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    Art of Attention: A Yoga Practice Workbook for Movement as Meditation
    Art of Attention: A Yoga Practice Workbook for Movement as Meditation
    Art of Attention: A Yoga Practice Workbook for Movement as Meditation
    Ebook267 pages1 hour

    Art of Attention: A Yoga Practice Workbook for Movement as Meditation

    By Elena Brower and Erica Jago

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    About this ebook

    Yoga begins with physical well-being—but it can also lead us into a lifelong exploration of presence, elegance, and possibility. With Art of Attention, Elena Brower and Erica Jago show us the way. Distilled from their acclaimed workshops and training programs, this multifaceted book can be used as:

    • A step-by-step illustrated workshop of five sessions to merge movement-based mindfulness with traditional yoga
    • A “tool kit” of asanas, meditations, self-inquiry questions, and healing practices for customizing your own daily practice
    • An uplifting source of visual beauty and wisdom insights for inner reflection and inspiration
     
    For students and teachers at every level, Art of Attention takes us further into yoga—and the art of living—with clarity, creativity, wonder, and depth.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSounds True
    Release dateFeb 1, 2016
    ISBN9781622038695
    Art of Attention: A Yoga Practice Workbook for Movement as Meditation
    Author

    Elena Brower

    Elena Brower is a mother, teacher, author, and speaker who has taught yoga and meditation since 1999. She is the bestselling author of Practice You: A Journal, and her first book, Art of Attention, has been translated into six languages. Elena has contributed to Yoga Journal, Huffington Post, Yoga International, MindBodyGreen, Well+Good, Positively Positive, and other outlets. Practice with Elena on elenabrower.com.

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      Book preview

      Art of Attention - Elena Brower

      Sounds True

      Boulder, CO 80306

      © 2016 Elena Brower and Erica Jago

      Foreword © 2016 Linda Sparrowe

      Illustrations and Design © 2016 Erica Jago

      Sounds True is a trademark of Sounds True, Inc.

      All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission from the author(s) and publisher.

      Published 2016

      Teachings by Elena Brower, transcribed from YogaGlo.com

      Art direction, illustrations, and design by Erica Jago

      Photography by Michael Chichi (chapters 1 and 4), Chloe Crespi (chapter 2), Alice Marshall (chapter 3), Dominic Neitz (chapters 4 and 5)

      Mandala Artwork by Sofia Escobar

      Portals by Harlan Emil

      Editing and foreword by Linda Sparrowe

      Grateful acknowledgement is made to the following for permission to quote from their works: From The Reality of Being: The Fourth Way of Gurdjieff, by Jeanne de Salzmann, © 2010 by the Heirs of Jeanne de Salzmann. Reprinted by arrangement with The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Shambhala Publications Inc., Boston, MA. shambhala.com.

      Images of Black Rock City are used at the sole discretion of and are the exclusive property of Burning Man. Reproduction is prohibited. With gratitude for your respect.

      Printed in Korea

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

      Brower, Elena, author.

      Art of attention : a yoga practice workbook for movement as meditation / Elena Brower and Erica Jago.

      pages cm

      ISBN 978-1-62203-593-9

      1. Hatha yoga—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 2. Exercise—Handbooks, manuals, etc. 3. Yoga—Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Jago, Erica, author. II. Title.

      RA781.7.B7576 2016

      613.7›046—dc23

      2015034113

      Ebook ISBN 978-1-62203-653-0

      10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      WELCOME

      FOREWORD

      by LINDA SPARROWE

      CHAPTER ONE

      REDUCE TENSION & FIND FORGIVENESS

      preface by MC YOGI // photography by MICHAEL CHICHI

      CHAPTER TWO

      LET GO OF BLAME

      preface by GABRIELLE BERNSTEIN // photography by CHLOE CRESPI

      CHAPTER THREE

      BREATHE AND FIND STILLNESS

      preface by DONNA KARAN // photography by ALICE MARSHALL // mandala artwork by SOFIA ESCOBAR

      CHAPTER FOUR

      EXPLORE YOUR HIGHEST POSSIBILITIES

      preface by GWYNETH PALTROW // photography by MICHAEL CHICHI and DOMINIC NEITZ // portals by HARLAN EMIL

      CHAPTER FIVE

      LET YOUR LIFE REFLECT YOUR PRACTICE

      preface by CHRISTY TURLINGTON BURNS // photography by DOMINIC NEITZ

      ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

      APPENDIX

      POSE SEQUENCES

      Slow everything down in your brain

      make space between thoughts and actions

      Notice how this increases your sensitivity

      keeping you soft

      Serving

      your family, friends, work

      Practice patience in transition

      find forgiveness in every context

      Emanate consistently

      expand consciously

      Stay

      in the flow

      Extend willingness

      in all you do

      WELCOME

      Thank you for holding this in your hands. With this book, we hope you take your time, find your own voice in it, ask your questions all over it, and make it a home base for your practice and your heart. May these practices remind you that loving yourself is the only prayer, the only practice.

      The most spiritual and powerful aspect of human nature is our faculty of attention. CONSCIOUSNESS. Attention is what allows us to see ourselves, and see within ourselves, in order to learn how we can elegantly approach anything, everything. Our ability to see ourselves and how we behave is key to harmonizing the dissonance between our inner conversation and our outer conversation, and learning how to love ourselves. May these practices spark that harmony.

      To make art of our attention is to be elegant and true to ourselves. So we can be that way for other people. We still don’t know how to listen or respond appropriately sometimes. We forget to be grateful. We forget to be soft. This compilation of practices is inspired by several traditions of Hatha yoga, yoga philosophy, Fourth Way teachings, and the Handel Method. Each sequence points us toward the inner work of listening, respecting, trusting, and healing.

      Practice is distilled into three elemental aspects. SANKALPA explains the intention for the practice. The THREE WAVE SEQUENCE introduces a specific opening into your body through the progression of postures. And the AWAKENING pages conclude and close your practice. Pages at the end of each chapter invite your practice notes, intentions, and sequences.

      Amidst the physical postures and transitions in these practices, we release tension, and find forgiveness. We repattern blame and shame into restful gratitude. We watch our thoughts at a distance, softly separate ourselves from them, and consequently see the unity that we are. Rather than blindly hold assumptions, we explore the very highest possibilities in our behavior, our thinking, our commerce. We cultivate an ecology of gratitude in our being, in our home, and in our practice. We set an example for everyone around us.

      Whether you’re a student or a teacher of yoga, you’re invited to slow down, reflect, and design your experience.

      May these practices bring listening, courage, and connection.

      ELENA AND ERICA

      FOREWORD

      In ancient times, the physical practice of yoga was a means to control the body and prepare it for the rigors of meditation. Today, asana includes hundreds of postures and represents a body-based meditation designed to help us better understand who we are and how we interact with the world around us. Asana awakens the body, stabilizes and strengthens, softens and opens.

      By incorporating the art of attention into our practice, all that bending and stretching, inverting, and twisting we call yoga becomes a powerful way to see our minds more clearly and open our hearts more deeply. And that’s when magic happens. Bearing witness to our strengths and weaknesses, WITHOUT JUDGMENT, allows us to transform our relationship to ourselves into one of loving acceptance and awaken to our innate goodness. These three aspects—physical practice, self-inquiry, and surrender into what yogis call effortless being—come together to make yoga first and foremost a spiritual practice.

      Together, Elena and Erica weave these concepts into a valuable, artful, and awe-inspiring resource. Through breathtaking photographs, profound insights, and practical step-by-step instruction, they offer students and teachers alike concrete ways to connect with deeper aspects of themselves and emerge more compassionate and more fully engaged in the world. Elena’s sequences open and ground the body, placing our attention on what we’re most familiar with—the muscles and bones of our being. This disciplined commitment to the physical, known as TAPAS in Sanskrit, allows us to access the wisdom of the body; it provides the first step on the path toward trusting, respecting, and ultimately healing ourselves. In concert with Erica’s masterful design, Elena’s instructions and inquiries invite us to take action, on our mats and in our lives. Together they give us the blueprint we need to initiate that healing.

      As we become more aware of our physical form, we’re asked to identify and reflect on our actions. This concept of SVADHYAYA—self-awareness—helps us notice patterns and habits that have kept us stuck in discomfort. It allows us to approach them from a place of acceptance instead of judgment. The sequences and meditation techniques help us let go

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