Many want to make yoga teaching their full-time career, but most training programs fall short in covering business acumen, and they may not equip graduates with the entrepreneurial skills and savvy they need to make a go of it. This indispensable and inspiring book guides both new and established professionals toward maximizing their impact as teachers and achieving their career goals. You’ll learn to: • build a loyal student base• plan dynamic classes• optimize your own practice • become more financially stable• maintain a marketing plan• use social media effectively• create a unique brand identity• inspire even more students to embrace yoga

    For more than twenty years, Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class has been among the preeminent and most beloved of all yoga guides-and now it has been revised and updated by Bikram, with virtually all-new photographs and an updated section on yoga's medical benefits.With nearly two hundred vivid instructional photographs, Bikram's Beginning Yoga Class is the perfect guidebook for any student of yoga, either advanced or beginner-a reference that makes Hatha yoga fun, easy, and completely understandable.Illustrated throughout with 160 black-and-white photographs by Biswanath "Bisu" Ghosh

    Our fear of intimacy—both with others and with ourselves—creates feelings of pain and longing. But these feelings can also awaken in us the desire for freedom and the willingness to take up the spiritual path. In this inspiring book, Sharon Salzberg, one of America's leading spiritual teachers, shows us how the Buddhist path of lovingkindness ( metta in Pali), can help us discover the radiant, joyful heart within each of us. This practice of lovingkindness is revolutionary because it has the power to radically change our lives, helping us create true happiness in ourselves and genuine compassion for others. The Buddha described the nature of such a spiritual path as "the liberation of the heart, which is love." The author draws on simple Buddhist teachings, wisdom stories from various traditions, guided meditation practices, and her own experience from twenty-five years of practice and teaching to illustrate how each one of us can cultivate love, compassion, joy, and equanimity—the four "heavenly abodes" of traditional Buddhism.

    One of today's preeminent practitioners of holistic medicine heralds a new era of healing and provides a breakthrough in the understanding of the vital connections between self-healing and self-transformation.

    How is this so? Master teacher Richard Miller explains that this experience is a manifestation of yoga nidra, the meditative state of mind-body union at the heart of all yoga practice.A powerful integration of learning, Yoga Nidra is an ancient tantric yoga path that leads to inner freedom. Through accessible language appropriate for any level of practice, Miller takes us step-by-step through the traditional techniques of relaxation and meditation to help us move toward the realization of "unqualified presence"—the ultimate aim of yoga—a goal unreachable through posture practice alone. Through his expert guidance, students will experience:Deep relaxation for relief from day-to-day stress• The development of "one-pointedness"—a key to spiritual awakening• Healing from painful emotions, such as fear, grief, and anger• More effective and energizing sleep, and much moreSuitable for both beginners and advanced practitioners—but new to most Westerners—Yoga Nidra provides an unmatched way to experience the culmination of the art of yoga, and the deeper physical, emotional, and spiritual rewards that are its promise.Includes digital access to audio tracks.

    But the diversity of our philosophies, beliefs, concepts, and views about the soul often leads to confusion. To reconcile the noise that clouds spirituality, Michael Singer combines accounts of his own life journey to enlightenment—from his years as a hippie-loner to his success as a computer program engineer to his work in spiritual and humanitarian efforts—with lessons on how to put aside conflicting beliefs, let go of worries, and transform misdirected desires. Singer provides a road map to a new way of living not in the moment, but to exist in a state of perpetual happiness.

    Whether you're making dinner, commuting, exercising, working at the computer, or brushing your teeth, every moment of your life offers an opportunity to uncover happiness. Short essays are accompanied by practical exercises to try and exquisite illustrations by artist Olaf Hajek. This is the perfect gift for anyone who wants to increase their daily experience of joy, including yourself.

    Not true. The intention of this short guide is practical and straightforward: to say what yoga really is and to apply its principles to everyday life. It leads us through the eight-limbed system, a coherent framework that has been handed down and elaborated upon for thousands of years and consists of five "outer limbs," which pertain to our experience of the social world and the operation of our senses, and three "inner limbs," which focus on the mind. Stuart Ray Sarbacker and Kevin Kimple present the eight-limbed system as something that can be turned to again and again to deepen and expand understanding and practice. As an introduction and overview to the essence of yoga, The Eight Limbs of Yoga is unparalleled for clarity, usefulness, and concision.

    The book is divided into two major sections that cover all bases for the style-minded seeker. "On the Mat" shares seven must-have modern-girl yoga sequences, such as "Healing Hip Openers" and "Negativity Releasing Heart Openers,” and explains yoga philosophy in hip chick language. "Off the Mat" showcases nine ways to become more fabulous and balanced by incorporating yogic qualities like introspection, strength, and flexibility into daily life. The nine lifestyle chapters reveal how to turn on-the-mat wear into on-the-town style, how to create soulful surroundings at home and work, mindful money management, finding a passion-filled career, how strategic soiree-throwing creates community, tips for practicing social consciousness, and more. Each chapter is accompanied by helpful "OMwork" to translate these concepts into reality. Abundant illustrations accentuate the text, and a "savvy sources" section encourages further exploration.

    But how does it work? And why? The principles behind this ancient practice have long eluded some of the best minds in modern science. Until now.In this groundbreaking work, world-renowned Buddhist teacher Yongey Mingyur Rinpoche invites us to join him in unlocking the secrets behind the practice of meditation. Working with neuroscientists at the Waisman Laboratory for Brain Imaging and Behavior, Yongey Mingyur provides clear insights into modern research indicating that systematic training in meditation can enhance activity in areas of the brain associated with happiness and compassion. He has also worked with physicists across the country to develop a fresh, scientifically based interpretation of the Buddhist understanding of the nature of reality.With an infectious joy and insatiable curiosity, Yongey Mingyur weaves together the principles of Tibetan Buddhism, neuroscience, and quantum physics in a way that will forever change the way we understand the human experience. Using the basic meditation practices he provides, we can discover paths through everyday problems, transforming obstacles into opportunities to recognize the unlimited potential of our own minds.With a foreword by bestselling author Daniel Goleman, The Joy of Living is a stunning breakthrough, an illuminating vision of the science of Buddhism and a handbook for transforming our minds, bodies, and lives.From the Hardcover edition.

    Yet most of us, women as well as men, have yet to experience the full potential of our inner feminine energies. When you know these powers for what they are, they heighten your capacity to open spiritually, love more deeply and fearlessly, create with greater mastery, and move through the world with skill and delight. In Awakening Shakti, you will learn how to recognize and invite:Kali, bringer of strength, fierce love, and untamed freedomLakshmi, who confers prosperity and beautySaraswati, for clarity of communication and intuitionRadha, who carries the divine energy of spiritual longingBhuvaneshvari, who creates the space for sacred transformationParvati, to awaken creativity and the capacity to loveWith a wealth of meditations, visualizations, mantras, teachings, and beautifully told stories, Awakening Shakti provides a practical guide for activating the currents of the divine feminine in every aspect of your life.

    It is about where art in the widest sense comes from. It is about why we create and what we learn when we do. It is about the flow of unhindered creative energy: the joy of making art in all its varied forms. Free Play is directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity. Filled with unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecdotes, and original metaphors, it reveals how inspiration arises within us, how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed or obscured by certain unavoidable facts of life, and how finally it can be liberated - how we can be liberated - to speak or sing, write or paint, dance or play, with our own authentic voice. The whole enterprise of improvisation in life and art, of recovering free play and awakening creativity, is about being true to ourselves and our visions. It brings us into direct, active contact with boundless creative energies that we may not even know we had.

    These practical tricks cover all areas of Martha’s domestic expertise, including decorating, organizing, homekeeping, cooking, entertaining, and celebrating. From clever ways to solve common problems (use file folder dividers to organize cutting boards and sheet pans in your cabinets) to time-saving tricks (keep a pail stocked with cleaning supplies for easy access and portability to stress reducers (color-code kids’ bathroom gear to make mornings less hectic), every one of these ideas will make you wonder, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Also included are ways to use what you have (a Parmesan cheese rind will add great flavor to soup), streamline your stuff (use certain kitchen tools for many different purposes), or just make life a little more luxurious (add elegance to your table with DIY place cards). Whether functional, delightful, or a little bit of both, these are the details that enliven and inspire every day—that’s a good thing!

    Harper slowly began to teach more and more yoga classes, and eventually recruited other yoga teachers with education backgrounds to continue growing what had become a flourishing program. Little Flower Yoga for Kids offers this fun and unique program combining yoga and mindfulness in an easy-to-read format. Written specifically for parents and kids, the book aims at teaching children to pay attention, increase focus, and balance their emotions—all while building physical strength and flexibility. Based on a growing body of evidence that yoga and mindfulness practices can help children develop focus and concentration, the simple yoga exercises in this book can easily be integrated into their child’s daily routine, ultimately improving health, behavior, and even school achievement.The book details the five main components of the program: connect, breath, move, focus, and relax. Drawing on these components, Harper shares practical activities that parents can use with their children both on a daily basis and as applied to particularly challenging issues. And while this book is targeted to parents, teachers may also find it extremely useful in helping students achieve better attention and focus.For more information about this innovative program, visit www.littlefloweryoga.com.

    The path of insight meditation is a journey of understanding our bodies, our minds, and our lives, of seeing clearly the true nature of experience. The authors guide the reader in developing the openness and compassion that are at the heart of this spiritual practice. For those already treading the path, as well as those just starting out, this book will be a welcome companion along the way. Among the topics covered are:    •  The hindrances to meditation—ranging from doubt and fear to painful knees—and skillful means of overcoming them    •  How compassion can arise in response to the suffering we see in our own lives and in the world    •  How to integrate a life of responsible action and service with a meditative life based on nonattachment Useful exercises are presented alongside the teachings to help readers deepen their understanding of the subjects.