A Million Ways to Love Yoga
“One must always be
careful of books, said Tessa, and what is inside them,
for words have the power
to change us.”
- Cassandra Clare, Clockwork Angel -
This book is different from the other yoga books out
there, for inside you will not find instructions, but a whole lot of
inspiration. You will also find encouragement to think for yourself, think about
what you need in your life, what your true passions are and what you need to
feel balance in life. Yoga is a powerful tool in the process of self-discovery.
The message of the book is clear: learn who you are, and become happy and
healthy. Yoga is full of miracles, and before you try it, you have no idea of
how it will change your life.
‘A Million Ways to Love Yoga’ reveals 16 compelling
stories of devoted yoga practitioners, their various lifestyles, deepest
experiences and top tips for you to learn from. Several yoga genres are
presented in this book to help new yoga practitioners find their unique way to
yoga. So, whether you have already discovered the joy of yoga or still need
some persuasion and guidance to find your path, the book ‘A Million Ways to
Love Yoga’ is for you.
What the book is
about?
Through
this book we want to share 16 inspirational stories with you, of how yoga has
made people’s lives happier and healthier.
We sincerely hope that you will be encouraged to
learn more about the activity and philosophy of yoga by reading these
extraordinary, real life experiences. The
purpose of this book is to demonstrate how yoga actually comes alive through
people. The practice of yoga needs to be personal and take our unique qualities
into consideration, because everyone is different and our bodies and minds work
differently. By return, yoga, at its best, is able to provide you with your
unique missing piece in life – the balance to make your life feel whole.
Who is it for?
This
book is about the miracles of yoga that we believe to be accessible to
everyone. Yes, you heard us right – we mean everyone, including YOU! However,
even though yoga is for everyone, it does not mean that all yoga postures need
to be. We cannot stress enough, how important it is to always consult an
experienced yoga teacher, who is well acquainted with your individual body and
can ensure you a safe practice.
For this book we wanted to interview many different types of
people: men and women, young and middle-aged. We also included yoga
practitioners from various yoga genres, as well as from different countries. We hope, from the bottom of our hearts, that you will
find many stories that you are able to relate to, that will spark your interest
and tempt you to embrace the wonders of yoga! Each
story has been built around two themes: a personal yogic
path (including some great and memorable yoga experiences along the way), as
well as an analysis of the deeper meaning behind the
person’s yoga practice. These will
both boost your search for your kind of practice, as well as give you an idea
of what the real life benefits of yoga truly are.
This
book has been written for all yoga enthusiasts who crave inspiration
and who are curious about what makes other yogis tick! However, the most important purpose of this
book is to encourage new yoga practitioners to find their way to yoga. So, whether you have already
discovered the joy of yoga or still need some persuasion and guidance to find
your path, this book A
Million Ways to Love Yoga is for you.
The different
genres presented in this book:
ü Acroyoga – Timo’s story
ü Ashtanga yoga –The stories of Asta, Sami, Hanna
and Olli
ü Hatha yoga – The stories of Viviann, Mia and
Antti
ü Iyengar yoga – The stories of Ruusu, Stephanie and
Timo
ü Kundalini yoga – Taina’s story
ü Power Vinyasa yoga – Jack’s story
ü Purna yoga – Nicola’s story
ü Satyananda Classic yoga – Emil’s story
ü Vijnana yoga – Jutta’s story
ü Yin yoga – Petri’s story
Our motivation
for writing the book
A Million Ways to Love Yoga is a project of passion that two people began out of their unconditional
love for yoga. The book sheds light on what yoga is really all about. It
will teach you things that modern apps or the Nintendo Wii game will not , and
provide you with an insight into what yoga truly entails in our modern lives.
Our aim was to unite passionate yoga practitioners by sharing their fascinating
stories and presenting them visually in the form of a book. The idea was to inspire as many people as
possible about the brilliant benefits of yoga, and thus obtain happier,
healthier lives. Contrary to so many other yoga books, our intention was not to
write an instruction book on how to practice yoga. We preferred to write an
inspirational book to share the tangible benefits of yoga and to awaken
people’s interest in yoga, not just as a form of exercise, but as a means of
improving our daily lives. So many of the emotions
that we feel on our yoga mats can be very hard to explain. Yet, our goal
was to also capture those deepest emotions that yoga is able to evoke in us. These
real, ordinary people told us their exceptional stories and we listened
carefully.
We embarked on our book journey in October 2013 when we decided to
write down our own yoga paths. While writing and reading our stories to each
other, we noticed the multifaceted perceptions that we had of yoga! This
is where we got seriously excited! We became hungry for more and set about
contacting other yoga practitioners and teachers. The book project quickly took on a
life of its own. The people we met took notice of our
honest, humble interest in yoga and wanted to help us on our amazing path of
yogic adventure. Soon it became clear to us that there were a million fascinating
stories about the practice of yoga to be told, and this was beyond our wildest
dreams. Finally, after a year’s hard work writing, re-writing, arranging photo
shoots and designing the layout, we are very proud to present sixteen
extraordinary stories of authentic and passionate yoga practitioners.
What does A Million Ways to Love Yoga
refer to?
Trying to explain what
yoga is, based on our interviews, is very much like explaining to someone how
music should make them feel or which music they would enjoy listening to. This
is what A Million Ways to Love Yoga is all about. We are not asking you
to believe in yoga but to experience it for yourself!
Each
person’s love for yoga is very personal. The relationship that we have with our
yoga practice is very similar to the one we have with our all-time favourite
song, a song we never tire of no matter how recently we last heard it. It may
be your mind that makes you turn the music on and your body that catches the
beat and starts to dance, but there is no doubt that it’s your heart that
embraces the experience of listening to it. And when you dance, it has nothing
to do with how you look, but everything to do with how you feel. What is for
sure, it reminds us of life at its best, an adventure faced without fears and
doubts, upon which we can discover our true selves. Even though it is the same
song every time, when you mix it with whatever you are feeling, it can often be
a different experience. And when you focus, you are able to discover the small
nuances of the catchy melody that make you want to re-live the song again and
again, as always and like never before. Just like a great song, your yoga
practice somehow gets under your skin, transforms you and suddenly things just
fall into place. At best, yoga practice can, just like a great song, lift our
spirits and make us believe that anything we set our mind to is possible.
What does the
book look like?
Each
interviewee’s captivating story is provided to the reader in an illustrative
manner. The
interviewed yogis were also photographed for the book. The outcome of this yoga research project is
a beautifully designed book, which purpose is to inspire more people to give in
to yoga.
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