What I'm Reading: Feel-Good Book Three

Happy Yoga: 7 Reasons Why There's Nothing to Worry About is written by Hindu monk Steve Ross, a yoga teacher on TV. This yoga class is PBS's Lilias Folan on steroids, and I picked this book up at Barnes & Noble for the great title and awesome cover. I was not disappointed!

Chris and I have a garage gym, the Zokan Fitness Studio, and we love yoga. We've even begun a sunset yoga class that lasts between fifteen and thirty minutes and is strong on shavasana, the most relaxing pose. He and I are the only members so far, so if you're local, join us around 7:30 every night. As you can see, we have plenty of mats! 

Here are some quotes for you to get a sense of Happy Yoga. On Breathing: "Breathe deeply right now. Just breathing can take you from a state of fear into an open state of peace and well-being. Regular deep breathing regulates the heartbeat and calms the mind. Just breathing helps prevent disease, aging, and depression."

On Loving: "Practice loving. Anybody, even people you don't know, can be a target for your loving energy. Start exercising your power to love unconditionally. Take the emphasis off of getting love and put it on giving love."

Door Two Please: "Essentially, there are two ways to go through life: 1) Resist everything that happens and comes into your awareness, attempt to manipulate the world to the point of exhaustion, and think obsessively about yourself and your life situation. 2) Surrender to the perfect mystery and accept each moment as perfect and essential for your evolution. It's that simple."

On Enlightenment: " ... it's similar to uninterrupted happiness, awareness of the source of all and everything, and conscious oneness with the all and everything... This depth of awareness feels like being bathed in bliss and soaked in heaven, until the bliss seeps in and becomes your very being. You are a vibrating, spacious, calm breath of God, so perfectly alive and in love with simply being."

Light-Up Chairs: "Once enlightenment happens, limitations and suffering fade away. Everything is alive, everything is beautiful. Even a chair becomes alive and glows with life force. You naturally love everything and everyone, because all you see is you. You no longer identify with the body and mind: instead the whole universe is your form."

You Still Gotta Pay the Ticket: "There truly is no spot where God is not.... Where under normal circumstances you might only perceive a cranky, bitter parking-enforcement officer, in an enlightened state you see past the facade and recognize the radiance of God playing there." 

On Acceptance: "Everything is perfect exactly the way it is. You're exactly where you're supposed to be. If you wholeheartedly accept that possibility, a big relax can happen. And from this realization, an openness and receptivity to what is appears."

Along with a  number of yoga poses, Ross shares inspirational quotes in his book. Today's takeaway is one I've loved since my college years on the power of presence: "You do not need to leave your room. Remain sitting at your table and listen. Do not even listen, simply wait. Do not even wait, be quite still and solitary. The world will freely offer itself to you unmasked, it has no choice, it will roll in ecstasy at your feet." Franz Kafka

Want to try a challenging but fun class? Inhale with Steve Ross