Yoga Mind: Journey Beyond the Physical, 30 Days to Enhance your Practice and Revolutionize Your Life From the Inside Out

by Suzan Colón

Overview

Suzan Colon, yoga teacher and former senior editor at O, The Oprah Magazine, digs deep into the spiritual philosophy behind yoga and distills thirty essential components to enrich your practice and revolutionize your life from the inside out.

We live in an increasingly stressful world, and we know about the hazardous effects stress can have on our health. But meditating and mindfulness can sometimes seem elusive, unattainable, and impossible to fit into our busy days. Even the word “yoga” usually makes many people think of complicated, twisty poses—but that’s not everything. In its complete sense, yoga is a collection of life lessons for wellness and well-being and a spiritual technology from ancient times that is now more relevant, and necessary, than ever.

In Yoga Mind, Suzan Colon shares thirty essential components to increase self- awareness and inner balance to use throughout your day—in traffic, on the train, at your job, and home. She outlines how we can use yoga to cultivate resilience in challenging times, reduce stress, and enrich our relationships with family, work, and ourselves.

This guide contains a 30-day program designed to create subtle yet powerful shifts in awareness and attitude that lead to real, lasting change. Whether you’re a hardcore yogi or a beginner to the practice, Yoga Mind can help you unite your body, mind, and heart to become your best self and cultivate lasting happiness in your life.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781501168864
Publisher:	Scribner
Publication date:	02/27/2018
Pages:	288
Sales rank:	261,038
Product dimensions:	8.30(w) x 5.50(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

A former senior editor at O, The Oprah Magazine, Suzan Colon has written ten books, including the inspirational memoir Cherries in Winter: My Family’s Recipe for Hope in Hard Times (Doubleday, 2009) and Yoga Mind. Suzan has been practicing yoga for nearly twenty-five years and has been teaching since 2002, with certificates in basic and intermediate Hatha Yoga, Therapeutic Yoga, and Yoga for Arthritis. Her writing has been featured in Good Housekeeping, USA TODAY’s Hispanic Living, Woman’s Day for Latinas, and Latina magazine, as well on Huffington Post, Oprah.com, YogaCityNYC.com, and other websites. She has appeared on the Today show, The Early Show, NPR, and other media outlets.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Take a Deep Breath 1

Savasana: grounding and centering

Day 1 Sankalpa: Setting Your Intention 21

Day 2 Deergha Swasam: Deep Three-Part Breathing Practice 29

Day 3 Ahimsa: Cultivating Positive Self-Talk 43

Day 4 Mantra: Creating Your Own Affirmation 53

Day 5 Dharana: Learning How to Meditate 59

Day 6 Sangha: Your Spiritual Support Group 71

Day 7 Brahmacharya: Conserving Your Energy 77

Day 8 Asana: Revitalizing Your Body 85

Savasana: mindful shifts 95

Day 9 Maitri: How to Be Kind to Yourself 97

Day 10 Satya: Compassionate Honesty 105

Day 11 Saucha: A Spiritual Spring Cleaning 113

Day 12 Aparigraha: The Joy of Having, Eating, and Being Enough 121

Day 13 Asteya: Giving and Receiving 129

Day 14 Pratyahara: Quiet Time for Your Senses 135

Day 15 Santosha: The Relief of Contentment 141

Savasana: finding your balance 149

Day 16 Sutra 1.14: Never Give Up on Yourself 151

Day 17 Pratipaksha Bhavana: The Yoga Thought-Swap Trick 157

Day 18 Japa: Repeating Your Affirmation 167

Day 19 Samskaras: Repeating Cycles that Help You Grow 175

Day 20 Dhayana: The Secret of Successful Meditation 183

Day 21 Titiksha: Finding Your Inner Strength 189

Day 22 Tapas: Learn from the Burn 195

Day 23 Svadhyaya: Discovering Your True Self 201

Savasana: steadiness and easefulness 209

Day 24 Ishvara Pranidhana: Surrender and Win 213

Day 25 Karma: The Importance of Your Actions 219

Day 26 Karuna: Compassion in Action 227

Day 27 Bhakti: The Yoga of Devotion 233

Day 28 Mudita: Unselfish Joy for Others 241

Day 29 Svadharma: Finding Your Own Unique Life Path 247

Day 30 Sraddha: Developing Faith 255

Today: Spiritually Surfing Life's Waves 261

Appendix: Yoga Tools by Category 265

Kritajna: Gratitude 271

Editorial Reviews

Suzan Colón is a wise, sensitive, and irresistibly sane guide who shares the true meaning and deeper gifts of yoga, and friendship. Reading this beautiful offering of a book and working with the practices described here will change your life. A balm for anyone who is struggling to live better and more truly.

Jessica Berger Gross

I'd read anything Suzan Colón writes—her words are always full of heart, soul, and smarts. Now she takes that talent to the topic of Yoga, organizing our way to centeredness, steadiness, easefulness, mindfulness, and balance from the inside out. Who couldn't use more of that every day?

Julie Morgenstern

Yoga Mind takes us on a deep and delightful 30 day (and lifetime) journey on how yoga can benefit our day-to-day lives. There is practical wisdom on each page, delivered with such wit that I found myself laughing out loud while reading on the subway. The format of the book is ingenious: It is a personal story of dealing with tragedy, mixed with specific day-by-day lesson plans for spiritual growth, and one of the most concise and clear summaries of the yogic path that you will find anywhere. You will savor this book for a long, long time.

Swami Asokananda

Most books on yoga explain how to achieve peace through teaching about body postures. Although Yoga Mind includes physical techniques, this book does much more. Through her engaging, accessible style, Suzan Colón explains the principles and attitudes that lead to true inner transformation by sharing practices that anyone can do—no matter what age you are or what shape your body is in. I highly recommend this book.

James Baraz

Long before yoga became a popular form of exercise, it was considered a state of being. The physical postures that have been popularized in the West emerged much later than the original practices to still and quiet the mind. In Yoga Mind, Suzan Colon brings us back to the tools of yoga that are too often forgotten in modern yoga practice, and that are accessible to anyone with a mind, regardless of the body's limitations. She draws the reader in with an utterly relatable story; while we may not have experienced paralysis, most of us have been touched by the types of challenges in life that she shares about so honestly. The book's practical tools provide a way into yoga practice that can be woven into daily life, with or without a yoga mat. It serves as a beautiful reminder to lifelong yoga professionals and practitioners, or a lovely entry point for those just beginning.

Steffany Moonaz

Yoga Mind gets to the heart of yoga by exploring practical and accessible ways anyone can bring yoga into their life, even if they can't do a single pose. It's wonderful to have a resource that exposes these powerful tools and shows us how to implement them in order to bring more peace and ease into our everyday life.

Jivana Heyman

What a refreshing read! It is the yoga that we practice off the mat and in our hearts and minds that can truly transform ourselves and our world. Suzan Colón has written the yoga book that the world most needs right now.

Jo Sgammato

What a refreshing and empowering book. Suzan's embodiment of yoga through her book gives readers permission to make peace with ourselves and our bodies through this practice. Thank you for this inspiring read.

Dianne Bondy