life and so experience its enlightening effects; brief suggestions for further practice; and a list of affirmations, called “mantras for daily living,” that keep us centered, compassionate toward our self and others, and committed to our spiritual work. The English philosopher Francis Bacon once wrote, “Some books are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested.” Living Your Yoga is a feast for the soul that will nourish us again and again with its wisdom.
34 of 34 people found the following review helpful.
Simply inspiring!
By L. Furbush
This book speaks volumes with a quiet simplicity that is the essence of yoga. It is very easy to read and understand, yet tackles many issues we face in our everyday lives. I find that yoga, although it appears easy from the outside, is a complex practice that gently sinks in every day and subtly changes us from the center outward. I feel this book does the same. I intend to refer to it often. Namaste.
See all 56 customer reviews…