Authors: Bija Bennett, Lois Greenfield (Photographer), Deepak Chopra
ISBN-13: 9780684862774, ISBN-10: 0684862778
Format: Paperback
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group
Date Published: August 2002
Edition: (Non-applicable)
Drawing on her extensive training in yoga therapy, dance, and meditation, Bija Bennett has created a groundbreaking yoga program that takes full advantage of the body-mind connection. Based on the classical eightfold path of yoga, Emotional Yoga offers a broad range of simple body-mind techniques that can positively affect our emotional well-being, including the dynamic interplay of movements, breathing exercises, meditations, lifestyle skills, rituals, gestures, and healing sounds. Each technique is presented in a way that is true to Bennett's background in the tradition of Viniyoga, which allows the reader to adapt the program to his or her specific needs.
Foreword | ix | |
Acknowledgments | xi | |
The Yoga of Emotional Healing | xv | |
What is Emotional Yoga? | xvii | |
Leaves Fall | xix | |
Part 1 | Stretching from the Inside Out | 1 |
1 | The Healing Power of Emotions | 3 |
2 | Yoga as Emotional Therapy | 5 |
3 | The Essential Principles and Tools | 8 |
Part 2 | The Eight Limbs of Emotional Yoga | 21 |
Limb 1 | Allowance | 23 |
Bringing into Awareness | 23 | |
Intelligent Behaviors (Yama) | 28 | |
Profound Attunement | 36 | |
Limb 2 | Allegiance | 40 |
Joining Together | 40 | |
Personal Attitudes (Niyama) | 42 | |
Consciousness in Motion | 54 | |
Limb 3 | Will and Power | 57 |
Cooperating Within | 57 | |
Bodily Exercise (Asana) | 59 | |
Skill in Action | 69 | |
Limb 4 | Love | 109 |
Discerning the Differences | 109 | |
Conscious Breathing (Pranayama) | 112 | |
Breathing Lessons | 119 | |
Limb 5 | Harmony | 134 |
Balancing the Parts | 134 | |
Directing the Senses (Pratyahara) | 136 | |
Sensing the Muse | 140 | |
Limb 6 | Knowledge | 150 |
Remembering the Past | 150 | |
Focusing Attention (Dharana) | 153 | |
Sounds of Music | 162 | |
Limb 7 | Wisdom | 167 |
Expanding What's Possible | 167 | |
Sustaining Attention (Dhyana) | 171 | |
Opening the View | 174 | |
Limb 8 | Synergy | 184 |
Returning to Wholeness | 184 | |
Making Life Whole (Samadhi) | 188 | |
Curving Back | 191 | |
Part 3 | Staying Supple | 195 |
1 | On an Emotional Walkabout | 197 |
2 | Growing a Practice | 206 |
Appendices | ||
Practice as Therapy | 213 | |
Resources | 217 | |
About the Author | 218 | |
Notes | 219 |