Yoga U

The College Students

Tools for Balanced Living

Written by Shira Engel

Illustrated by Julia Drachman

Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Foreword
Introduction
WTF is Yoga? And What Does It Have to do with U?
Yoga for College Students: A Revolution of Radical Proportions
The College Yogi Behind the Page
Structure: Exploring the Architecture of this Book
Part I Karmic Campus
Chapter 1 Turn Your Dorm Room into a Yoga Studio
Packing List
Sacred Space
Create an Altar: Worship Beyonce
Be Fierce, Be Kali: Goddess of Time & Space
Chapter 2 Take It to the Stacks: Yoga in the Library
Get in the Zone
Finals Week as a College Yogi
Headstand in the Stacks
Poses to Reenergize
Ganesh: Remover of Obstacles
Chapter 3 Lecture Hall: How to Practice Yoga in Class
Focus!/Find Your Drishdi
Professor/Guru
Bathrooms Are Sacred
Sarasvati: Goddess of Learning
Chapter 4 Dining Hall
Yoga + Food: Is that a Thing?
The Yoga of Eating
Agni: God of Fire

Chapter 5 Field/Hill
Salute the Sun (Literally)
Spread the Practice
Throw a Yoga Dance Party
Hanuman: Monkey God of Play
Chapter 6 Partaay
Sthira & Sukha: Work Hard, Party Hard
Lila: Play
Pregame with Yoga
Yoga Party Tricks
Nataraja: God of Dance
Part 2 Patanjalis Eight-Limbed Path
Chapter 7 Whos this Dude Patanjali?
Yoga Philosophy 101: Be a Nice Person
Take it Off the Mat
Chapter 8 Yamas: What Not to Do
Ahimsa: Stop the Violence!
Satya: Lets Get Real
Asteya: Dont Cheat
Brahmacharya: Be Mindful
Aparigraha: If Youre Gonna Take, Ya Gotta Give
Chapter 9 Niyamas: Be Awesome
Saucha: Cleanliness
Santosha: Contentment
Tapah: Discipline
Svadhyaya: Self-Study
Isvarapranidhana: Surrender
Chapter 10 Asana: It All Starts on the Mat
Create a Passionate Home Practice!
Go With the Flow: Find Your Vinyasa Krama
Components of a Home Practice
Mix n Match Asana
Personalize Your Practice
Chapter 11 Pranayama: Just Breathe!
The Revolution Lies in the Breath

Inhale, Exhale, & Everything In Between

Mix n Match Pranayama
Chapter 12 Pratayahara: Let Go
Cleanse: Shedding Energy
Letting Go
Chapter 13 Dharana: Concentrate!
Find Your Purpose
Set Your Intention
Chapter 14 Dhyana: Meditation
Get Quiet
Metta: Lovingkindness Meditation
Chapter 15 Samadhi: Blissful Union
Get Your Ass to the Beach
Get Connected
Part 3 cOMmunity
Chapter 16 Create a Campus Yoga Community
So Many Words for Community
Create a Campus Yoga Community
Part 4 Student Planner: Yoga for Days of the Week
Sunday: Restorative
Monday: Vinyasa
Tuesday: Ashtanga
Wednesday: Partner Yoga
Thursday: The Kaivalya Method
Friday: Shake It Out
Saturday: Lotus Flow
Part 5 Yoga Valedictorians

Shira Atkins
Amanda White-Graff
Katherine McComic
Leigh Stewart
Glossary
Resource Guide
Gratitude
About the Author
About the Illustrator

Yoga U
The College Students
Tools for Balanced Living

Written by Shira Engel

Illustrated by Julia Drachman

 2012 by Shira Engel

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any
means or in any form whatsoever without written permission from
the publisher.
Illustrations, cover design, and book design by Julia Drachman
ISBN

This book is dedicated to the amazing souls I met through Three Sisters Yoga,
the teachers who teach me how to teach, and the people who inspire me to live
life to the fullest (and to do so mindfully!). This is for all the students I have had
at Wesleyan University who are my teachers as well. This is dedicated to yogis
who I love deeply and the friends who keep me grounded in the journey.

Foreword
I have been practicing and teaching yoga for over a decade now. When I started, I was a college
student at the University of Denver pursuing a degree in Physics. Taking a yoga class was so far
from my set of interests that it took a dare from a friend to finally get me to class.
When I went, it changed my life.
Suddenly, Id found something that boosted my confidence, alleviated the pain in my back and
shoulders and gave me a brighter outlook on life. Another interesting side effect was that it made
managing my college experience far easier. My study time was more effective and my papers
contained an air of positivity that had previously been lacking in my over-analytical science brain.
As soon as I graduated college, I took a hard left turn and became a yoga instructor. It has
been my profession ever since and I have travelled the world, written a book, been featured in
magazines, and taught conferences and teacher trainings. As a resident of New York City, my wellestablished practice continues to keep me sane, productive and optimistic about all of lifes ups
and downs.
Oh, how I had wished that someone had been thoughtful enough to write the book Ms. Engel is
writing for you all now! My college yoga experience was a pivotal point in my life that obviously
altered the direction of my future, but I came to it with such low expectations because at that
time, no one had yet paved the way for young people to do yoga. Though I was taking class at my
college gym, I was the youngest person in the room!
Nowadays, it seems the popularity of yoga has not only made it more widespread, but has also
broadened the age range of the beginner yogi, and Im thrilled to be seeing more college-age
students in yoga classes. At one of my local yoga studios in Manhattan, the population is primarily
NYU students and every time I have the chance to teach there, I cant help but think what a gift
this is for the minds of these students.
They will have the optimism, openness and courage to go from their studies to life, the workplace
and the families they build after their college career. Theyll enter into their professions (which, in
New York can mean 80 hour work weeks!) with the fortitude and gratitude that yoga teaches. Its
exciting and I cant thank Shira enough for offering the tools of yoga so wisely to her community
with this exciting book.
Trust me, shes done the work that shes offering you - Ive seen her do it because she came to me
as a yoga student several years ago while still in high school. As a bright light in my classes then,
she continues to shine with her writings, and now shes taking them from blog to book to offer you
the best of the tools shes cultivated over her many years of practice as both a yogi and a student.
What youre about to find in these pages are not just tools that will get you through the next four
years, but tools that will create the foundational experiences to pave the way for all your endeavors.
I dont say that lightly. Eventually this yoga stuff permeates your grey matter in such a way that
it becomes not just a lifestyle, but your life. There is goodness and joy to be found within these
pages, and I hope that these blessings stay with you for the rest of your term... in college and in
life.
With great love,
Alanna Kaivalya

Introduction

WTF IS YOGA? AND WHAT DOES IT HAVE TO DO WITH U?

WHAT I SAY
The word Yoga comes from the Sanskrit root yuj, which means to yoke or unite. This term
is complex because it can mean something different for everyone. There are as many Yogas
as there are people. That said, lets go with this interpretation of Yoga as union.
College students tend to fall into states of disconnect; students view body and mind as separate, when they are inherently inseparable. Yoga is anything that brings these two entities into
one. This means that Yoga can be a class you take at the gym, meditation, deep breathing, or
a combination of all these practices.
A yoga practice has the potential to serve as a barometer, to assess how you are doing.
A yoga practice asks, How willing you are to take care of yourself in the midst of a
stressful environment? It is dependable and constantly malleable. In order to use yoga
as an effective barometer, however, we have to be unafraid to make it mean something
to us, as the unique individuals we are.
Yoga is revolutionary because we interpret it for ourselves. What I offer in this book is an interpretation of ancient yoga philosophy, poses and sequences that teach us how to embody that
philosophy, and a wide variety of ways to have it all make sense in your bodies, minds, and
hearts. It is crucial to note that I am offering an interpretation of an interpretation of an interpretation and so on. Yoga itself is interpretation because it is customizable.
Make this practice work for you, not the other way around. If you try to shift yourself to fit the
practice, you are going to get bored or sick of it. Instead, make the practice fit who you are because who you are is AWESOME. This is radical. This is taking tradition, turning it on its head,
and making it work for us so we do not lose it. Many people shirk away from modifying and
reforming tradition because they think it is disrespectful. But honestly, if we do not do that, it
will die out, which is terrifying because this is a tradition that makes people happy and happiness should never die out.

WHAT TRADITION SAYS

The above is what I say Yoga is. This dude Patanjali has a whole lot more to say on the subject.
ATHA YOGANUSASANAM
ATHA = now
YOGA = yoga

NOW THE TEACHINGS OF YOGA CAN BEGIN

ANUSASANAM = teachings

Sounds simple, right? Yes and no. This makes so much sense and when were on our mats,
dont we already know that? Why do we need a whole commentary on it?
We dont live in a society of Now. We live in a society of if, when, couldve, shouldve, and but.
Now is weaning its way out of the vocabulary of day-to-day living. Now is actually the antithesis of the college students crappiest friend: procrastination.
First, we will put off writing the paper until the library is absolutely silent. Then, well say that
we cant do our asana practice until we write the paper. Not living in the now perpetuates a vicious cycle of neglecting the self. To say, Now the yoga begins is revolutionary when we create conditions for ourselves to be our best instead of trying to best ourselves. All yoga asks of
us is to stay present. It is one of the highest commands and one of the most important. Yoga
can be an amazing check-in point to see what else is going on in our lives. Have I neglected
my practice because I thought the yoga should begin another day? Whats happening thats
making me do that? Can I do the practice anyway and see how I feel afterwards? These are all
questions that, when asked, can help us use this practice of staying present, this practice of
yoga, as a tool for life not once we graduate, but now.
YOGASH CHITTA VRITTI NIRODHAH
YOGASH = Yoga
 



-('('#"&
#
'
!"

YOGA IS THE CESSATION

OF THE FLUCTUATIONS OF THE MIND

NIRODHAH = restraint
So what are chitta vrittis for the college yogi? Visualize yourself in yoga class or sitting in the
library trying to crank out a paper. Your mind goes to: Is last nights hookup going to text me?
Should I not have given out my number? What is wrong with me? Oh no, I made a mistake! Or, I
have so much to do in so little time. I have this paper and that paper and that problem set and
that write-up and how am I going to do it all at once? What did I get myself into? Or, Whats for

dinner? I hate the new dining hall. Who am I going to go with? Is the vegan option going to be
good enough?
Have a headache yet? Does any of this sound familiar? These are all aspects of chitta vrittis,
otherwise known as the fluctuations of the mind. These various questions and analyses we
pose to ourselves on a daily basis share some commonalities: they project into either the future or the past, and they are entirely unnecessary in the present. They are distractions. They
modify what is going on in the moment so it makes it more difficult to focus. In many ways,
they are jailers - they bind us to thoughts that are not facts. Now, were human so we get them
all the time. I know I do and a huge reason why I now do yoga is to quiet that chitta and to
simply observe them. That last part of the sutra, nirodhah (restraint) allows me to be gentle
when I see the chitta pass by and the way I interpret it is that I restrain myself from judging
these modifications and acting on them inappropriately.

YOGA FOR COLLEGE STUDENTS: A REVOLUTION OF RADICAL PROPORTIONS

If you are reading this book, chances are, you have experienced the daily stresses of college
life and that hour-long release yoga can offer from that inner turmoil. Maybe you know what
it is like to pull an all-nighter and stare in bathroom mirrors peering at gray skin. Maybe you
know what it is like to be faced with the daunting social pressures of constantly being surrounded by new people, new situations, and a new lifestyle. Maybe you are searching for a
lifestyle that does not solely consist of beer, tests, and random hookups.
And maybe, just maybe, you have found some time to explore yoga. Maybe your roommate
swears by it. Maybe youre even a trained yoga teacher. Maybe you just stare at mat-toting
happy-looking people and think, If only I were flexible... Perhaps you yourself have taken a
yoga class during a particularly stressful day and, for ninety minutes, all your worries and that
everything-is-a-big deal attitude you carry around melted away as you held weird poses and
felt strength emerge from your spine.
Before you left for school, middle-aged relatives probably crowded around you at family functions to inform you that you were about to enter the best four years of your life. Then, you
get to school, experience the sheer awkwardness of freshman orientation, and are suddenly so
busy and overwhelmed with classes, extracurriculars, and new friends that you begin to forget
to breathe and take it all in. So let me ask you: how are you supposed to experience the best
four years of your life if you cant even appreciate the present moment?
Yoga is revolutionary because Yoga IS the present moment. It teaches us and gives us the
tools to tap into the now so that we can better appreciate our experiences, from the daily to
the evolutionary to the revolutionary. Through practices that are both challenging and simple,
we learn to face lifes obstacles head-on.
College is intended to harness our tremendous potential to change the world. It encourages
us to be selfish in the best of ways - to focus on what we want to learn, broaden our horizons,
burst bubbles, and cultivate new understandings. The point of college as both an institution
and time of life is to train us to engage with the world as people who know their purpose and
have the power to fulfill it. In yoga, this purpose is called dharma and the point of yoga is
actually the same as the point of college when it comes to fulfilling your dharma: the practice
gives you the tools to engage with the world with impact.

But how on earth are we supposed to change the world if we are so worried, preoccupied, and
lost? We are a generation in desperate need of a practice that gets us out of our heads so that
when we return to them we can start using those noggins of ours more efficiently. We are a
generation that forgets we have a body as we mindlessly munch, hunched over in the library.
That body is constantly deprived of sleep, and forgets to breathe all too often. College, a stage
of life that is intended for personal and collective growth, becomes akin to a pressure cooker...
and we are water that is about to boil over unless we turn down the heat. Yoga turns down the
heat.
So maybe you practice yoga already or have tried a class in town and experienced the pressure being turned down, like a lid being removed from a pot of overflowing oatmeal. Then,
you emerge from savasana, head to dinner with your friends, get caught up in someone elses
drama and proceed to freak out.
This is what happens when we access only one dimension (the physical) of a multidimensional
practice. We deprive ourselves of letting that feeling last. Its not like we can just take savasana all the time. If we did, of what use would we be to the world? That would just be yoga, but
what we need for a revolution to take place is Yoga. The capitalization is a subtle, but remarkable difference because it shows us that Yoga is not just the physical - it has the potency to address all areas of life and it can be accessed wherever, whenever so that we can approach each
situation, from an exam to a frat party, with greater love, compassion, equanimity, and calm.

YOGA, SLAM POETRY, & ACTIVISM

Where I go to school, slam poetry is the new football.
At the start of every slam, the MC will remind the audience, The point is not the point. The point is the poetry! This is true for Yoga as wellbut well use different terms to coin our metaphor. In Yoga, the point is
not the pose; the point is what that pose can do for you,
how it can allow you to carry yourself off the mat and
into the world. If the pose exists exclusively on the mat,
it does not matter. At all. But it gets me a tight ass, I
hear the whines. Okay, maybe those surya namaskars
are working your toosh, but what exactly are you going
to do with that tight ass? Where is it going to go? What
meaning can you cultivate for yourself on the mat that
you can take out into the world?

THE COLLEGE YOGI BEHIND THE PAGE

Yoga teaches me that stability in life comes through stability with breath. I always thought that
stability meant being static, unmoving, but when I started college, I discovered just how wrong
I was.
When I got to my small liberal arts college in middle-of-nowhere Connecticut, I was filled with

fear mingled with excitement. I had spent the better part of my adolescence establishing a
routine for wellness (I was lucky I started early) and that was about to be shaken upor so
I thought. In my senior year of high school, I worked for a yoga studio and began practicing
five days a week. I fell in love with Jivamukti and Anusara and hot power yoga and so, so much
more. I was getting an education in a spiritual and physical discipline. I became attached to
the very practice that teaches detachment.
I tried out one yoga class in a studio in that very small town and did not feel challenged. I grew
disappointed and, for two weeks, complacent. I let my practice go for a little while and realized
just how much it meant to me in the first place. I became overwhelmed by schoolwork and
spent hours in the library, my body hunched over books, always leaning forwards or reclining
backward.
At a campus Buddhist meditation event, I remembered a very wise yoga teacher telling me
that when our spine leans forward, we are projecting into the future and when our spine leans
back, we are dwelling in the past. When our spine is aligned and erect (as is the posture of
yogis), we are content in the present.
With that memory, my yoga practice returned. I began a home practice. They say that necessity is the mother of invention and I say that college is the instigator of creativity. There wasnt
much creativity involved when I lived in a city filled to the brim with yoga studios. I did not
have to work for my practice when I could rely on external forces. In going to college, I learned
that enlightenment takes work.
Here are some lessons Ive learned:
1. You can practice anywhere. If any college practitioner has a right to this claim, its me.
I was assigned to a forced triple (three full sets of furniture squeezed into a room designed for two). There was literally no floor space. My mat had nowhere to go. In the
beginning, this seemed ironic because double the roommates, double the stress, double
the need for yoga to chill me out, but it turns out that this could be relabeled as an opportunity for me to explore the nooks and crannies of campus. I have practiced yoga in
underground graffitied tunnels (where I struck my most badass Warrior Two yet), student lounges with people running through during my practice (see lesson 2), friends
rooms (see lesson 3), and in the beautiful grass when the
weather has been especially nice. When there is willingness, there is a way.
2. Breathe through the distractions. Face it: there will be
distractions. Its about creating a practice strong enough to
withstand distractions. Breath is key. During my third week
at school, I was in Bird of Paradise in the lounge. Already a
tough balancing pose, I began to wobble as I heard a flock
(pun intended) of students rushing through in between
classes. I did not respond. I did not have to explain myself;
the lounge is a communal space I had just as much a
right there practicing yoga as they had using it as a shortcut. Instead, I breathed deeply and guess what? I held the
pose! I learned how to maintain my practice in the face of

distractions. That will serve me wherever this practice takes me.

3. Bond with like-minded people. Yoga has a way of sneaking its way into dining hall
conversations. I began to share that I practiced and you know what I found out? I am
not alone. Others were working just as hard as I was to maintain their regular practice
at school so why not lighten the load by working together? I began to set up yoga play
dates with these new friends. We would reserve dance rooms and take turns teaching
each other. This became an excellent way to practice teaching and learning simultaneously.
4. You are your own best teacher. Before college, I relied heavily on my teachers guidance.
I allowed them to tell me where my body should go instead of trusting myself. It was too
easy not to. Necessity allowed me to establish a home practice. Spontaneously, I began
getting on my mat and seeing where my body would take me. I didnt have to do anything. My breath guides me through transitions and creates more space in my body. I
know my body best and I needed to practice on my own in order to learn that.
5. Take it off the mat. College is stressful. Life is stressful. But it does not have to be all the
time. The Buddha says, Suffering is optional. A regular yoga practice reinforces this.
When I can get present with the breath and create space in my life through creating
space in my body, day-to-day tasks lose their intimidation.
During midterm week, I walked into the student-run caf after practicing and the barista asked
me how I was doing. Im doing really well, I emphasized. He looked at me, shocked, and
asked, Shira, have you forgotten about midterms? Oh, no, I responded. Im just following
my post-yoga bliss right now and Im ready to get some work done.
You do that, he laughed.
Seeing as I am writing this book and dedicating a large part of my young life to the practice,
I clearly love yoga. I can give you a gazillion and one reasons for why a yoga practice can
change your life, and another zillion reasons for why a yoga practice can transform the whole
college is the best four years of your life adage from myth into reality. But none of those
reasons matter. What matters is why you, as the unique, vibrant, awesome individual you are,
want to practice yoga. And guess what? This is not a multiple-choice test. There are no bubbles
you have to fill in. Every answer is completely valid. Thats right there are no wrong answers
so dive in.

STRUCTURE: EXPLORING THE ARCHITECTURE OF THIS BOOK

Lets begin with the title: This title has two meanings. One is Yoga University; emblazoned on
the cover that this is a book on practicing yoga for college students anywhere, really, but specifically on campus. The second meaning is a bit more text-speak if you will. Yoga + U = yoga
for you, as an individual, allowing you to create an authentic, meaningful practice that is deeply personal, as well as physical and spiritual, addressing what yoga does and can mean to you.
We begin our journey together virtually. This book began online in the form of my blog on
Tumblr, Story of a College Yogi and it was only fitting to have it continue using a similar medium (it makes it all the easier to give you resources!). If I had to give my blog a shorter title,
it would be called, Yoga Me. It is a virtual expression of my experiences practicing, teaching,
and learning about Yoga. Through consistent self-exploration, I learned that it is impossible
to focus solely on myself when engaging in spiritual pursuits. To focus solely on the self goes

against the philosophy of yoga. I wanted to know about other people. I wanted to know the
stories of other college yogis and pluralize the title of my blog.
You might be coming to this book with a story as a college yogi. You might also be approaching this with a desire to write one, meaning that you want a consistent yoga practice, but do
not already have one. Both are phenomenal reasons for reading! Like the stages of practicing
headstand, there is something here for everyone!
We start off with a college tour. Through words and illustrations created by my studio art major of a friend, we go through each part of campus and see how we can be yogic (practice
the principles of Yoga) in each physical space. What we learn on the mat enters the realm of
daily life as we approach campus with fresh post-savasana eyes!
You will also find adorable Hindu deities on your Karmic Campus college tour. The deities
provide the myths behind the poses we do (thats right: we put our legs behind our head for a
good reason). College yogi Hannah studied abroad in India and did a homestay with a Hindu
family. After many conversations with her host father on the subject of the deities, she feels
qualified to say:
We dont need to learn all about the Hindu gods. The reason why there are so many and theyre
all so different and misbehaved is so we can recognize qualities of ourselves in a few of them and
really identify with them to realize that we are gods too. Their purpose it to show us that were all
holy. Its all an effort to make us realize that each one of us is important.

After our college tour, we delve straight into the heart of the Yoga practice: Patanjalis EightLimbed Path. If you havent guessed already, this is not a book strictly about the physical
practice. If you want to learn how to practice yoga poses, you will get that information here,
but your time would be better spent getting on a mat with other practitioners at a class. If you
are downloading this book, I am assuming that you already know there is something to read
about Yoga, that you know there are philosophical words associated with a practice that is
only one part physical. This is where the Eight Limbs come in: they break down all the parts of
Yoga (and dont worry the physical practice gets plenty of attention) so that you can create a
personal practice that benefits mind, body, and spirit. Following is the Student Planner, which
gives you full yoga practices in a wide variety of styles that put all the yogic philosophy into
practice.
We close the guide with a section on cOMmunity because do not forget this is a book on
Yoga for college students. I want to leave you with the biggest takeaway of all: this practice is
no good unless you are using it to benefit your relationships with others! To say that you practice yoga means that you are doing something practical. The practicality of anything lies in
how we apply it to our day-to-day lives. Creating (or joining) a community rooted in Yoga practices enables us, as college students, to gain group support for a lifestyle that is both individual and communal.
We move from theory into practice in our final section: Yoga Valedictorians. The idea for this
book began with Story of a College Yogi. It seems only fitting that it ends with the stories of college yogis from a wide variety of universities.
Having a life-changing practice at such a young age means that you are being given the tools
for living poses for doing and breathing for being. Discovering yoga in college can mean only
one thing: we have been given the Fast Pass at the Six Flags of Life. It means that we are des-

tined for greatness.

YOGIS CHOICE: HOW TO READ THIS BOOK
Now that you know the architecture, you get to figure out which stairwell to take! There are
numerous ways to approach the content to come and, just like taking a variation of tree pose
in yoga class, you get to choose how you take this journey. Here are some ideas:
 START TO FINISH: You can read this book from start to finish and let the text
wash over you like a blissful ocean wave. If you are doing this, dont annotate
just absorb. Then, go back through individual sections that strike a chord and
search for more meaning.
 5 BOOKS: Break down this e-book into five separate ones: Karmic Campus, Patanjalis Eight Limbs, Student Planner, cOMmunity, and Yoga Valedictorians.
Read them each separately as books in and of themselves. Maybe you are about
to enter college so you begin with Karmic Campus to get a feel for what campus
has the potential to do for your yoga practice. Then, a year later, you pick up the
Patanjalis Eight Limbs. Maybe it only takes a week for you to move from book to
book. Like an open-level vinyasa class, feel free to move at your own pace!
 GET PHYSICAL: Even though this book is about more than just the physical practice, feel free to use this book as a manual for what to do with the body by scanning it for the pose illustrations and using those as a two-dimensional yoga class
on the go.
 WORKBOOK: Do every single exercise in this book. Annotate the shit out of it
using cool annotating tools for e-books. Practice the poses. Write out your reflections. Be explicit about how each and every part applies to your life.

Part I

Karmic Campus

Lets go on a college tour!

Lets take a tour through your typical college campus, shall we? Yoga is not meant to be isolated and confined to a yoga mat. It is meant to be used as a way to optimize and create
intention in our lives off the mat. What would happen if you made your entire campus your
own personal yoga studio?

Chapter 1
Turn Your Dorm Room into a Yoga
Studio

PACKING LIST
We are grounded in the material world. It is what we first see and what we have access to
the second we wake up in the morning. Yoga studios, centers, and schools (ideally) provide
a sacred space in which people are encouraged to embrace their bodies, be themselves, and
practice yoga. All it takes is mindfulness and careful placement of objects imbued with meaning. In this chapter, I encourage you to cultivate a space that has meaning for YOU and that
will encourage the advancement of your yoga practice.
As we move into a new journey, we have to pack our U-Haul and make sure it is full of goodness the stuff we want to keep, not the clutter we let go and give away. Further on in this
book, you will encounter some emotional, spiritual, and mental packing lists, but for now,
lets delve into the physical and tangible, that old-school packing list so that you are well-prepared for this journey through your own delicious practice.
Note: For information on the best of the best of these yoga essentials, check out the Resource Guide, which includes tips and tricks so that youre not breaking the bank or creating
unnecessary chaos in your teensy tiny living space.
ON THE MAT
yoga mat (duh)
2 blocks (2 textbooks piled on top of one another = 1 block)
blanket (or towel)
pillow
strap (or scarf)
glitter
lots and lots of music
empty wall for inversions

















YOGA HELP
dry erase board
books on yoga (check out your colleges library catalog)











yoga DVDs
podcasts
yoga magazines (Yoga Journal or Yoga International)

CLOTHES
A note about clothes: You do NOT have to get fancy here. Yoga clothes can be freaking expensive (and, admittedly, adorable), but that is only because fancy shmancy corporate people
got wind of the fact that lots of people are into yoga so they jumped on the bandwagon and
started making designer labels. But we, the people, were there first. In the privacy of your
dorm room, I would even encourage you to be super-radical and do yoga naked. Not only
is this nonconformist of you in the face of yoga fashion labels, but it can also be incredibly
liberating to feel your body move without anything confining or pressing against it. It can pave
the way for new discoveries and maybe even greater acceptance, which is the path of Yoga.
For those times when clothes are the appropriate avenue to peruse, here are some ideas:


stretchy pants

hair ties/headband

shirt

sports bra for the ladies

T-shirts

light sweater (stay warm during savasana)
CREATING A SACRED SPACE


photos of loved ones


photos of beloved places that inspire you

magazine clippings of anything that inspires you

nightstand (or shelves covered with a sarong or colorful scarves)

pictures/figurines/artwork

battery-powered lighting (do NOT get fire safety mad at you for doing candlelit yoga).

other forms of non-fluorescent lighting (i.e. do not leave your lighting situation up to your

school. Most schools use fluorescent lights for their residences because it is cheap and
wide-reaching. It is artificially bright and therefore not conducive to happiness so you are
encouraged to get creative with other forms of lighting and invest in your habitual happiness.)
something that represents what hOMe means to you (a teddy bear or letter from your mom
or friendship bracelet made for you by your kindergarten BFF)



CREATE AN ALTAR: WORSHIP BEYONC

Dorm rooms have the opportunity to be sacred spaces. They are all created the same so it is
our job to make them sacred and devotional, in ways that have meaning to us. What do I mean
by devotional? I mean that we can dedicate space to remind us of something larger than ourselves. This can be a plan we have for our futures, our dharmas or unique purposes, a deity, or
an attitude we want to embody.
Sera Beak writes in The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark

(required reading on the imaginary college yogi syllabus), Altars are personal, concentrated
energy centers, places to visit when youre craving an energetic buzz, when you need a space
to vent, or when youre just seeking some peace of mind. An altar is a physical representation
of our intentions. It is a reminder that should be clearly visible to you and that holds objects
you find inspiring. These objects should serve as reminders of your best yogi self, tattoos
inked into the skin of your dorm. It should look like yours and no one elses.
Make your altar authentic and beautiful. By authentic, I mean dont put statues of Hindu deities
just because you think thats what you should do. In fact, dont do anything because you think
its what you should do. Random Hindu deities might not have meaning for you, but maybe
Beyonc does so above the surface of your altar, you put the fiercest Single Ladies poster
you can find on eBay.
Maybe you are yearning for a sexual awakening, so you discreetly put a packet of lube on your
altar. Maybe you want to become a better writer, so you include a beautiful pen. Maybe you
want to add pizzazz and sparkle into your life so you add a bottle of gold body glitter. Maybe
you want better luck so you throw a penny, heads up, onto it. And maybe you do actually connect with a Hindu deity so you head over to a Tibetan goods store and pick up a lil Ganesh or
Sarasvati or Kali, daily reminders of the little deities in each of us.
This book is about becoming a sustainable person in college. We can use yoga to help us rely
on things other than outside circumstances for our sense of self. An altar enables us to create a home wherever we are, showing us that our sense of self does not have to be generic
like dorm room walls and it certainly doesnt have to be erased just because we are in a new
location. We are constantly changing. Our outside circumstances are constantly changing. We
engage in a perpetual dance with the exterior, material world, but bottom line: it works for us
when we create gorgeous altars that are expressions of who we are; we do not work for it.

BE FIERCE, BE KALI: GODDESS OF TIME & SPACE

Kali is the most badass goddess out there. Why is she
so badass? She makes a way out of no way. She sees a
problem and shes like, F that. She finds a means to
her end because she has her priorities straight. She is
powerful and wears weapons as jewelry. Your yoga practice is like a weapon. Its not a weapon to be used for
violence, of course, but a weapon to cut through challenges, to fight what does not serve you until it no longer
bears an effect. Kali is naked except for her weapon jewelry and, like Simba says in The Lion King, she laughs
in the face of danger. Her job is to use those mighty
weapons of hers to cut through illusion. Bottom line:
Kali doesnt take crap from anybody.
All deities deal with realms of the human experience. Because Hinduism is not monotheistic,
no one deity is in charge of every element of what keeps us alive and happy. Think of these
deities as boutiques or specialty stores rather than the mall: you find good quality stuff, but
you cant get it all in one place. Kali is the controller of time and space. We shop in the Kali
boutique when we feel deprived of personal space or the time to do what we need for our sanity. Clearly, Kali is who we go to when we need to carve out time and space for a yoga practice.

KALI POSE









#







Lotus Flow, (i.e. a style that makes up their own poses to add meaning and you




"















moves Shakti
"

$
 

"





we stick out tongues out, widen our legs into a large squat, and get down with
eagle arms and a breath that sounds like a scream. With this pose, we take
up space as we create space, proving to our mats and whomever we are

!

!

!"






 

Chapter 2
Take it to the Stacks:
Yoga in the Library

GET IN THE ZONE

Libraries are wonderful. But for college students, they can also be sites of extreme disconnect.
Disconnect is the Yoga Superheros arch nemesis. Disconnect is the evil villain. Disconnect is
following blindly, reading without knowing why, writing without a clear intention or purpose,
hunching over and not realizing your vertebrae are out of alignment, sitting for hours and
hours only to realize that your leg has fallen asleep. Disconnect is forgetting that minds do not
exist without bodies, that we would not have books if there werent hands to write them with,
that we are whole only when all parts of us (hands, feet, eyes, ears, mouths, arms, legs, lungs,
necks, spines) feel heard, witnessed, and loved.
We have already established that yoga holds within its depths radical and revolutionary powers. Let us use these powers to revolutionize the library for college students.
Go to the library and test this out for yourself. See if these tips and tricks make your experience a bit more pleasant. Okay, its time for a field trip!
BEFORE YOU GO:
!"# Be prepared! Grab one or two items off your altar and take them with you to the library
so you can set up an impermanent residence for you to do your work that allows you
to feel at home and inspired. You can even bring Ganesh to the library and set the icon
next to your computer. Ganesh, that adorable elephant, is a great conversation starter
so you can be social during your study break later.
$"# Pack a snack or two. Pack protein and complex carbohydrates for the library. The nutrition you need to get in the zone should give you long-lasting energy. Pack snacks that
boost brainpower like almonds and blueberries.
%"# Fill up your water bottle and thermos. Bring tea to the library or stop by the student-run
cafe on your way to stock up on what keeps you warm and hydrated. Libraries can be
cold so warm yourself from the inside out.
&"# Speaking of warmth, make sure you layer up. Discomfort = distraction. Comfort = focus. This is a mantra.

'"# Wear comfy clothes! Or, shall I say, wear yoga clothes, seeing as the two are often synonymous. That way, youre just as prepared for some quick asana practices as you are
for your work.
("# Text some friends to see who will be in the library with you so you know who to go to
when you need a study break massage.
UPON ARRIVAL:
!"# Survey the space. Channel the fierce mama goddess Kali. Be honest with yourself.
Choose a space where you can focus, but where you also wont feel isolated.
$"# Be deliberate with your time. Make every single action - both on and off the mat - a yoga
practice, a meditation. So set your intention! Write it down on a hot pink Post-it you
slap onto your computer as a steady reminder and drishdi (point of focus) that you can
return to throughout your study time. On this Post-it, write in one to two sentences:
)"# what you want to accomplish
*"# how you want to accomplish it and
+"# why you are doing all this in the first place
For example: During this trip to the library, I want to outline my research paper on
Obamas plan for Israel by writing out bullet points of the key information from each
source. I am writing this paper because I believe that, with a degree in political science, I can be a more effective and change-making citizen of my own country.
%"# Now that you set an intention, create a mantra that reflects it. A mantra is super-important for the library. The Sanskrit word mantra comes from the word manas, which
means mind and tra, which means tool. A mantra is a mind tool! A mantra is a mind tool
because it quiets the chatter in the mind so you can better focus on the task at hand.
It can be as simple as, I have all the answers, Just breathe, or I am a smart and
capable student. I know easier said than done, but thats the point! You dont have
to believe these words you create for yourself. You just have to repeat them so that the
mantra can do its work.
&"# Find a comfortable seat. Asana means seat. So do some asana in the library by getting
comfy while you do your work. Remember, forgetting about our bodies is never a good
idea! Here are some tips for finding a comfortable seat:
)"# Elevate the hips above the knees. Sit on a pillow or fold up your yoga mat beneath
you. You can also sit on the shins if thats comfortable. You want to allow the
blood to flow like a steady stream so your legs dont fall asleep. Comfort encourages productivity!
*"# Find a chair that allows you to cross your legs. Go on a little scavenger hunt to
find one that is conducive to half or full lotus.
+"# Do a vinyasa in the stacks so that the blood gets pumping and regulates itself
when you are no longer moving. A great teaching of the asana practice is that
movement helps us to become still.
,"# Once youre seated, lift the arms up like you intend to reach that high library ceiling and then twist, bringing the opposite hand to the opposite knee. Repeat on
the other side, inhaling as you lengthen and exhaling as you twist (five breaths on

each side). Wring out the spine because the straighter you sit, the more room you
create in the body for the information to flow. Cleanse the body so you can prepare for a fresh and rejuvenated start to your studying.
'"# Shut off your phone! I know you dont want to, but do it! We have to disconnect in order
to connect.
("# What are you waiting for? Do your work!
STUDY (SANITY) BREAK:
Breaks are mini savasanas that you take throughout your studying practice. They are essential
to your sanity!
1. Do some more vinyasas. Find somewhere - maybe in the stacks - where you can spread out
and stretch! The focus here is on lengthening through the spine. Check out the end of this
chapter for simple and important sequences.
2. Invert! Get the blood flowing with yogas caffeine. Full diagrams are also at the end of this
chapter.
3. Refill your water bottle (hydration is hugely important).
4. Get social and out of that pretty little head of yours. Go to the main hall and see some
friends.
5. Get and give a massage. These breaks are all about reminding ourselves of all the care and
attention we need to give to our bodies so they continue to serve us and so that we can continue to serve others.
6. Stay fueled. Eat one of those snacks you brought and eat it mindfully so you realize you are
eating and not just doing studyings side job.
7. Rinse and repeat. Do some breath of fire to get the fuel burning again and the inspiration
flowing.

FINALS WEEK AS A COLLEGE YOGI

Its that time of year. People are in the library until dawn, hunching over books and papers,
and walking around in a sleep-deprived haze. It is possible, however, to create a wellness-focused finals week. Here are some tips and tricks.
BUDDY UP: Go to the library with another yogi. My study buddy is usually another yoga
teacher. We spend hours in the stacks, writing papers, but we know that our priorities, like our
spines when we sit on the swivel chairs we snag for better back health, are aligned. Periodically, we take breaks and go to a spot that is not lined with bookshelves to do some inversions,
a sun salutation, and some forward bending. Bottom line: We do not ignore our bodies. Make
going to the library a practice in and of itself that, like yoga, includes asana.

MIX IT UP: Finals can feel unproductive even though we are meant to produce. Finals are not
over until they are turned in so it is easy to spend every waking hour focusing on them. That
is why its important to make plans during finals week. If youre a yoga teacher, its not a bad
idea to teach more classes during finals week. It gets you the F out of your own head. Make
plans with friends you maybe dont see so often. Introduce the new.
TEA: Kombucha is the shit. Bring a bottle to the library and feel simultaneously energized and
focused. Another more traditional tea recommendation for extended focused is Yogi Tea Perfect Energy (the title doesnt lie - it does give you perfect energy!).
SLEEP: It actually helps you get your work done better.
BRING GANESH: Hes a remover of obstacles, and a nice reminder that can put things into
perspective.
GET GRADED ON YOGA: No joke, I have managed to write two final papers on yoga. It keeps
me interested, engaged, and constantly reminds me to check in with my body, to integrate the
practice into the paper on the practice (is that meta enough for you?). Another college yogi has
written her creative nonfiction final on music and yoga. In the social sciences especially, most
prompts for finals are open-ended. Boundaries and limits provide freedom for expansion so
make it easy on yourself and choose a topic you are already interested in. The possibilities are
endless!

HEADSTAND IN THE STACKS

Consider an inversion practice the cheaper version of a coffee run. For free, we can turn ourselves upside down and receive lasting energy straight from the naturally caffeinated wells of
our bodies. Inversions also remind us to breathe because the breath is how we can hold ourselves up in the center of the room - with the inhale we lengthen and with the exhale we tuck
our tailbones in and create a stronger core through the central line of the body.
There comes a time during every trip to the library when we stare at a computer and our eyes
start to blink-blink-open, blink-blink-close-open. Suddenly, we long for the sweet comfort of
our beds. Our beds begin to seem like sheer heaven and we long to get under the covers and
stay there. The five hundred more words for that paper suddenly seems like pulling teeth. We
even go to the bathroom to rest our heads in our hands and take mini, but sadly ineffective
naps.
Headstand takes only a minute and this king pose of yoga reverses the blood flow just enough
so that proper work-enhancing energy starts to course through your veins again. It can seem
daunting at first, but there is a version of this inversion for everybody. Below are some steps to
take to get into headstand. Feel free to stop anywhere along these diagrams. Make sure you
stop at a point where you feel stable. Headstand against the wall is fine, but it is a different
pose because a classical headstand should ideally have zero qualities of a backbend (i.e. the
tailbone should be tucked neatly in). Plus, if youre doing it in the stacks, you do not want one
of the college yogis greatest fears coming true: toppling over dozens of books, making a loud
crash, and having everyone else look over at you from their books and computers, turning you
into some kind of yoga cray.

SIRSASANA: HEADSTAND
Come into childs pose. Extend the arms out in front of you, grab opposite elbows.
Then, extend the hands out in front, interlace them to create a basket for the head

Tuck toes, extend legs into downward dog

with the crown of the head on floor

Shorten your down dog by walking

the feet in, still keeping the legs
straight.

Bring one knee into chest, place it back down.

Then, try bringing the other knee to the chest. If
this feels easy, bring both knees to chest and stick
out the booty so that you are balancing on your
head in this egg shape.

Without hopping, extend both legs up at the ceiling at the same

time.
Take 5-10 breaths (think of each breath you take in headstand
as an ounce of coffee in terms of the energy it will give you).
Return to childs pose as gracefully as possible and give yourself a neck and shoulder massage.

POSES TO REENERGIZE
cow face pose
(gomukhasana)

neck rolls

standing
side bends

forward fold
(uttanasana)

seated forward fold

(paschimotanasana)

wheel pose
(urdhva
dhanurasana)

GANESH: REMOVER OF OBSTACLES

He is adorable. He wants to take away all your problems
(and take you out for ice cream). Hes rich and owns a lot of
jewels. Hes protective.
Sounds like the perfect guy, right?
Well, hes a god and has an elephant head on a human
body so perfect might be an overstatement, but he is pretty
great. Ganesh is the Hindu god who removes obstacles. Got
writers block? Ganesh will find a way around it. Feel a lack
of energy to pull through on that problem set coming on?
Ganesh will give you some of his energy to compensate. Ganesh sees a limitation and views it as an opportunity.
Why? Ganeshs whole life and being was created out of limitations. His own father cut his head
off! The son of Shiva (steadiness) and Parvati (dynamic energy), hes the perfect little guy to
bring to the library with you because he gives you the energy to persevere and the simultaneous steadiness to sit comfortably for long periods of time. We need both in order to work effectively and stay focused.

WARNING

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Chapter 3
Lecture Hall: How to
Practice Yoga in Class

FOCUS!/FIND YOUR DRISHDI

A drishdi is a point of focus outside of oneself. The mat is truly a microcosm for life when we look for this stable point of concentration to help
us balance in a challenging asana. Take tree pose, for instance. Standing on one leg, we want to find something else to gaze at. Funny enough,
most yogis, when they first embody this balance, look to the person on
the mat next to them, another person who is also seeking balance in this
inherently imbalanced pose.
We are all searching for balance. It is through balance that we find focus
and dharana, this sense of unbreakable conquer-the-world concentration.
It is human nature to look to another person to find balance - its what we
do when were little and dependent on our parents or caregivers. It is what
we do when we realize we dont know how to use the washing machine
in our new dorms. We want someone else to help us, hold us up, be our
other foot when one is lifted precariously up off the ground.

PROFESSOR/GURU
The yoga tradition recognizes and validates the importance of the teacher. In this tradition, to
be a teacher is one of the best positions one can attain in life. Unfortunately, our society does
not place the same value on teachers and as a result, when we get to college, some of us forget to respect the wealth of knowledge we are being offered by those who attained it before us.
The term guru in yoga means to bring from darkness into light. The role of the guru is no
more and no less than that. Master teacher and founder of The Kaivalya Yoga Method, Alanna
Kaivalya is known for saying, The guru is no more than a friend and no less than a friend.
This means that not only must we not take advantage of the gurus knowledge, we must also
find the guru approachable so that we too can attain the most knowledge possible in our areas
of interest.

The most academically successful college students befriend their teachers. Their learning does
not end in the classroom. In a lecture hall, the teacher is literally put on a pedestal, which
serves a temporary purpose: to show us that we do not have all the answers so sometimes we
have to listen to those who already have them. But the most crucial aspect of your education
and lifelong journey of learning is that it should be about you.
Yes, you heard me. You! College is your time to be selfish in the best possible way. When else
are you going to have all this time and space to explore your passions with boundless energy?
Take advantage of what you are offered along the way to carve out a path for yourself.
Here are some off-the-mat tools to help you make the most out of every class.
DARE TO DISTURB THE UNIVERSE: Many of my teachers are writers who I have not even
met, but long to one day. In The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your
Divine Spark, Sera Beak loves to say that we should all dare to disturb the universe. In class,
this means that we have to move through the fear of challenging opinions and institutions.
Learning opens up realms of darkness so that we can use the darkness to find the light. This
means that we are hopefully learning some disturbing shit about the world we live in. We need
to learn this in order to create positive and meaningful change. Furthermore, challenge your
teachers and your peers! Does someone say something that you disagree with? Respectfully
say so by participating and offering your own take on the material. Notice a bias? Say so.
Speak your truth and
ASK QUESTIONS: This is fairly self-explanatory, but do not forget to question the material you
are reading in the form of annotations and pose those questions in class in the form of participation. After class, aim to ask at least one question. Either approach the professor or the
person sitting next to you. Not only is this a great way to make friends, but it provides a bridge
and the meaning of Yoga union to connect your learning experiences everywhere.
GO TO OFFICE HOURS: Befriend your professors. Have one-on-one conversations with them.
This is crucial to your academic experience because only then can it be for you, about you,
and by you. In a lecture hall or even a ten-person discussion-based class, it is impossible for a
professor to tailor the learning experience toward you as the gorgeously unique individual you
are. It is imperative that you create that experience by learning outside the classroom and doing the above two tips in a one-on-one setting.

BATHROOMS ARE SACRED

Weve all been there. The professor is talking and it sounds like a lullaby. All we want to do
is sink into the comfort of our beds. Maybe we were in the library late last nightor having
sexor maybe we just ate lunch and that post-eating lethargy is starting to kick in. Whatever
the reason, we just cant keep our eyes open. We cant focus yet what we keep thinking is how
badly we need to know the material so that we can write our papers or pass the final. Its utter
agony this feeling of wasting time, practically sleeping in a classroom.
It is time to take a break. But where are you going to do that when you are crammed between
other students who also seem to be drifting off into dreamland?

The bathroom! Long gone are the days of bathroom passes. Swept under the bridge is the embarrassment of asking the teacher if we can leave class. As an independent college student,
you can simply do it and return to your seat refreshed and renewed with an illuminated sense
of focus and ease.
Once in the bathroom, do some breath work to focus the mind and send
prana (life force) back into the body. Turn on the ujayi (victorious) breath
by inhaling and exhaling deeply through the nose, constricting the back
of the throat. Then, try nadi shodana, alternate nostril breathing, by
bringing the index and middle fingers to the Third Eye. Then, close off
the right nostril with the thumb. Breathe in through the left. Close off
both nostrils. Retain. Then, exhale through the left nostril, releasing the
ring finger. Repeat for three rounds. This should not take more than one
minute and its effects are deeply renewing.
After doing some breath work, wake up the body by extending the arms to the
ceiling and interlacing the hands. Flexion in the joints and spine is the most
energizing thing you can do in a small space. Take advantage of the bodys
natural wells of metaphorical caffeine. Wring out the wrists and shake anything
you need to shake in order to get the blood pumping again. If you have enough
space, do a headstand or a backbend. If not, work with what youve got and
do some chair yoga. Spend no more than five minutes in the bathroom set a
timer if you need to! so that you can return to class ready to learn!
Sarasvati is the studio art major whose inspiration is always flowing, who finds
her meditative stance while at the easel well past midnight, not paying attention
to time or anything but her art. Sarasvati is the girl in long, flowing, floral skirts
who brings her guitar to the hill and plays folk music that lights up everyones
day. She is the attentive student sitting in the front of the lecture hall, the one
with her pen poised like a musical instrument, attentively in tune and present,
processing whatever new knowledge comes her way.

SARASVATI: GODDESS OF LEARNING

Sarasvati knows that art does not have to be explicit to beart. Art means living life creatively,
from what clothes one wears to class to how one
writes a paper that can wake a professor up out
of their bored reverie of reading essay after essay.
She knows that academic success means to employ
what celeb yoga teacher Elena Brower calls the
art of attention She is the mama goddess to musicians, students, artists, and writers, a guru and
muse for all their creative day-to-day endeavors.
Unlike Kali, whose weapons are fierce and sharp,
Sarasvatis weapons are her library card and guitar.

Chapter 4
Dining Hall

YOGA + FOOD: IS THAT A THING?

College provides a lot of firsts. For many of us, it is the first time we are totally in charge of
what, when, and how much we eat. This can feel extremely liberating and/or totally daunting.
Yoga teaches us that freedom exists within boundaries. We can find freedom in our yoga practice
by setting a timer for one hour and creating a sacred space just like we can find freedom in our
eating habits by setting boundaries around them.
But how does one do that in an all-you-can-eat dining hall?
To navigate our way through styles of Yoga means to navigate our way through a whole lot of
dogma. You might be told that veganism is essential to the yogic principle of nonviolence
that is, until you try to be vegan and discover that you are actually doing violence to yourself if
youre not getting enough protein. Other people might tell you to eat only raw food or drink a
bottle of kombucha a day or go on a cleanse.
Be skeptical! Exercise the yogic task of discernment! If anyone tells you to do something,
question it and ask yourself if its right for you. Raise your eyebrows whenever anyone says
that you have to do something because nothing is that serious. We are not on this earth to be
ordered around. We are on this earth to figure out what works for us. We can exercise all these
tools in order to have a greater sense of purpose.



 









That said, a yoga practice is about cultivating more energy. Prana means energy, or life force.
If we break this small Sanskrit word down to its root, we get ana, which is Sanskrit for food.
Our body metabolizes food to create more prana so that we can be more efficient college
yogis. Sluggishness does not serve us. Yoga teaches us to be mindful even when eating Oreos
and to practice non-judgment so that we do not harm ourselves with judging what food we are
eating.
Food is fuel. It is what we run on and what we need in order to have energy to do our yoga

practice, to do our homework, and to dance our butts off at concerts. Theres no way around
it and while yoga does not tell us what to eat, it can provide us with a scientific framework
through which to view our food choices. In doing so, we can maximize our energy and continue
to refuel our prana.
It is imperative for various styles to not dogmatically force anything in terms of food. This
western culture has too many problems with shit like that. That said, suggestions are always
lovely and I find Well & Goods Refrigerator Look Book fascinating to see what yoga teachers
are keeping in their fridges. Yoga is about discovering your own Truth and the beauty of that is
that everyones truth can be different.

THE YOGA OF EATING

There is a restaurant chain in the Bay Area called Caf Gratitude. Its mission is simple: to
imbue food with meaning so that every action, including eating dinner, becomes a special
reminder of the wonder in our lives. We have talked about how it is never the thing itself that
is the point in yoga; the purpose of all we do runs much deeper than any thing that is easily
defined or manifested. Just as we do not practice asana for the sake of practicing asana, we
do not eat for the sake of eating.
But this is not always the case in college. We start eating for the sake of eating (instead of, for
instance, the divine purpose we use food to fuel us in fulfilling) when we forget our bodies. We
eat for the sake of eating when our dining halls serve icky greasy foods and we are so hungry
we dont care. We eat for the sake of eating when we go too long without eating, when we are
stressed out, when we seek comfort in food, when we deal with eating disorders. We forget
parts of ourselves when we check out, but what daily rituals like eating offer is the opportunity
to check in.
Caf Gratitude has the right idea. They serve simple, beautiful, delicious food, but that is
not all they offer. They explicitly imbue everything about the space with meaning. The waiter
comes and offers up a question to ponder as you eat such as, What is good about your life?
Upon entering, there is a sign that asks that you do not use your cell phone in the space. The
to-go bags say, I am fulfilled. I am generous. I am love. I am humble. I am celebrating. We are
one. I am beautiful. On the table are affirmation cards. The whole space, from the food served
to the wait staff to the encouragement of conversation amongst the people you dine with, promotes health, wellness, and the deepest integration of body, mind, and spirit.
It is that integration that makes the Yoga of eating possible. It is a permeating feeling of nourishment that comes from the people and atmosphere just as much as the food.
So check in. Create a ritual out of going to the dining hall. Before entering, set an intention.
Here are some ideas:
!"# I intend to nourish myself mind, body, and spirit.
$"# I intend to take deep breaths between bites.
%"# I intend to have a wonderful conversation with my friend.
&"# I intend to be in tune with flavor and texture.
'"# I intend to fuel myself for a night of studying.
("# I intend to lighten the mood.
You may have a more creative intention that is more personal to you so use that instead.

When picking your food out of the seemingly endless array of options, quickly ask yourself if
the choice will serve your intention. Also, remember the key facts about your dosha and ask if
the choice will serve your overall effort to find balance.
Sit down at the table with friends. Make this meal a time of reunion and ritual. Have a meaningful conversation. Check in about your life, encouraging your friends to check in about theirs.
Most importantly, LAUGH. Laughter is a key form of nourishment and words cannot even
describe how crucial it is in any experience you would like to make meaningful. For the days
when the dining hall is your main option, take a breath, relax, and turn it into your own special
Caf Gratitude.

AGNI: GOD OF FIRE

We have a fire in each of us. When we roast marshmallows, for example, the gelatin becomes softer
and parts turn to ash. The substance decomposes.
The fires within us decompose and break down what
we put inside of us. In Ayurveda, we are not what we
eat; we are what we digest.
Agni, the god of fire, likes food to be offered to him,
meaning food should be eaten in reverence to a divine spirit, in whatever way has meaning to you. This
can mean that the food you consume is eaten as fuel so you can go win your soccer game or
what you eat will give you the energy to tutor at the local middle school. Whatever it is, feeding
yourself can be yet another form of selfless self-care.
Agni warms us, speeds up our circulation, and makes us healthy, dynamic, and energetic beings that can get up and go save the world at a moments notice without having to worry about
compromising our health. Remember when I said that yoga is a superpower? Consider Agni
the fire that shoots out of your feet as you fly to the sky. As long as we eat foods that are appropriate for our bodies, Agni has the room to do his divine work in lighting us up, from the
inside out, giving us that post-yoga-class glow all the time.
BHASTRIKA: BREATH OF FIRE
This breath work requires immense trust that the inhale will come even as we do not actively
employ it. Start by sitting comfortably or in your favorite stable yoga pose (bridge pose or
heros pose works for this). Exhale fast through both nostrils, keeping the mouth closed. Keep
a box of tissues nearby because snot will probably emerge as you immerse yourself in this
cleansing breath of rapid exhales, stoking your inner fire.

WARNING

ses. Yoga can

ers or other genuine dis-ea
ord
dis
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tin
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for
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Yoga is not
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Chapter 5
Field/Hill

SALUTE THE SUN (LITERALLY)

Your schools field or hill is the perfect
place to salute the sun, to give thanks
with the exaltation of our bodies for this
hopefully peaceful time of life and for the
green that surrounds us. It is a great time
to do some energizing practices so that
we may better experience the deep bliss
we can feel in our bodies.
Sun Salutations are core to the vinyasa
yoga practice. They warm up the body
and provide a path for fun, exciting, and
challenging poses. They are typically done
in sets of three and five and can even be
done on their own as a mini yoga practice
during any time of day when the body
needs some waking up. Lets begin, shall
we?

Photo taken by college yogini Emily Klein Foss Hill, Wesleyan University

SUN SALUTATION A

Mountain Pose
(Tadasana)
Tuck the tailbone under, let
the arms fall to
the side

Inhale and
send the arms
up in a prayer
above the
heart.

1
2
5

Inhale and
come to a flat
back.

Yogi Pushup (Chataranga

Danadasana). On an exhale
step to plank, lower down
(for more information on
how to lower down, check
out the section on a Vinyasa
Krama) or jump back to a
yogi pushup.

Standing Forward
Fold: Exhale and
let the prayer wash
over you so that
hands touch the
earth.

Upward Facing Dog

(Urdhva Mukha Svanasana). Inhale, uncurl
toes, raise chest and
look up

Downward Facing Dog

(Adho Mukha Svanasana). Exhale and curl
toes under. Extend booty up, pressing chest
towards thighs. Take
five deep ujayi breaths

Standing Forward Fold, inhale and step

or jump forward, feet between hands.
Come to flat back, exhale and fold.

Inhale and reverse

swan dive the
arms up, hands to
prayer above the
heart.

Exhale, hands to
prayer at the heart.
10

11

SUN SALUTATION
SALUTATION BB
SUN
Chair Pose (Uttkatasana), inhale, send arms
up in prayer, lower seat and hips, like youre
sitting on a chair with a straight spine.

Mountain Pose,
tuck the tailbone under, let
the arms fall to
the side

Standing Forward
Fold: Exhale, let
your hands touch
the earth.

1
2
5

Upward Facing
Dog: Inhale, uncurl
toes as you riase
chest and look up

Yogi Pushup: Step to plank,

lower down or jump back

Inhale and come

to a flat back.
8

Warrior 1 (Virabhadrasana 1), inhale,

step right foot forward. Exhale, spiral
back heel down at 45 degree angle.
Send arms up to prayer above head

Downward Dog, exhale and

curl the toes under. Extend
booty up, pressing chest towards thighs. Take five deep
ujayi breaths

Exhale, step back and take a

vinyasa. Repeat on the other
side, ending in down dog.
11

Standing Forward Fold:

Inhale, step or jump
forward, feet between the
hands. Exhale and fold.
Inhale and come to a flat
back.
Exhale and fold.

10

Chair Pose, Inhale

the hips back and
arms up.

Exhale come to stand.

SPREAD THE PRACTICE

The field an inherently common space is a great place for you to be an example of the yogic lifestyle and practice. Go the extra level by using this to bond with likeminded people. It is
an opportunity for you to spread this practice that has helped you, in the hope that it will also
be of service to others.
Remember kindergarten? When making friends was as easy as giving that girl next to you a
lick of your strawberry popsicle? It can still be that easy! But instead of a popsicle, you now
have this awesome practice of yoga to share, one that is endless, boundless, and full of tips
and tricks. If doing those sun salutations werent enough to a) have people ask you what the
heck you are doing jumping around like that or b) get people to join in because they saw what
a fun devotional time you are having, there are other ways to get people to join in.
Here are some ideas:
CONVERSE: Ask people if they practice yoga. If they have, ask if they want to practice with
you. If they havent, ask them if they want to try. If yoga is a passion of yours, you have an
easy way out of awkward conversations and small talk because you can invite others to join in
on your excitement by telling them why you love what you love.
BUDDY UP: Do partner or acrobatic yoga! At my school, every Friday at 2:30pm, students get
together at the bottom of the hill to be yogi exhibitionists in the best possible sense. We balance, we tumble, we fly and see the sky. So grab a friend and balance them. Or do some fun
and simple partner yoga stretching (see the Student Planner for specific stretches and the
Resource Guide for a plethora of books and videos of sequences).
DO YOUR PRACTICE: Its simple. Just take it outdoors. Feel the grass beneath your feet. Do
those sun salutations and whatever add-ons to a home practice that benefits you. Chances are,
youll spark curiosity and make friends in the process.

Photo taken by Em Trambert featuring me as flyer, Morgan Hill as base Foss Hill, Wesleyan University

THROW A YOGA DANCE PARTY

Yoga Valedictorian Leigh and I threw a yoga dance party on the hill one gorgeous April Saturday. The hill is otherwise known as the outdoor party zone, which is also known as the place
where students go to retreat from the trials of academic life.
HOW TO THROW A YOGA DANCE PARTY
A step-by-step guide:
!"# Buddy up. This is a constant tip throughout this book. Dont go at something that could
be daunting alone. A friend not only makes everything more fun they also make it
easier to manage. So, find another college yogi whos just as excited about the idea of a
yoga dance party and go for it!
$"# Make a kickasana flyer and hang it around campus. Make it badass. Go out at night
and plaster campus with these flyers. Do what Leigh and I did and spell out yoga in the
library using oodles of flyers (ecofriendly suggestion: print them out on recyclable paper and then, once the event is over, recycle those papers again in the spirit of ahimsa,
nonharming).
%"# Create a Facebook event. Make it so that everyone you invite can also invite their friends.
Visuals are key here. Make the description come from your heart.
&"# Make a killer playlist. Use the music you would dance to at a party. Include lots of Top
40s. Ask people in the Facebook event for suggestions as a way to create dialogue.
'"# Find ways to turn your favorite yoga poses into dance moves by putting them in your
own body and seeing where the music takes you.
("# Practice, practice, practice. Blast the music and practice the party (I know it sounds
funny, but trust me).
-"# Intersperse traditional yoga poses with flowing freestyle bust-a-move dance.
."# Obtain speakers.
/"# Get out on the hill or field and DANCE!

HANUMAN: MONKEY GOD OF PLAY

Hanuman is this adorable lil monkey god of play. He loves being outside
and when he goes to a college campus, hes the first one to suggest a
game of ultimate frisbee. He loves jumping around a field doing sun
salutations and is a fast little guy.
But what is his deific power? What makes him a god? He has the most
important power of all: he is a great friend! He is shown in the above
photo as flying in the air, balancing a mountain on his fingertips, because his BFF Rama was in a fight with a dude named Lord Ravana, as
told in the mythological yogic epic Ramayana. Ravana hurt Ramas little
brother on the battlefield so Hanuman ran to the mountains to retrieve
some herbs, but instead of just bringing the herbs to Rama and his bro, he brought the whole
mountain (can we say overachiever?!). He went above and beyond for his friend, jumping
across mountains by doing a split just to get to his friend even faster.
HANUMANASANA: SPLITS POSE
Inhale, lift right leg up.
Exhale, bend the knee,
open out through
the right hip.

Come into downward dog.

2
Sweep right foot between
hands. Exhale to lower
down the back knee.

Inhale, extend arms

above head, allow
knee to move past
ankle for crescent
lunge (anjaneyasana). You can chill
out here or proceed.

Flex right foot as you straighten the right leg, coming into
a half-splits (ardha hanumansana). You can stay here and
still receive the benefits of the
pose.

6
Slide right foot all the way forward until the left leg also
straightens, coming into a full split, hanumanasana (option to
place a block underneath the right thigh to elevate the seat).

WARNING

Repeat on
the left side.

hips and
eviously opened
pr
es
ir
qu
re
se
plete
opener; this po
orough and com
th
a
of
d
en
This is not a hip
or
dle
towards the mid
up.
should be done
hen not warmed
w
is
th
do
T
O
N
O
yoga practice. D

Chapter 6
Partaay

STHIRA AND SUKHA: WORK HARD, PARTY HARD

In all aspects of yoga, we balance two types of energies: sthira and sukha, steadiness and
ease. We are steady when we hold Warrior 2 for eight breaths. We sweat. We may even groan.
Then, after a practice filled with the steadiness of chatarangas, arm balances, and sun salutations, we find the graceful ease of savasana. The grace of savasana is created out of the fierceness of the vigorous asana practice that precedes it. Savasana alone is not a resting pose
- what would you be resting from? We need both ends of the energetic spectrum to embrace
bliss.
The concept of sthira and sukha is a variation on the functions of the deities Shiva and Shakti
(can you tell how popular that s sound is in Sanskrit?). Shiva is the male energy. Hes that
guy whos in the library for hours on end and doesnt seem to have any problem pumping out
a paper. Shakti, however, cant sit still for her life! Shes constantly running, continually dancing, always engaging in fluid and crazy-looking cosmic movement.
Shiva and Shakti are lovers. Each time they have sex, they bring the world into balance by
combining their energies, fusing masculine and feminine into one being. Their energies, when
they orgasmically combine, produce both steady and graceful people. They are capable of
making the world a better place through being balanced themselves. We all have some Shiva
and Shakti in us. If we possessed only Shiva energy, we would be couch potatoes, unable to
get up and, well, put all this learning into action. If we were all Shakti, we would be unable to
focus and process our lives in self-reflexive practices. To have aspects of both Shiva and Shakti
in us means doing a fierce asana practice followed by a gorgeous savasana, made that much
sweeter by the preceding rigor. To embody the energies of this god and goddess means to exercise both sthira and sukha. And in college terms, it means to work hard and party hard.
Yes, thats right. The yoga practice ENCOURAGES partying! Yoga wants you to shake your butt
on the dance floor. During the week, we practice sthira and use our Shiva energy to hunker
down and hit the books. Then Friday (or Thursday if youre lucky enough to not have Friday
classes) comes around and Shakti is all, Im on top now, Shiva! Shes ready to rock with
some sukha energy, letting the ease of the weekend rip through her.

The key here is balance. We become more efficient and energized if we set aside time to let
loose, be with those we love, and meet new souls on the way. The trick is that we do our work
so we actually have something to unwind from. Otherwise, its like taking savasana without
warming the body beforehand: it just isnt as sweet.
In college, we have the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to get this blissed out sukha feeling of
ease and grace every Friday and Saturday night. Pleasantly worn out by a Monday-through-Fridays worth of hard, honest work, we are given the opportunity to relax. In an embodied way.
With friends. We are given the opportunity to PARTY!

LILA: PLAY
Too many times, when we are introduced to yoga, it is in a serious context. When this happens,
we lose a core yogic principle, one that is part of every single myth. This is the concept of lila,
Sanskrit for play. When we are little, we dont think twice of hopping around and blowing kisses on playgrounds. We grow up and something pretty sad happens: we begin to feel guilty for
exercising the basic right of playing, of being without doing, of flowing with grace. Lila implies
a basic sense of fluidity and dynamism. Play is inherently embodied. It is an ecstatic expression of joy. It is celebration without a specific holiday. Lila is shimmying on the dance floor and
laughing uncontrollably.
As we begin, we are faced with a critical question: how do we begin to play when our heads are
in the books?
Here are some ways to start:
Blow bubbles. Thats right. Go to the student grocery store and get a bottle of bubbles.
Each bubble can represent something youd like to let go of. Simply blow your troubles
away.
Get DOWN. Shake it on the dance floor.
Throw your own party. Invite those you feel comfortable with and those youd like to
know better. Set the stage for a play of fun.

PREGAME WITH YOGA

Side note: Yoga itself has nothing against alcohol unless it is harming your body, which unfortunately is the case for many college students. The ancient Sufi poets Rumi and Hafiz, some
of the original yogis, wrote their best poetry when tipsy. Yoga encourages mindfulness of all
actions, which means knowing what we are doing, making sure we are doing the right thing for
ourselves, and not judging it or anyone else.
Now that we got that out of the way, lets talk about a different kind of pre-gaming: pre-gaming with yoga! It all starts on the mat, so if you want to be more playful when youre out with
friends, try being more playful in your asana practice.
Heres how:
1. DANCE: Shake it on your mat. Come to stand in tadasana, mountain pose, turn up some

crazy hip-hop, and then shake it to the music. Here is the place to abandon any ideas of what
you think yoga is or should be. Let loose and let go. Then, begin your yoga practice.
2. TURN IT UP: Blast fun, ridiculous music and see what your body moves to.
3. TAKE A RISK: Put yourself out there! Its just like at a party when you find that cute guy or
girl and want to talk to them but you are so afraid of what might happen when you do. Pick a
pose that you have been dying to try, but are too afraid to. Headstand? Handstand? Side crow?
Moving through fear starts on the mat. Then, you can emulate it at that house party you go to.

YOGA PARTY TRICKS

In yoga, we learn to do ridiculous shenanigans with our bodies. Its pretty fun. Plus, its tempting to show a group of people all the cool things youre learning how to do, to share that part
of your life with them, in a fun and chill setting. There are some poses that look like breakdancing or flying or are just cray flexy. Show em off (if youre in a very, very safe environment
and not too inebriated).

SIDE CROW
From standing, lower hips to
chair pose. Bring hands to
prayer at heart and twist to
right, with left elbow resting
outside the right knee.

Twist so deeply that you can

place both hands on the floor.
Make chataranga arms so that as
you lower the face closer to the
ground, the legs lift up.

4
3

Option to extend the legs in either direction now youre breakdancing!

TRIPOD HEADSTAND TO CHATARANGA

Come into tripod headstand
through crow or a widelegged forward fold, bringing arms to chataranga
height and head to floor so
that the legs feel weightless
and extend upward.

Because arms are already in a chataranga shape, trust that the ground beneath
you is going to be there when you drop
your legs straight down into chataranaga dandasana.

3
1

FIREFLY
Sit in a squat with feet wide.

Place hands behind the feet so that the

thumbs and index fingers form an L-shape
around your heels.

Make chataranga arms and extend legs straight

to either side to come to balance on your hands.

NATARAJA: GOD OF DANCE

Nataraja is a manifestation of sitting Shiva energy. When Shiva, who is usually good at spending lots of time sitting in the library, gets with Shakti, all of a sudden he wants to dance. This
is where Nataraja, king of the dancers, comes in. To match Shaktis fire, he knows how to bust
a move on the dance floor. Nataraja holds a drum because he believes in the power of music.
The hand next to the drum (the one that makes it look like he is telling someone to stop doing
something) is in the abhaya mudra, a yogic gesture of fearlessness.
In Yoga, fearlessness does not mean utter courage no matter what. Actually, it means quite
the opposite. Fearlessness means feeling the fear and then moving through it anyways because
sometimes (like when theres the scary possibility of romantic flirtation) saying, Hi fear, nice
to meet you. Im now going to ignore you is just what our self-esteem needs.

NATARAJASANA - DANCERS POSE

In dancers pose, we invoke grace as we balance on one foot. Extend the left arm up into
chin mudra as you bend the right knee back
behind you and kick it into the right hand to
extend outward. Even out the body by repeating on the other side and awaken the graceful dancer within. Dont forget that falling is a
marker of grace as well!

Part 2
Patanjalis Eight-Limbed Path
What would it be like to have eight arms? Maybe it would be something like being told on the
first day of freshman orientation by your dean to not spread yourself too thin, followed by
going to the student activities fair, and then being an active member of eight different clubs,
trying to find some way for all these interests to somehow connect.
As college students, we are Generation Busy. We are also more interdisciplinary than ever before, double and triple majoring in Chemistry and Classics or Math, Marine Biology, and East
Asian Studies. We find connections common threads that weave together the most beautiful tapestries of learning out of seemingly unrelated areas of study.
Yoga does this too. Yoga is the original interdisciplinary area of study. In this section, I encourage you to think of each chapter as a syllabus
for each one of the eight courses you take in a
year: courses funnily titled Yamas, Niyamas,
Asana, Pranayama, Pratyahara, Dharana,
Dhyana, and Samadhi. Together, they metaphorically form one academic year, an opportunity to put it all together. By examining and taking each course individually,
you offer yourself the opportunities for
different teachers in each discipline,
in-depth study, and more intrinsic
knowledge as to how each of the
eight limbs can function in your
day-to-day life.
Think of what happens at the end
of a school year. You get the summer off to process all the mass
learning you did. Hopefully, you
make manifest that learning and
do something with it. Suddenly, you
realize that each course you take
contributes to a greater whole, a
greater whole YOU. Each course,
each of the Eight Limbs, becomes
a tool that you can use to carve
out your own unique and dharmatastic life!

Chapter 7
Whos This Dude
Patanjali?

YOGA PHILOSOPHY 101: BE A NICE PERSON

There is a kids yoga teacher Maxi, who lists on her Facebook profile under Religion, Be a
nice person. When we distill each bit of scripture, each Sanskrit word that documents the
process and practice of Yoga, this is the beautiful simplicity we receive: Be a nice person.
This is the one goal of every tenet of the yoga practice. We do not practice yoga to become
better people; we practice yoga to embrace the better the nice already within us. The ancient texts of yoga are guidebooks that reveal how we can be nicer people so that we can be
of service and engage with those in our lives. These texts do not require drastic changes; they
only ask us to be a little nicer each day, to progress.
Patanjali, like any awesome teacher, wanted his students of Yoga to understand the practice
in a way that had meaning for them. He saw how daunted they were by all this material so he
created a CliffsNotes version of all the teachings that came before him.
These CliffsNotes on how to be a nice person are what we call the Yoga Sutras.

TAKE IT OFF THE MAT

#
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YAMA
NIYAMASANA
PRANAYAMA
PRATYAHARA
DHARANA
DHYANA
SAMADHYO
STAV ANGANI


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Yoga is both an integrative and integral approach to healing and living. It has the power to
prescribe a lifestyle for a population that is beginning to understand what the term lifestyle
means: college students. If we focus exclusively on the physical, we are going to become frus-

trated. We are going to realize that it is not enough to have all the right clothes, to exercise for
x number of hours each day, to have a certain amount of living space. Likewise, if we focus
exclusively on the mental, we are going to become frustrated as well because there will always
be that part of us that feels unfulfilled. It is dangerous to feel unfulfilled; we start questioning
our sense of purpose just as we are learning enough about ourselves to have one in the first
place.
This is where this sutra comes in. Patanjali articulates an eight-limbed path and explicates
these eight limbs in further sutras. He acknowledges a plethora of aspects of yoga so that
the practice becomes more than what we do on our mats for a matter of minutes; it becomes
a way of life that transports us into the realm of the everyday.

SatyaAparigraha

Brahmacharya


Ahimsa
Brahmacharya
AparigrahaSatya
Chapter 8
Yamas: What Not to Do

Ahimsa

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The yamas prescribe how we interact with both others and ourselves. The yamas are the five
basic principles of how we show up in the world and interact with those in our lives. They are
the first part of the yogis code of ethics. They tell us what not to do in life so that what we
actually do can have greater positive impact. With their simplicity and ease of interpretability,
they can provide a guide to ethics for the modern college yogi.

AHIMSA: STOP THE VIOLENCE!

If you are reading this book, you are already practicing this first yama. Ahimsa means nonviolence to ourselves and others. When we are nonviolent to ourselves, we are more likely to treat
others with kindness. This yama translates to treat others the way you want to be treated.
This age-old adage your caregivers probably repeated to you at the playground presupposes
that you are already treating yourself nicely and respectfully. In order to explore nonviolence,
we must explore how we treat ourselves.
When we stop violence towards ourselves, we stop the violence for those we surround ourselves with by being an example of a happy and joyous presence. We embody an energy that
others can bask in. College is a place where harmful habits can be created, stopped, and
transformed so that we can live healthy and happy lives, starting young on this path of selftransformation. Here are some simple ways to practice self-care:
1. NON-NEGOTIABLES: What are the things you must do every day to feel healthy and happy?
Yoga? Shower? Brush your teeth? Write them down and do them.

2. SLEEP: According to Taylor Trudon, a UConn student, college students represent one of the
most sleep-deprived populations in the country. Sleep deprivation can lead to depression and
negative behavioral changes. It makes us way less productive so if you think youre not getting
enough sleep because you have too much work, think again. Turns out youre just not getting
enough sleep because youre taking longer than necessary to get your work done. Pretty bad
excuse, if you ask me. Find how how much sleep you need. Set a bare minimum (for most
people this is 7 hours). Set a number of hours you need to be totally ON for the next day (8-9
hours maybe?) for those days when you have an exam, oral presentation, or interview. Then,
make sure you shut your computer at least a half hour before bedtime (I know, super rough
for us college kids, but the lack of screen light can help). If you have a roommate, make a
bedtime routine with them. My sophomore year roommate and I discovered pillow talk midway through the year and it was transformative. It made bedtime something to look forward to
and less of something to procrastinate. We would debrief our days from our beds, putting an
emotional close on the past day and welcoming in the land of dreams in our uniquely fun and
crazy ways.
3. YOGA U: Its the title of this book for a reason: make your yoga practice work for you so you
dont end up a) harming yourself by not doing it at all or b) using poses that do not suit your
body as a way to harm yourself. Need to leave out that extra vinyasa in favor of a childs pose?
Theres your ahimsa task for the day!

SATYA: LETS GET REAL

Practicing satya (truthfulness) on the mat is a continuation of practicing ahimsa on the mat.
Invite integrity into your yoga practice. Integrity is internal honesty. Honesty and a sense of satya in our daily lives determine how we embody our truth and act it out in the asana practice.
Satya means knowing what poses we truly can and cannot do, without the lies of the ego.
Be honest with what you are capable of in your yoga practice and beyond. When creating a
home yoga practice, what can you commit to? Is more than five minutes a day of asana unrealistic? Then just commit to those five minutes. That those five minutes of yoga is your
truth. How can we practice this aspect of satya off the mat? I said earlier that we are Generation Busy. This means we have a tendency to overcommit, which is just another way of lying to
ourselves about what we can handle. Get real with yourself: what can you handle so that you
can be fully present in each commitment? Do you have to quit something? Do it with grace and
integrity.
Speaking and living your truth becomes a greater service to the world. It can help you distinguish your dharma, what you truly want to do in your time at college, and how you want to
serve your peers, your campus, your community. Practice tuning in and listening to yourself needs, desires, wants, dreams, hopes - both on and off the mat.

ASTEYA: DONT CHEAT

Dont cheat! College is for YOU. The whole purpose of it is to amass more knowledge so you
can shine brighter in the world. Cheating is not equivalent to knowing the answer; its the op-

posite. If you dont know something, the yogic thing to do is to say so (thats what stay is the
second yama and asteya is the third).
We also cheat when we do not honor the roots of ideas. Give credit where credit is due! Be
grateful for your teachers whether they are your professors or a study buddy by citing them in
whatever you produce.
A more direct translation of this yama is non-stealing. This means dont deprive yourself. Dont
steal from yourself by depriving yourself of self-care and a yoga practice. Just ten minutes of
yoga in between homework assignments is a practice of asteya.

BRAHMACHARYA: BE MINDFUL
A reasonable interpretation of brahmacharya is non-excess (i.e. moderation). This yama is a
hot button issue for modern yogis because the ber traditional interpretation is sexual abstinence. Dont worry - I will never tell you, at any point in this book, to not have sex. This is not
a relevant interpretation for todays population of college yogis. Here is a more realistic and
hopefully helpful interpretation:
Allow brahmacharya to mean mindfulness in sexual relationships. Dont mislead anyone. This
is where all the previous yamas come in: dont harm a lover, crush, or someone interested in
you by lying to them or disingenuously stealing their time and energy. Do this while honoring
your sexual needs. Be mindful. Explore. Find what works for you. This is what college is for!
Are D-Flo-Mos (dance floor make-outs, as translated to me by college yogi Maggie) no longer
fulfilling for you? Do you feel crappy the day after a random hookup? Mindfulness asks that
we make an effort to end meaningless habits. But if you want a random hookup because it
would be a healthy transition if, getting out of a relationship, to not go from sexually active to
inactive? Then honor that and go for it. Its not about the what; its about the why. In the asana
practice, its not about the pose, but what the pose does for you. What works for you? Random
hookups? Devoted relationships? Somewhere in between? Choose, but dont judge. Allow for
fluidity. Embrace all dimensions of YOU.

APARIGRAHA: IF YOURE GONNA TAKE, YA GOTTA GIVE

One day, I walked to my favorite yoga studio in the NYU area, Yoga Vida. I strode over to the
front desk to pay for class. I handed the yogini checking me in $5 for class, she told me I already had three classes paid for.
Impossible! I never bought a class card for Yoga Vida. I paid only for single classes and in cash
so having classes on file was most definitely not my doing. Trying to practice satya and asteya,
I argued, But that cant be right. I didnt pay for extra classes. The lovely front desk yogini
proceeded to inform me that the system did not make mistakes and three classes were, indeed, paid for on my behalf, but by an unknown gifter. What else was I to do? I took that class,
along with my next two at Yoga Vida, for free. My job was simply to receive.
In my teacher training, I shared this instance when we studied the Yoga Sutras and it became
abundantly clear to me that I had to reciprocate. But how when I did not know who gave me

the classes? The answer was to do the same for someone else. So I did, but I am not going to
convey the details here because...
The second part of aparigraha non-greed is giving selflessly by not giving yourself credit.
Do it simply for the act, not for getting anything in return. Its tempting to brag when we do
something nice for someone else but aparigraha encourages us to do it for the sake of the action itself.
This is a basic tenet of karma: get and its your job to give. Be karmic across your campus by
doing what is done for you to someone else. Someone randomly smile at you on an otherwise
gloomy day? Shoot a random person a smile yourself! Someone buy you a book? Buy one for
someone else. Engaging in this give-and-receive is like a dynamic cosmic dance. Once you
start, you just cant stop.

Chapter 9
Niyamas: Be Awesome

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The niyamas have to do primarily with how we take care of ourselves. The niyamas are the yogis foundation for living. Think of these practices as the college yogis To Do list of awesome.
Each niyama has transformative power available to us on a daily basis. By practicing them, we
view life through an empowered, appreciative and mindful lens.

SAUCHA: CLEANLINESS
In college it is easy to spend a life in sweatpants, treating our bodies like shadows that trail
behind us, but in reality, we have to treat our bodies like the precious vessels they are. This
can still mean wearing sweatpants (trust me - I cant remember the last time I wore jeans and
not jeggings). The trick is rocking the sweatpants, walking (or strutting down the dining hall) in
a way that makes the sweatpants worthy of you!
This does not mean you should go out and get a new wardrobe. On the contrary - clean the
clothes you already have! Yoga is about attracting people to a practice intended to make you
glow and radiate awesomeness. So make an effort to be and feel attractive (whatever that
means to you!). People are not attracted to perpetually sweaty clothes. Practicing saucha adds
mindfulness to daily acts, imbuing even showers with meaning.
SIMPLE STEPS TO SAUCHA
SHOWER THERAPY: It can be hard when sharing a bathroom with the number of people
worthy of an extended family (i.e. a dorm room hall), but showering is a spiritual practice in
that it affords you the opportunity to have alone time without question (unless youre showering with someone, which can be a Tantric spiritual activity in and of itself). Your friends will

demand no explanation as to where you are. You can simply breathe and reconnect with the
present moment as the water washes over you. It is a cleansing of energy and, when ritualized, can offer the ideal opening or close to a day. And if you need to start your day over at
4pm because you just got a paper back with a hideous grade, take a shower and I can almost
guarantee you that it will seem like less of a big deal afterward. Theres something about the
water...
Note: Another shower practice that is absolutely awesome is shower partying. My sophomore year roommate and I showered at the same time so that, after not seeing each other all
day, we could wind down from the library by taking separate showers and talking through the
curtain about our days, issues we might be facing, and creative ideas we are cultivating. Bottom line: showers - or anything really - when transformed into a ritual offers the potent opportunity for decompression and greater meaning.
DO YOUR LAUNDRY: Pretty self-explanatory, but very important - have and wear clean clothes.
Make it something to look forward to. Do it on Fridays after your favorite yoga class, when
youre still in that recently blissed-out state, and bring a book. Better yet, move your home
practice over to the laundry room if its an off hour and the 1:00 hour blazing on the washing
machine serves as the perfect timer for a well-rounded asana practice. You can even use the
time when putting your clothes in the dryer as set-aside journaling time.
GET A PEDICURE: As yogis, we are on our feet a lot. They need some loving. Scheduling a
monthly pedicure that wont break the bank is a wonderful way to get off campus and engage
with your college town and surroundings. Make it a sensual experience. Sure, you can bring
some homework to do while your feet are receiving some lovin, but make sure to set aside
time with the massage chair to close your eyes and focus on the sensation of your feet being
rubbed, appreciating the prana circulating more freely through the bodys roots.

SANTOSHA: CONTENTMENT
Contentment is not synonymous with happiness. Contentment can be an expression of happiness, but it is more subtle than that. It is the sensation deep down inside that all is right in the
present moment. Santosha is found in the pose we are most comfortable with a deep backbend perhaps that makes us remember why we practice yoga in the first place.
Contentment is hard to express verbally because it is a deeper knowing than literacy can afford, but it still can be conveyed, translated into a modern lexicon! How? Through gratitude!
Gratitude is hugely empowering for us college yogis because it enables us to pause and realize
the awesomeness in our lives. Through gratitude we appreciate the opportunities we are given
and the people in our lives. We begin to interact with those people and opportunities differently when we consciously establish gratitude for them because gratitude does not let us take
them for granted.
Gratitude is the ability to recognize our own contentment. Writing a gratitude list is a hugely
transformative daily practice. Its super simple: take out a notebook or a post-it or a sticky
on your computer or start an email to a friend. Bullet point! Just start listing, in a stream-ofconscious fashion, what you are grateful for. You may be surprised at what comes up. Bonus
points if you do this while having an absolutely horrible, terrible, no good, very bad day (remember that childrens book?)!

TAPAH: DISCIPLINE
Discipline can be a nasty word for free-flowing hippie college students, but is a prerequisite of
a yoga practice. It boils down to transforming routine into ritual so that this tapah discipline
becomes sacred. Tapah, in addition to discipline, means heat. Heat can transforms solid
into liquid. It is what molds clay. It makes batter into cake. Heat TRANSFORMS. If you want to
change, you need heat. According to Patanjali, this means we need discipline.
CREATING ORDER OUT OF CHAOS THE IMPORTANCE OF RITUAL IN THE COLLEGE YOGIS
LIFE
Creating Order Out of Chaos is the name of my schools campus knitting club. The club,
started by two trendy sophomores, is revamping this seemingly grandmotherly hobby into
something badass and slightly rebellious (they had to were a small liberal arts school filled
with hipsters!). Every Friday, after the weeks classes end, students gather in the yard of a program house and knit. They knit scarves, sweaters, and yarn bombs. But what is important is
that they perform these acts on a specific day, at a specific time, with a specific intention. Can
you guess the key word here? Specificity.
Here are some ideas take em and runor stripor sing:
NAKED TIME: Yes, you heard me set aside time to be naked. My freshman year, I was part
of this underground feminist circle where we talked about whatever was on our minds. The
circle itself was a ritual, but one thing that came up was the importance of naked time, time
with our bodies, time where we are not putting on clothes to assume a certain identity or
trend, time with our most innate selves. I have a friend who lived in a triple and both her roommates had class on Tuesdays at 1:30. She did not so she would march back to her room from
the dining hall, strip down, and savor her hour of pure solitude, with her lack of clothes as a
marker of being absolutely alone. You might decide to turn off the lights, light a candle (but
beware of Fire Safety), get a lil intimate with yourself. Go under the covers, read a book, meditate, nap, practice yoga, or do anything else that makes you feel special, just as you are.
CLUBS: Regular gatherings of like-minded people expand our worlds and allow us to realize
that there is more to life than that next paper/test/lecture. Figure out what you are interested
in and see if there is already a club on your campus that is devoted to it. Dont start something that already exists, please. Your presence can improve on it, but what crowded colleges
definitely do not need is too much of the same thing. Create order, not chaos, with your rituals. If it doesnt exist, then by all means, start it! Set a regular date and time and welcome
those who wish to seek solace in the company of shared interests.
BRUNCH: Every Saturday and Sunday, at 11am sharp, members of my hamily (my hall family) knock on my door for brunch. There is something special about debriefing with a group of
loved ones and having that predictability after Friday and Saturday nights. Grab your omelet,
toast your bagel, sip your coffee, and luxuriate in the company of others and the ushering in
of a new day.
MEDITATION: In the mornings, before I head to class, I set my iPhone timer for ten minutes,
sit on a pillow so that my hips are elevated above my knees, close my eyes, and go inward.

Starting my days with meditation allows me to have that concentrated period of focus and order before my day starts going bonkers with appointments and studying and good old college
drama. And you know what? It lessens any stress I may have around all of the above.
RELIGIOUS SERVICES: Campuses offer religious and spiritual life services for a reason. Students need centering and these services provide built-in ritual to campus schedules. I took
an Intro to the Study of Religion class my first semester and as part of it, we had to try out a
religious ceremony not our own. I find that whatever it is, as long as its pretty liberal (meaning that it doesnt tell me I have to prescribe to anything in particular), I leave in a better place
than when I came.
YOGA: You saw this coming. Yoga more specifically, a home practice or a class is a customizable ritual because you are always encouraged to cater to your own body, to connect to your
breath, and to embrace the familiarity of the poses through japa (repetition). Yoga class after
that straining chem test might be just what you are in desperate need of.
MAGAZINES: I dont know about you, but come Friday, I am spiritually, emotionally, and physically depleted. I honestly feel like I cant do anything. And you know what? Its Friday (cue
Rebecca Black) and I dont have to. When I recognized this pattern of wanting to just collapse
after my last class of the week, I created the ritual of going to my universitys bookstore, buying a cup of tea from the caf, and piling up every magazine that grabbed my interest (Yoga
Journal, Glamour, Bust, Bitch, Elle, Real Simple, you name it). We spend so much time reading
nonfiction or just reading for the sake of analyzing and producing that come Friday, we should
liberate ourselves enough to take time to read just for us, without a goal in mind.
Take what you like and leave the rest. Above is what has worked for me, but I deeply encourage you to find your own rituals that are authentic to you, your path to wellness, and your life
as a busy college yogi. Create order out of the seeming chaos that comes from wanting to do
everything at once. A wise yoga teacher once told me we are human beings, not human doings.
Get quiet or loud or whatever the hell you want, but allow yourself to be so that when you do,
you are more effective and productive.

SVADHYAYA: SELF-STUDY
Svadhyaya is how we check in with ourselves. As the third niyama, it teaches us not to be
self-destructive through examining what causes us harm. As college yogis, it encourages us to
make the study of the self yet another class, just as or even more important than all the other
academic classes we take. To begin to study the self is akin to beginning a new school year
so before you start, head over to the campus bookstore of U and get your textbooks! Here are
some ideas for supplies (and of course refer to the Resource Guide for a more complete list):


a journal you feel comfortable writing in, a journal you call hOMe. Maybe its a compo-

sition notebook you decorate with stickers of your favorite bands. Maybe its a hipster
Moleskine or maybe your favorite stationery artist has made one you want to try out.
Whatever it is, your journal holds tremendous power.

a pen that flows like a fluid vinyasa.

a book of poetry that inspires you and makes you feel a sense of connection and grace.

The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark by Sera Beak

The Artists Way by Julia Cameron


a translation that feels accessible to you of

both The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali and the

Bhagavad Gita.

a place where you can be alone the classroom for your self-study a garden, a lake, a
corner in your room, a stairwell in the library nobody knows about.
JOURNALING: WHERE TO BEGIN
 FLOW: Take out a pen. Go to a clean page in your journal. Start writing. Go in without a
plan. See what comes up. You might surprise yourself sometimes a flowy pen knows
us better than our filtered minds.
 QUOTE: Cant focus enough to go with the stream-of-consciousness? Pick a quote, any
quote, and write it at the top of the page. Then, start writing about what this quote
means to you. This quote serves as your drishdi your point of focus and balance for
written self-exploration.
 ARTSY FARTSY: Go to a museum. Pick a painting. Start writing, using the painting as
your drishdi this time. What does it remind you of?
 DREAM: It is rare that we remember our dreams, but our best shot of remembering
them is first thing in the morning. Keep your journal near your bed and write down what
happened when you were sleeping.
 WARMUP: We are all, in some capacity, expected to write in college as part of our academic careers. One way in which we can take the pressure off ourselves is through allotting the time and space to let loose on the page and see what comes up. Say, for example, you are sitting down to write a response paper for your American Studies course.
You are staring at the computer screen, constantly grabbing your chai latte, holding onto
the yummy warmth for safety as if the letters on the keyboard have suddenly grown
fangs and will bite. The yoga class equivalent of this is having a teacher begin class by
telling the students to go into pinchamayurasana forearm stand no cat/cows, sun
salutations, or backbends to precede it. Without warmup, the chances of injury triple.
The same goes for writing a paper. Sitting down at the computer to write the Big Scary
Draft the academic version of an intimidating peak pose should only happen after
you properly warm up. So take out your journal and free write on the topic of the paper.
Then, use what you like about your loose for-your-eyes-only free write to begin the draft.
Once we warm up, we see that the end result isnt so scary after all. The juice is in the
process.
Now begin to study yourself. Do it in whatever way has meaning for you. Are you a numbers
person? Make an Excel sheet of your life, dreams, and passions! Are you a writer? Write about
your own life. You can even make yourself into a character and write about you in the third
person. Make it fun. Make it engaging. Make it U!

ISVARAPRANIDHANA: SURRENDER
Living in faith is synonymous with living happily because it is the state of knowing you are
exactly where you need to be, that everything is going to be alright. This state of surrender,
of receptivity to all that comes your way, is what can make you that carefree go-with-the-flow
person that is magnetic that everyone is attracted to because they just make life easier. Its
funny because this can seem to go against tapah discipline but the two go hand in hand.
Discipline means taking the action. Isvarapranidhana means letting go of the results, surrendering them to the greater flow of the Universe.

It is difficult to see the tangible in this last niyama so here are some jumping off points:
DEDICATION: Dedicate your yoga practice to something greater and outside your own head.
Maybe your roommate is dealing with a life challenge. Dedicate your practice to her. Maybe
you notice an overwhelming issue of homelessness in your small college town. Dedicate your
practice to all the homeless people you have seen that week. Dedication plants the seeds for
action and it all starts on the mat. As you stand in tadasana, ask yourself, Who am I doing this
for?
UNPLAN: Practice not planning. Wake up and ask yourself, What do I want to do today? Create space. Give yourself the chance to live in the day, to explore a larger vision for what you do
with your life. This can enable you to go to yoga classes you never thought youd go to, catch
up on hours of sleep you never thought youd get back, talk to old and new friends, to dance.
Create out of that space.
CHANT: Does your school host kirtans? If so, I highly encourage you go and get lost in the
chanting of divine sounds. If not, make your own modern yogi kirtan by picking a song that
has special meaning to you and singing it loud in the shower, repeatedly, until the lyrics get
lost and all there is, is the feeling of the musical vibration, waking you up, making you fall in
love with your life.

Chapter 10
Asana: It All Starts on the Mat

CREATE A PASSIONATE HOME PRACTICE!

Your home practice should be an ecstatic expression of who you are, in the present moment.
This means that it, like you, can and should change over time. Your yoga practice does not
have to look like anyone elses. Nor should it! It should be uniquely and divinely you.
In this section on asana, you will learn how to create the bulk of your home practice, but do
not stop there. To have a thorough and well-rounded home practice, add in all the other seven
limbs. We just talked a lot about making your practice a unique expression of who you are. Get
creative. I challenge you to get creative within some structure. A home practice is sustainable
in that it has a set sequence, but also some things that can vary day-to-day.
Okay, lets make this into a multiple choice test:

The rest of this section is devoted to giving you the tools that you need to
create a devotional practice that is ______________.
(A) well-rounded and that works out all parts of the body
(B) tailored to your body and your level of yoga practice in particular
(C) catered to your lifestyle and time you can spare for your practice
(D) variable for the day-to-day
(E) ALL OF THE ABOVE
A

ALL OF THE ABOVE

LIFE IS YOGA; YOGA IS NOT LIFE

It is all too easy to try to cram for a yoga practice like we would cram for an exam: realize we

dont have enough time and then study in a panic. A major problem with college is that we
learn too much in too little time. Yoga should fit into your life, but your life should not fit into
your yoga.
So before you begin, answer some simple questions. This is not a test; this is an assessment,
asking you what you need to create a sustainable home practice. Take out a journal (remember
that niyama of svadhyaya?) and start writing answers, stream-of-consciousness, not letting
your egos or the shoulds of your life get in the way.

1. Why would you like to practice yoga? To build strength? To get more flexible? To remember
to breathe? To learn about philosophy?
2. What do you need for a practice to be sustainable?
3. How long would you like to practice each day? 10 minutes? An hour and a half? Somewhere in between? The power of yoga lies in its consistency, not in the individual duration
of each practice.
4. What times of day are best for you to practice? (Lets be real: If you have a tendency to
roll out of bed and into 9am Spanish, a morning practice probably isnt for you unless
you are in some dire need of changing that habit. Are you exhausted by the time youre
off to the library? Maybe insert your yoga practice right beforehand. Work WITH yourself.)
Where would you like to practice? What props might you need?
5. What pace would you like? Do you want to hold poses for a long or short time? Are you
6. a chataranga junkie or a restorative lounger? Can you use the pace to balance out your
doshas (see chapter on the Dining Hall).
What are the staples of your practice, the elements that you can come hOMe to? Chanting
7. Om before you begin? Cat/cows? What are your favorite parts of all the yoga classes you
have taken, the things youve never gotten sick of? Write them down!
What do you want your yoga practice to convey about you and your personality? Fierce?
8. Fun? Fabulous? Flowy? Restorative? Rejuvenating? Relaxed? Badass? Bold? Brave? (Can you
tell Im an English major with my love of alliteration?)

GO WITH THE FLOW: FIND YOUR VINYASA KRAMA

If you can move, you can do yoga. Fanciness is overrated. We need to be babies in order to be
kids and we need to be kids in order to be adults. In other words, we need to be really awkward freshmen in order to be fabulous seniors. As for a yoga practice, we need to go through
all the stages and enjoy the journey along the way.
Krama means stage in Sanskrit. If youve taken a vinyasa yoga class before, youve probably
heard countless times: Take a vinyasa or Exhale into chataranga or Lower down knees,
chest, and chin.
Vinyasa means to place in a special way. In modern yogi times, it has come to mean to
move with breath. A vinyasa, in terms of the asana practice, is the connection between poses,
the linkage. If we all expect to go straight into chataranga (a yogi pushup) when we are first
beginning a personal practice, were just setting ourselves up for disappointment and middle
school gym class flashbacks. Lets get something straight: your personal practice is not your

middle school gym class.

Yoga should be challenging, but it should never be dreadful. If it is, chances are, you are missing a link in the chain and floundering like a pre-frosh at a seniors-only house party.
Here are the three major vinyasa kramas, the links in a chain of poses:

ASHTANGA NAMASKAR: KNEES, CHEST, & CHIN

For: Yoga Freshmen - youve been practicing for a few months or less; youre a
beginner.
ARDHA CHATARANGA: HALF CHATARANGA
For: Yoga Sophomores - ashtanga namaskar feels too easy and a full chataranga
feels like youre just gonna hit the floor.
CHATARANGA DANDASANA: YOGA PUSHUP
For: Yoga Juniors/Seniors - youre feeling
like you want more of an edge and you
have an easy time holding your body in
alignment in plank pose.
ONE LEGGED VINYASA
For: Yoga Seniors - you want more
play in your practice/the ability to
hop into an inversion all the time.

COMPONENTS OF A HOME PRACTICE

WARM UP
cat/cows

down dog to open out hips

seated twists

childs pose

thread the needle

neck rolls

pranam variations (cobra to childs pose)

CORE CULTIVATION

hand and knee

balance
down dog to plank

boat
(navasana)

lunge twists

knee to outside of elbows

For SUN SALUTATIONS go to....

VINYASAS

triangle
(trikonasana)

bound triangle
warrior II
(virabhadrasana II)

high lunge
twists

extended
side angle
(parsvakonasana)

peaceful warrior

high lunge

STANDING POSES
pyramid
(parsvottanasana)

chair

goddess

twisted
triangle
(parivrtta
trikonasana)

wide-legged forward fold

(prasarita padottanasana)
kali

chair twists

ARM BALANCE

crow
(bakasana)

sage balance
(eka pada
koundinyasana)

side crow
(parivrtta bakasana)

flying pidgeon (eka

pada galavasana)

firefly
(titibasana)

eight point pose

(ashtavakrasana)

STANDING BALANCE
bird of paradise
(svarga dvidasana)
warrior III
(virabhadrasana III)

dancer
(natarajasana)

tree
(vrksasana)
half moon (ardha
chandrasana)

full moon (ardha

chapasana)

eagle
(garudasana)

INVERSION
handstand
(adho mukha
vrksasana)

classical
headstand
(sirsasana)

scorpion
(vrischika
asana)

forearm
stand (pincha
mayurasana)

tripod
headstand
shoulderstand
(salamba
sarvangasana)

legs up the wall

(viparita karani)

HIP OPENING
supine pigeon
(supta eka pada
rajo kapotasana)

pigeon (eka pada

rajo kapotasana)

happy baby
(ananda
balasana)

reclined goddess
(supta baddho
konasana)

diamond
(tarasana)

splits
(hanumanasana)

wide-legged forward fold

CORE CULTIVATION
yogi push-up

boat

plank
side plank
(vasisthasana)

sinking boat
(ardha navasana)

knee to outside of elbow

BACK BENDING
bow (dhanurasana)

bridge (with or without block)

camel
(ustrasana)
locust (shalabhasana)
supine hero (virasana)
wheel (urdhva
dhanurasana)

TWISTS/ FORWARD BENDS

one-legged forward
fold (janu shirsasana)
lunge twist
seated spinal
twist (ardha
matseyendrasana)

eagle legs supine

twist (supta
matseyendrasana)
forward fold (paschimotanasana)

HEADSTAND

childs pose

egg shape

headstand
(sirsasana)

dolphin

FINISHING SERIES

plow
(halasana)
fish pose
(matsiyasana)

shoulderstand

MIX N MATCH ASANA

This section serves as a guide for creating your own home practice. If you try to do all these
poses at once, chances are, youre not being authentic and you will have an imbalanced practice. This is simply the order in which the practice goes, with some ideas for poses if you are
seeking inspiration. The categories are in the correct order for a safe, successful, and sustainable practice. If you want sequences/feel like you need more detail in home practice instruction, check out the Student Planner, which provides sequences in the correct order for your
personal enjoyment.
YOUR PRACTICE: WAYS TO BEGIN
 THE MAT: Start on your mat. Stand in tadasana, mountain pose, and simply see what
comes up. Let your body be your teacher.
 ONE OF EACH: Choose one of each pose in each pose category from above (except for
 HEADSTAND to SAVASANA, which are sequences in proper order). Its like making yourself a mix tape with different asanas.
 PEAK POSE: Choose a pose from ARM BALANCE, STANDING BALANCE, or INVERSION.
Make this the pose you build up to. Its your job to sequence the practice so that the
body is sufficiently prepared for whats to come. Choosing crow? Warm up with hip openers and lots of core cultivation. Choosing eagle? Keep the hips closed and focus on chair
pose and lunge sequences. Invite the eagle arms into the warrior sequences to spice
things up.
 DRY ERASE BOARD: If youre your own teacher, your classroom has to have the right
supplies. Write out the sequence of a yoga practice in terms of categories on a dry
erase board and place the board somewhere in your dorm room where you can see it as
you practice. This way, you know what comes next.
 JOURNAL: In your journal, plan out a sequence for yourself. Put some thought into it.
Its like creating your own personal lesson plan.
Founder of Ashtanga Yoga, Sri K. Pattabhi Jois, is famous for saying, Practice and all is coming. Give yourself the gift of a portable, independent practice that you can do anywhere.

Now remember: Home is where the Om is.

PERSONALIZE YOUR PRACTICE

How do you personalize your yoga practice? Lets use the Ms.
MUDRAS
The heart expresses itself through the hands. The most animated the most alive people
talk with their hands, flailing them about, because their hearts are so full of energy that their
hands try to fling that energy out into the world. Our hands have their own language for when
words are too limited to express what we feel. Mudras are energy seals that transmit feeling
and intention into our practice. They also enable us to do the same poses, but add something
physically different to them each time. You can add them to any pose that involves a stretch of
the arms.
Anjali Mudra
This is the classic Namaste mudra (i.e. we bring our hands to
prayer, traditionally used for setting and reminding of intentions).
Lotus Mudra
This mudra represents blossoming and personal growth. To embody it is to embody the essence of the lotus flower, which grows
into a beautiful plant, but only in the murkiest of waters.
Chin Mudra
This mudra is an energy seal intended for those times when we
need to conserve energy or harness it for a specific purpose.
Dhyana Mudra
This is the mudra of concentration. It draws the prana inward.
MUSIC
Music is an excellent motivator for a yoga practice. Mixing up the music is a way to not get
bored, even when doing the same poses over and over again. It also makes a practice that can
sometimes seem foreign to our bodies an integrated part of day-to-day life. Hearing a Top 40
song when in Warrior II just might make the difference between a serious frown and the joyful
smile that is the goal of Yoga.
Break down the parts of the practice and dissect what music is good for each part. Dont start
off doing cat/cows to Beyonc, but Countdown is a helpful song later on in the practice
when you are counting down the number of speedy sun salutations you have left. The practice
can be broken down into two phases: solar and lunar. The solar part of the practice is from the
beginning up until the first set of inversions (using the phases of the practice outlined in this
book). The lunar practice begins with hip opening and ends with savasana.

There are some mornings when I feel fueled by blasting Ke$ha. Wake up in the morning feeling like P-Diddy makes mewake up in the morning feeling like P-Diddy, or the yoga equivalent - maybe Dharma Mittra or Dana Flynn? Then, there are other mornings where if I did my
sun salutes to Ke$ha, I would feel the polar opposite of centered, mornings where I need some
peaceful Ani Difranco to revv me up. Maybe your Ke$ha is Eminem and your Ani, Beethoven,
but your life, starting with what you listen to on your mat, is worth living with flair, as a moving, dynamic, musical celebration so allow the nada yoga the yoga of sound to reflect that.
MANTRAS
A mantra is what we tell ourselves over and over. It is also what we chant at the beginning of a
practice. Chanting is a way to feel completely alive, to feel our sonic effect on the world around
us, and to reaffirm why we are dedicating time in our busy days for a yoga practice to begin
with.
MIX N MATCH
There are plenty of styles of yoga out there, from Jivamukti to Iyengar. Your job as a divinely
unique being, is not to choose between them. It is, rather, to use discernment in creating a
practice all your own by combining them. Thats right you, too, can create your own style of
yoga! It will emerge from your personal practice.
MAT
There is a booth at the Wanderlust Festival where you can get a maticure. You tattoo your mat
so that, while you stare down at it in a forward fold, you are reminded of why you are in a
forward fold to begin with. Is there a deity in this book that stands out to you? Paint it on your
mat! Is there a color that makes you happy? Get a mat in that color. Make your mat unmistakably your own, a true expression of who you are and what you want to convey.
INTENTION
Set an intention. What do you want your own practice to convey about you? This intention is
not static; it can and will vary. When I first began practicing, my intention was to be present
and while it was great for me at the time, it is not super unique or personal. I now go by the
three Fs (yeah, I know I love alliteration) fierce, fun, and flowing. That is what I want my
practice to convey about me. My yoga practice on the mat should be reflective of who I want
to be off the mat.
Offer up home practices that are sustainable in that they have a set sequence, but also include
some things that can vary day-to-day.
Boredom is the enemy of any sustainable home practice. This is why we mix-and-match. Our
practice should be fun and exciting, not dull and dreadful. We should not dread what is good
for us. A practice is like gummy bear vitamins they taste amazing and they have your dose of
whats good for you.
Symptoms of a Boring Home Practice
- It feels like a chore.
- The second you get into a pose, you cannot wait to get out of it.

Side
-

You are doing the same things over and over again, expecting different results.
You are thinking about dinner while in savasana.
The focus is on how you will feel afterwards; it is a means to an end.
Effects of a Boring Home Practice
You limit your own growth.
It is not sustainable; you will burn out.
There is no love.
It is about product rather than process.
It is just yoga, not Yoga.

Checklist for a Sustainable Home Practice

- You look forward to the time you set aside.
- You have a kickass playlist that is a reflection of how you want to move.
- You try at least one new thing each time you come to the mat.
- You forget about the readings you have to do later as you come into a particularly delicious pose.
- As you chant Om or your mantra, you fall in love with life.
Benefits of a Sustainable Home Practice
- You smile as you move without being told.
- You will be able to do cool shit without even trying.
- Getting on your mat is effortless.
- You grow in strength and flexibility.
- You have an intelligence about the practice that grows as you amass more knowledge.
And remember
If it doesnt mean something to you, why do it?

Chapter 11
Pranayama: Just Breathe!

THE REVOLUTION LIES IN THE BREATH

As college students, it is both easy and terrifying to forget to breathe on a daily basis. We get a
test back and see a letter or number that we do not like and suddenly a movie of an imaginary
future starts playing in our heads of making a living selling Big Macs. There is a sharp intake
of breath and thennothing. As we cry or yell or freak out, we find that we are literally gasping
for air. Our bodies realize that we need to breathe, but our hyperactive minds are ignoring it.
Now, imagine you are at the beach. You are lying on the sand, a book resting on your stomach,
and all is well in the world. You breathe in deeply, savoring the salty smell of the ocean and
you breathe out, letting the exhale merge with the world as you find you are one with your surroundings. Here, in this place of peacefulness and joy, where it seems like nothing can negatively effect you, you feel utterly connected and at peace. It becomes easy to not only breathe,
but to breathe deeply and bask in the miracle of your prana having a conversation with the
oceans.
Clearly, environment effects how we breathe, which is why it is particularly salient that as college students we pay attention to the breath. I am suggesting that there is a happy medium
a place where we can access oceanic deep breathing even as we freak out over a bad grade.
The breath offers the revolutionary opportunity of a pause, of space between thought and action, a time out for the mind so that it does not immediately go to freak out mode.
Sounds pretty sweet, right?

INHALE, EXHALE, & EVERYTHING IN BETWEEN

UJAYI PRANAYAM
This is the simplest form of yogic breathing and the easiest to access in public without looking
crazy. Ujayi means victorious because this deep breath provides freedom from the chitta vrittis, the fluctuations of the mind. Heres how: Inhale deeply through the nose so that the breath
reaches the bottoms of the lungs and expands the chest and belly outward. Exhale through

the nose, this time constricting the back of the throat so you make a bit of a Darth Vader/
oceanic (if youre not a Star Wars fan) sound. Exhale fully so that the bellybutton moves inward
to the spine. Begin the process again. Do in sets of threes and fives and throughout an entire
asana practice. This is your default, go-to breath. It allows prana to hold the body upright for
long periods of time in challenging poses.
BREATH OF FIRE
This is the pranayama exercise to do if you find yourself falling asleep in class or at the library
and is perfect for that sacred bathroom break. This breath involves a lot of trust that the inhale will, in fact, come even as all it seems you are doing is exhaling. Heres how: Generate
fast and short exhales through both nostrils, keeping the mouth closed. Keep a box of tissues
nearby because snot will probably emerge as you immerse yourself in this cleansing breath of
rapid exhales, stoking your inner fire. Do in sets of 30 rapid breaths.
NADI SHODANA
Alternate nostril breathing is an excellent practice to do when really stressed out and at the end of a long day. It is a terrific energetic
cleansing of the body. It is also an essential practice for focusing when
the mind feels adrift. As the fingers rest on the Third Eye, it taps into
the yogic seat of wisdom, the place where the answers lie. Heres how:
Rest the left palm face up on the left knee. Take the peace fingers of
the right hand and place the finger tips on the space between the eyebrows. Breathe in through both nostrils. Breathe out fully. Then, place
the thumb on the right nostril so that as you breathe in, you are only inhaling through the
left. Then, press down on the left nostril with the right ring finger so that you retain the breath
for a count of three. Finally, exhale through the right nostril. Inhale through the right nostril.
Retain. Exhale through the left. Repeat at least three times, cleansing body and mind in harmony.
LAUGHING
These traditional pranayama exercises are important and aid the natural flow of the breath.
They assist the flow of oxygen and prana - life force - throughout the body so that we can be
more full of life and take greater advantage of the present moment. But there is an innate
pranayama exercise that we must do every single day, an exercise that not only aids us in being more present, but is a sign that we are being more present. Its called LAUGHING. Laughter can feel like coming up for a breath of fresh air. Maybe you were just sitting in the library
for hours and suddenly, your friend comes up to you and wants to play hide and seek in the
stacks. Laughter helps us to (en)lighten up, to stop taking ourselves so seriously. Its power is
not to be underestimated. Deep belly laughter is a sign of victorious (ujayi) spaciousness in
the body. It is a clearing out of negativity.

MIX N MATCH PRANAYAMA

Integrate the breathing into the home practice you have created from the previous chapter.
Ujayi breath should, of course, be done to go deeper in all asana. But I encourage you to be-

gin or end each yoga practice with these other variations. Pranayama is like putting delicious
spices in a stew of the asana practice. It gives it flavor and pizazz. To do an asana practice
without pranayama is like making curry without curry powder and expecting it to still taste like
curry it just isnt Yoga.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If you go to school in a seasonal climate, practice breath of fire to warm
the body in the cold months and nadi shodana to cool the body down in the warm months. Its
all about balance, baby.

Chapter 12
Pratayahara: Let Go

CLEANSE: SHEDDING ENERGY

To cleanse means to let go of what does not serve us. Its what I like to call yoga for a bad
day. Have you ever had one of those days thats just really shitty? Where you first get a bad
grade on a test, then find out your best friend made out with your ex, only to later discover
that your hall mate threw a chair off your balcony while intoxicated? Yeah, its happened to
all of us in some way, shape, or form. While yoga wont magically change the grade you got
or make your chem partner have a sudden change of heart, or voil replace the chair on your
balcony, it will help you act rather than react. Trust me - this lack of a prefix makes all the difference.
Heres how: At the end of a rough day, clean your room. This is a yoga practice in and of itself
my roommate swore by for helping her get through sophomore slump. Then, once the covers are tucked in and the soot is off your desk, go to your altar and light a candle. I know, fire
safety is probably really against this so you have two options here: a) be badass and careful or
b) buy a battery-powered candle and fake-light it. Then, get out a block, meditation cushion, or
a few books to elevate the seat, and stare at the light. Thats right, look right into it, LITERALLY bringing you from darkness into light seeing as the candlelight should, at this point, be the
only light in your room on. Squint your eyes slightly, keeping them half-closed, and allow the
light to burn away all the unnecessary toxins, helping you let go of all that is not serving you.
Breathe deeply as you participate in this meditation and bask in the quiet that surrounds you.
As you inhale, call to mind the word Let and as you exhale, bring to mind the word Go.
When you finish, come into downward dog, take childs pose, or do your whole practice.

LETTING GO
If you are a college student or human being in general, chances are there is something you can
let go of. We do not get bonus points in yoga or in life for pretending to be perfect. If anything,
we get bonus points for showing up with all those pesky imperfections, daily, as we engage in
the continuous and energizing process of letting go.

So let us start where we always start: on the mat. Come into childs pose and turn the palms
up in a simple gesture of receptivity. In order to be receptive, we must first let go of any barriers that prevent us from opening to grace. These barriers might be the days when you thought
you were going to go pre-med and are now an English major. The barrier might take the form
of an ex you cant stop fantasizing about, the constant thoughts about all you have to do after
yoga, or drama in your friend group. Whatever it is, on the inhale, bring it to mind and on the
exhale, let it go! Youll be surprised you might not think about it the rest of your practice.
Letting go is the antidote to freaking out. When we believe that everything occurs to serve a
greater purpose, there is no reason to freak out. This requires us to practice faith. Living in
faith is synonymous with living happily because it is the state of knowing you are exactly where
you need to be.

Chapter 13
Dharana: Concentrate!

FIND YOUR PURPOSE

It is much easier to concentrate when we have a clear purpose. Otherwise, we wonder why
we are in the library until 2am to work on a macroeconomics paper. Nothing we do in college
makes any sense unless there is a purpose behind it (and that purpose can be to find a greater
purpose in the first place!). Your purpose can be as grand or seemingly insignificant as suits
you, but a purpose adds a level of mindfulness to all we do, a mindfulness that is the byproduct of a consistent yoga practice.
Concentration emerges when we realize we have a unique and specific dharma to fill. No longer are we relegated to the confusion of being wandering freshmen (note this: even if you are
a freshman, you do not need to wander - from frat party to frat party or in academia!).
The word dharma is tossed around A LOT in yoga. Chances are, youve heard it in the context
of a class as a dharma talk. This is when the teacher provides a context for the asana practice. This context is a purpose for the class. It has to be established and provided before the
actual class can take place. A dharma or purpose is a framework for the action, not the action
itself.

SET YOUR INTENTION

You have clarified your purpose, but now what? A purpose has to undergo steps to being fulfilled. It is super easy to forget that we have a purpose or what it is in the first place. An intention is a daily (or more-than-daily) reminder of your purpose and HOW you are going to fulfill
it.
An intention is not something to get done, but how we do things. For example, I often make
my intention for class to be grateful. The practice of setting intentions works. I would be in
poses, forget that I set an intention (because I offered it up) and then be so grateful for how
good my body felt, suddenly remembering that that feeling of gratitude was my intention in
action.

HOW TO SET INTENTIONS:

JOURNAL: Exercise that niyama of svadhyaya by journaling your intentions. Write them down
to solidify them.
ASANA: Set your intention at the beginning of your practice. Bring your hands to anjali
prayer mudra at the heart. Think up your intention and then set it FREE as you offer your
hands up to the sky/ceiling and begin your sun salutations, greeting a new day filled with
purpose.
TAKE IT TO BED: Get sexy with your intention! As you lie in bed in the morning, dont let yourself get out until youve set your intention for the day.
MEDITATE: In meditation, give your monkey mind something to focus on - a drishdi if you will by crafting an intention for the day.
DRAW: More of a studio art yogi than a wordsmith? Draw out your intention or paint it or pastel it or tattoo it.
SEMESTER BY SEMESTER: Each new semester, rip out a page of a magazine. Grab a silver
sharpie and write on that fashionable page, dressing up your intentions. Begin simply by writing at the top, This semester, I intend to... Then, fill in the blanks and DO NOT CENSOR
YOURSELF. You might be surprised at what emerges.

Chapter 14
Dhyana: Meditation

GET QUIET
We have arrived at the final limb in Patanjalis path of Yoga. We just talked a lot about purpose
in the chapter on Dhyana, the preceding limb, and here we will immerse ourselves in the purpose of Yoga: meditation.
If youre anything like me when I first found out this seminal bit of information, you are probably thinking, Say what now? You mean I am doing all this asana, breathing...breaking the
bank at yoga classes...just to sit?!
Yes, yes you are...to an extent, at least.
We move so that we can be still, but a divine trick of yoga is that we can do both at the same
time. We can find stillness in the mind as we move through poses. There are as many ways to
meditate as there are people in the world and there is no one right way. Many people shy away
from meditation because they believe they cannot sit still. Guess what! You dont have to sit
still to meditate! You can meditate in whatever way feels authentic to you.
My freshman year roommate and college yogi, Catherine, meditated daily, but she never sat
on a cushion with her eyes closed. During finals week, I would come home from the studentrun cafe to find her spread out on our floor with crayons and coloring books. She was 19 at
the time and a coloring book aficionado. She told me that when she colored, she was able to
engage in a de-stressing mindlessness. She was able to not think so that when she did have to
think, was more efficient and effective.
Similarly, my friend Sonya goes on long runs to clear her head. My friend Matt dances. My
friend Tobah wakes up every morning and reads cookbooks as she eats breakfast. Madison
paints. Sarah sings. Morgan lies in parks and watches the clouds. Toni writes. Oliver watches
birds.
Get the picture? Meditation is intensely personal and intimate. We can take different paths to
get to the same result. The phrase, road not traveled does not point to one specific road; it

points to several and we dont want any one road to get so crowded that theres a traffic jam.
We seek to simply clear the mind through whatever road we take, so it can be occupied by the
courage to change.
So what IS meditation then? Meditation is anything that quiets the chitta vrittis the fluctuations of the mind. You do not need to physically get quiet; you can find quiet within you and
THAT is meditation. We have to break away from this one-size-fits-all definition of meditation
because one size does NOT fit all! And thank Goddess for that! It is time for us to get creative
so that we realize that what we already do IS meditation and we can do it more. Like medicine,
we take it when we need it. We just need to know what it is, what we need in order for it to take
place, and then we have to access it.
Asana means seat. This means that we move so that it prepares the seat for meditation. Lets
be real - who wants to sit if the body is wide awake and needs to move? Meditation ideally
comes after the asana practice, at a time when our limbs are tired and crave a seated position.
Asana quiets the active body.
Have you ever babysat rambunctious kids in the evening? Have you ever tried to tire them out?
Have them run around in circles? Give them some kind of release so that your job of putting
them to bed would be easier? If you did, you were a phenomenal babysitter because the kids
were fast asleep by the time their parents got home. This is because their bodies were tired
enough that the mind could still in preparation for sleep.
In college and in the Yoga practice, we are our own babysitters. We have to make sure we run
around enough, do enough vinyasas, and tire out the body just enough so that quiet is available to us. Once the mind is quiet, we can LISTEN. We can listen to what our dharma is. We
can listen to the world around us. We can listen for the next action we need to take in a tricky
situation or what decision is right for us.
There is one big barrier to meditation and that is monkey mind. Think of your chitta vrittis - fluctuating thoughts - as trees that your monkey of a mind jumps to every two seconds.
Sometimes, the mind just does not want to be still like a little kid who just does not want to
go to bed. That is OKAY. Allow the thoughts to pass through you. Or, begin practicing a more
accessible meditation, which allows the mind to focus and constantly move its attention and
dharana - concentration - from person to person. Need to tame monkey mind? Check out the
following practice of Metta

METTA: LOVINGKINDNESS MEDITATION

LOKAH SAMASTAH SUKHINO BHAVANTU
,

"
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$$,
"
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My Metta teacher, an amazing yogini from my teacher training (hello, learning from your
peers!), Steph Kirby Anderson, defines Metta meditation as, Loving kindness. Sincerely wishing well for another. Sending positive energy out into the world. Of her meditation practice,
she says,
Years ago I began a metta meditation practice. It affects me in ways I cant put into words. A great

mentor once told me that love is one thing you can give away and never have less of. I try to remember that each day. This is the foundation of my yoga practice. I set an intention for each time
I practice asana (the poses). I believe, just give it away because you get what you put out into
the world.

Metta calms the chitta vrittis because it allows the mind to constantly shift its focus. Ideally,
we begin by coming to a comfortable seat, but the beauty of Metta is that it is highly portable
and can be done (and should be!) in even the most challenging locations (i.e. during rush hour
on the subway if you happen to live in a city). It is phenomenal for college students because it
proves to us that we can take care of ourselves without being self-absorbed. It helps us be better friends, students, partners, and collaborators.
Close the eyes. Bring to mind a vision of you at your happiest At the beach? Dancing at a
party? With your family? Now, repeat in your head, May I be safe. May I be healthy. May I be
happy. May I live a life of ease. Mentally say this three times and then say the same, replacing I with the name of someone you love dearly like a sister or best friend, as you visualize
them. Repeat the process three more times, once for a neutral person (i.e. the person who
swipes the cards at the dining hall), once for someone you really cant stand or are angry at
(i.e. your roommate on the day she left a wet towel on your bed). For the last Metta, repeat the
phrases replacing I with we and envision a sea of people, swimming together.
CREATE YOUR OWN
A Metta practice only works if it allows us to lead a more happy, joyous, and free life. We dont
get happy, joyous, and free (words which are wonderful, but vague, and up to your own interpretation) by conforming to someone elses definition of happiness, joy, and freedom. If we
can personalize a yoga practice, why cant we personalize a meditation practice too? We actually can.
If the words that resonate with you most are, May I be safe. May I be healthy. May I be happy.
May I live a life of ease, then keep them. But this practice only works if you get really real
with what you want for yourself so that you can then articulately offer that up to others, even
the people you are really pissed of at. However, if those words do not truly resonate with you,
if they do not make your heart feel full of lovingkindness, then ditch them.
What do these words mean for you?
Does safe mean cuddly, warm, socially fluid, financially stable, protected?
Does healthy mean glowing skin, vibrant, physically able, or flexible?
And so on. Reformulate from there to create your own Metta.

Chapter 15
Samadhi: Blissful Union

GET YOUR ASS TO THE BEACH

Samadhi is a feeling of connectedness that provides us with a deep inner knowing that all is
right with the world. Blissful union is just a fancy way of saying that we have united mind
and body, the true meaning of the Yoga, and we are fulfilling our purpose. We need daily reminders of this in our lives because it is part of the human condition to forget that this connection and union is possible. A beautiful reminder of this is to be presented with something
larger and more powerful than you that you have absolutely zero control over. This is why I
suggest the beach.
Get your ass to the beach. If not literally, then metaphorically. Or look at pictures of the
beach. Or play oceanic sounds on your iPhone. Or meditate and visualize yourself riding waves
or scrunching the sand with your toes. The beach is an automatic reminder that we are small
and insignificant. This feeling of smallness and of not mattering all that much in the grand
scheme of things while still being able to make a difference is actually a way to feel samadhi,
that unbounded feeling of joyfulness.

GET CONNECTED
Think of getting connected as natures divine makeup. The only catch is you cant buy it at Sephora; you have to brew it yourself. Through daily practices, us college yogis get this attractive,
hot, sexy, glow about us. It lights us upfrom the inside out. What we get at Sephora lights
us up from the outside, but the yoga practice begins within. Start by asking yourself what
the practices are that you need to do every day so that you feel whole, like nothing is missing,
like you are complete and replenished with enough to give. Take into account all that you have
learned through the other six chakras and through the eight limbs to ask:
What are my needs?
What do I need to do on a daily basis to make sure they are taken care of?

Freshman year, I had a hall mate who wouldnt leave for class without applying eyeliner and
mascara. It made her feel ready to take on the day. It was a daily routine, even a ritual, that
offered her the peace of stability and feeling renewed. No matter what happened the day or
night before, she would etch on that eyeliner and sweep that mascara underneath her eyelashes.
As yogis, we have our own version of this makeup. And its unique to each and every one of
us. Here are some examples of daily practices that help us to get connected to our dharma, to
what we need to do to feel that sense of Wholeness:
-

Showering
Journaling
Asana
Meditation
Time with friends

HOST A DINNER PARTY

Its one thing to get connected to a deity or to something way greater than you, but a wholly
other thing to get connected to your fellow college students. We have to carve out time to build
relationships. We must create our own practices that have spiritual significance. Hosting a dinner party is a spiritual practice because it connects us to our peers. I have a friend who cooks
beautiful meals weekly. She invites her friends over to share them. College students who are
normally stressed out and on the run gather to sit down at a meal for four hours. This is powerful. It is a way of stopping time, gathering around, and creating space. If that is not divine
connection, I do not know what is!

Part 3

cOMmunity

Chapter 16
Create a Campus Yoga
Community

SO MANY WORDS FOR COMMUNITY

To have community means acceptance of the fact that each of us, while gorgeously unique,
need each other. This concept of vulnerability is our most important human attribute. It is
that which connects us to others, that which makes us porous and allows for that shell around
us - our separating bodies - to majorly soften so that they can connect with others and we can
all become a sort of combined liquid where we are each needed to exist as part of a greater
whole.
When it comes down to it, life is about the people we spend it with. Life coaches, therapists,
data-driven experts on happiness, and even yoga teachers are known for saying that when
its all over, were not going to be wishing we spent more time working or made more money
or had more things. No, we are going to be thinking of all the time we spent with loved ones.
Similarly, at the end of every year when we reflect, is our only wish going to be that we made it
to more yoga classes? Hopefully not.
Were going to think of the time we spent with the people we love because in the end, thats
what its all about: love, giving and receiving more of it, and doing practices to better allow
our words and actions to emerge straight from the heart. So at the end of the day - even if our
motivation is getting a workout in - we practice yoga to cultivate more love. We practice yoga
to better show up for the people in our lives. In that sense, getting on the mat becomes selfless self-care.
In terms of yoga, there are many ways in which Sanskrit is simply better than English. It places value on certain aspects of life through giving them more names and means of expression
when English may only have one.
I believe it was Rumi who said, There are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground.
There are two aspects of life in particular, which Sanskrit attributes an abundance of names
to. They are liberation and you guessed it! community. Yoga recognizes the interrelatedness of these two significant parts of life, and how the latter is a means to the former. Just
as there are a thousand ways to kneel and kiss the ground, there are a thousand ways too of

expressing what it is like to feel part of something way bigger than ourselves. Who says devotion cant have some flesh?

My story is one of creating community rather than searching for one. It can be your
story as well. You do not even have to be a yoga teacher. All you need is a love of yoga
and a love of peopleand some concrete actions that will enable and empower you to
combine the two. What are you waiting for? Create your community!
CREATE A CAMPUS YOGA COMMUNITY
Arrange a meeting with friends, over dinner or tea or after a yoga class, to discuss, collect
ideas, and gain inspiration. We need as many heads to thoughtfully and mindfully come together as possible in order to get ideas through and show what this can mean to us. Nothing
is fun when it feels selfish; everything is fun when it feels selfless. Benefit parties for college
students give an added sense of purpose to dancing our asses off. And they are productive.
Here is a 13-Step Plan for creating a community of college yogis:
!"#Identify a need. Identify a community in which you can serve (and then use that to reach
other communities). Shira did this with the Hillel and the Jewish community, using it as a
platform to reach the whole campus and institutionalize yoga in a way that was meaningful for her.
$"# Make an event.
%"#Buddy up. Find a partner in (yoga) crime.
&"#Offer it up to plant the seeds for something greater.
'"#Gather a community of teachers.
("#Create a schedule.
)"#Create a listserv.
*"#Raise money.
+"#Train teachers.
!,"#Diversify types of classes.
!!"#Bring in experts.
!$"#Host satsangs.
!%"#Have a party!

Part 4

Student Planner
Yoga for Days of the Week

Sunday

Restorative

Hold Each Pose for 10 Minutes

childs pose

legs up the wall

supine goddess

savasana

Monday

Vinyasa

childs pose to cobra

pranam

1
3
2

pelvic rotations in
seated position

seated Twist

7
4

down dog

open out hips

crescent lunge
to open out hip

walk up to
forward fold

roll to stand,
mountain pose

11

8
12

10

ragdoll
9

twisted triangle

pyramid
goddess

13

malasana
twists

14
15

16

ankle to knee
forward fold

squat
17

frog

Tuesday

Ashtanga

3 sun salutation As

3 sun salutation Bs
4

3
8

7
1
2

10

6
9

standing poses

gorilla
triangle

revolved
triangle

wide-legged forward fold

Wednesday

Partner Yoga

partner downward dog

partner twisted triangle

partner warrior III

partner
dancing
shiva
partner seated twists

partner forward fold

Thursday

The Kaivalya Method

Repeat this flow

five times, ending
in downward dog.

4
2
1

5
Stay here for five
breaths, then come
into warrior I and
downward dog. Repeat
on the other side, ending in mountain pose.

7
Extend front leg
and fold over,
pyramid.
8

11

10

12

14
13

17

15
16
18
19

(for above sequence): Alanna Kaivalya is an artistic and

inspiring teacher of yoga. Born with a hearing impairment, Alanna learned through the power of vibration at
a young age, and was then naturally drawn to the harmonic practice of yoga. Listed as Yoga Journals top 21
Yoga Teachers Under 40 (March, 2008), and now with
more than a decade of teaching experience, she has
developed a teaching style that is a unique combination
of her spirit, her knowledge, and of course the teachers who have influenced her along the path. She has a
mission: to convey a sense of joy and freedom through
harmony and synchronicity, which she does beautifully
through her classes, workshops, writing and music.
Alanna is known for her ability to translate the ancient
practice of yoga into a modern day context.

Friday

Shake It Out

Start out with Freestyle Dance to Warmup

3
5

9
7
8

11
10

Sun Salutation B, opening up to Warrior II

12

Saturday

Lotus Flow

1
3
Cartwheel hands
down, step back,
vinyasa. Repeat
Left side.

2
4
Repeat sequence
and add in warrior I,
then warrior II to the
back of the room
6

9
10

11

Fall back into peaceful warrior. Cartwheel

hands down, step back, Left hand, left foot,
side plank. Step right foot behind left leg,
press hips up, rock star! Repeat left side

15

13

12

14

17
16
19

18

20

21

22

24
23

25

Slide right foot up left

leg, bird of paradise or
tree pose.

28
26

27

29
30

34
31

32

33

37
36
35

Alison Cramer believes in the power of the Practice to transform,

heal and guide us all towards living a life of freedom! Ali is honored
to be one of the Co-Creative Directors of Laughing Lotus NYC, as
well as teaching for both the Lotus 200 hour and 300 hour Teacher
Training Programs. Her classes are inspired by her past life in
dance and choreography, her passion for Ayurveda, the energy and
community of New York City and the ever-unfolding creative pathless path that is Lotus Flow. Eternal gratitude to Dana, Jasmine
and the whole Lotus family for their support, guidance and love!
Y'all show up for REAL! "Now is the time to know that ALL we do is
sacred."-Hafiz.
Alis email: alison@laughinglotus.com

38

Yoga Valedictorians

Shira Atkins

Brown University
Yoga Teacher, Co-Leader of YAM, Yoga and Mindfulness
Shira and I met during the summer of 2009, when we roomed together in Israel. Before this
interview, we took a class together at Laughing Lotus San Francisco. The teacher asked if we
were friends because we share a name and Shira aptly responded, We are friends in spite of
that. Thats some serious satya.
Shira is the kind of person who literally leads life from the heart. It is evident by the way she
walks up to you - it is like she is guided by strings that pull in her chest and like the most
yogic of marionettes, she follows where they drag. Her passion for yoga has a life and vibrancy
to it that fuels her practice, teaching, and community-building prowess as she takes the Brown
campus by storm with her organization - YAM - Yoga and Mindfulness.
Tell me about the yoga community at Brown.
About six or seven years ago, a Brown University student applied for a grant and said she
wanted to bring mindfulness to the student body. She got certified and started teaching a
weekly or bi-weekly class. Some students were beginners and some advanced. Because she
wanted to have a little bit of money for supplies and props, she created a student group called
Yoga And Mindfulness (YAM). People would come together for yoga classes. There was such a
need for it.

I got to Brown in 2010 and I started teaching yoga because I was feeling a lack in the Jewish
community. I wanted to figure out a way to get people to Hillel. I tried singing. I tried meditation. Nothing was working. I knew about YAM, at that point there was one class per week, and
I knew how many Brown students loved yoga, so I figured Id try to lure people in with some
asana. Though I wasnt yet trained, I had a pretty solid practice, and felt comfortable leading
classes and giving basic assists. At the very first class, something like a hundred people came
out! I couldnt believe it. I started off the first class by reading a piece from Abraham Joshua
Heschels The Sabbath, which talks about the beauty of creating a temple in space and time. I
then taught a sweaty Vinyasa sequence, and closed by chanting a beautiful Jewish prayer for
peace. At first I was teaching the class once every few weeks, but people would approach me
and beg for more. So it became a weekly class, which I still teach today. Id say that only about
thirty percent of the people who come to Jewish Yoga identify themselves as Jewish. People
come up to me after class and say, That stuff was really weird and others say, Wow, Judaism is really cool. Id like to know more about this... On a personal level, its become an awesome way to bring a new type of mindfulness to my Shabbat practice, which has undergone
some serious transformation in the past few years.
At the same time as I was developing Jewish Yoga, I realized I also wanted to teach regular
yoga. So second semester freshman year, another teacher and I - she was a senior at the time
sat down and created a schedule. At first there were three classes a week and it was totally
disjointed.
It was nothing extraordinary. We didnt have a website. We didnt have money. But we did have
the demand. We started to plant the seeds for something larger. And somehow I transitioned
from being this Hillel teacher with this Hillel program to being the head of the Yoga and Mindfulness community.
By second semester of my freshman year, I was teaching two or three classes a week and I
still wasnt certified. I was really nervous about hurting people. Over the summer, I got my certification. I did a one-month residential at the Yandara Yoga School in Baja and when I came
back in the fall, I felt energized to create something huge. I gathered together a community of
teachers. At first there were six of us only three of whom were certified and we created a
schedule. By the second week of the school year, our schedule was constructed, and we were
offering a free yoga class every single day of the week.
All of a sudden, my inbox was flooding with emails asking, Can I join the yoga listserv, and
Can you tell me this about meditation? What can you tell me about the third chakra? I
did this thing in class and I hurt my hip and what can you tell me about that? I became a
resource for people. Over that first semester, we really started to build a community, and I
focused my efforts on creating a professional environment where people could come and it
would really feel like a yoga studio and a haven.
By second semester, we were offering two free classes every single day of the week. Thats
our main thing; we want free classes for everybody. We dont believe that money should get in
the way of your practice. We do, however, have a karma box that we leave outside of class and
people are free to give what they can. We suggest $2, and sometimes we get that, but usually
we dont.
We have a booming community in which each class averages 40 to 50 people. Last year, I
taught an advanced yoga class on Tuesday nights that was Jivamukti-inspired with a lot of
chanting and meditation and also this Jewish Yoga class, which continues to grow. I raised

a huge amount of money...around $7,000 this past semester. We got 50 Manduka mats and
bolsters. We also raised money so we could train some of our teachers that had been teaching
without certification.
Not only do we have a beautiful space for people that want to come to do yoga for the first
time, but we have a teachers community as well. There are 20 slots for people who teach
regularly and then there are subs, too. We have monthly gatherings at peoples houses where
we do some sort of practice (either asana or pranayam) followed by a yummy potluck and
teaching-talk. I cant believe that we have a real sangha of teachers that support each other.
We also have monthly workshops that in the past have included Jivamukti, Anusara, and
Ashtanga instructors. Im just a kid and though I do know some things, I certainly dont know
everything; I like to bring in as much variety as possible so people can get a taste of all different kinds of teachers and styles out there. It is a true joy to watch people learn, grow, and
deepen. To watch that growth on such a large scaleour listserv now has 800 people on itis
a real blessing.

You spoke about how theres this booming need and desire from the larger college community. Why do you think theres that need?
College is stressful. Its hard. Were taking really rigorous classes. Were exploring sexuality
in a very intense way for the first time in our lives, in a mature environment. Were creating
friendships that can be very intense. Were asking the big questions. We are finding ourselves
outside of our comfort zone in a place away from our parents and hometown. There is a lot
of stress, but there is also a lot of ENERGY. The answer for me to the question How am I going
to clear my head? was always yoga, meditation, dance, and movement. Most college students,
first come to yoga because they see it as just another form of physical exercise that can help
clear the mind after a long day in the stacks.
But Yoga has this added spiritual element. Even if people are just coming to get more flexible
or tone their butt, I really believe that the poses themselves are so inherently holy and powerful, that the practitioner who came in looking for a beach bod, leaves with so much more than
just that. Many students who have been practicing religion their whole lives tend to run away
from the traditions in college because its their first time to be free individuals. Others dont
like the whole God thing, because it seems to get in the way of their devout universal humanism. That said, there is still an evident desire for people to come together and pronounce the
Universal Sound or feel some sort of connectedness to their friends and communities.
Another piece, is that Yoga creates community in a place where finding community is hard. If
you want to write for your school paper, you have to work hard to submit lots of pieces, and
then subject yourself and your writing to intense scrutiny. One school paper might have a
nerdy reputation and another might have a hipster reputation. Its hard to find your niche. The
same is true of sports teams, mock trial, theatre, the photography club, a capella.
But with yoga, you just show up to the mat, and youre in. You all close your eyes, draw your
spine tall, and send out love to the people around you. At the end of class, everyone feels
good, not just the good-looking kids or the smart kids. Everyone.
As a result, weve been able to create a community in which people dont just practice together, but they go to dinner together after class, have study dates with yoga-breaks, and text each

other to make sure theyre coming to the mat today! The community thrives because its based
upon concepts of non-judgment, non-harm, non-stealing.
What do you think the spirituality aspect and yoga philosophy has to offer specifically for
college students?
At Brown, many students turn their heads against religion or talk of God. Im sure a couple
students even think I am a total freak when I talk about God or Kabbalah. But I believe that
all peoplemala-wearing and skeptical alikehave a spark inside of them thats yearning to
feel a part of something larger. Yoga is a beautiful avenue for understanding who you are, how
to feel gratitude, and how to be mindful. College is a place where we get so busy and overwhelmed that its hard to feel mindful all the time. A yoga class is a haven and whether you
call it spirituality or mindfulness or if you think its just doing pushups, its a thing to strive
towards. I sometimes think, This whole world is crazy, but maybe by doing this every week, Ill
somehow create more beauty in the things that I do.
Showing up to the mat is a fucking blessing. I used to judge people for coming to yoga just
for the workout, but then I realized that wanting to take care of your body, is worthy of praise,
too. And as I said before the poses and the yoga space are so inherently special, that even the
ones who dont bow to the altar or close their eyes, are gaining something just by their presence. Id also add, that everyone has a different avenue for accessing the divine, and its not
my place to judge my students. Its all good. Its all yoga.
What do you mean when you say that everything is meditation?
Everything CAN be a meditation. Meditation means focus. Sometimes its divinely directed,
sometimes its counting breath, and sometimes its just is-ing. Realizing that every moment
can be meditative has been a revelation for me.
How do you personally de-stress with yoga?
Ive always been really attached to movement. I used to be a dancer and through dance I realized the paradox that through intense movement of the physical body, we actually transcend
the flesh and become a sort of vehicle of passion. For me, Yoga is Dance with an articulated
and emphasized intention. Also, unlike dance, yoga preaches self-love in every moment. Every
body is a yoga body.
How does it help me de-stress? Well it helps me clear the mind, if even for the 1.5 hours that
Im practicing. If youre trying to get into some crazy bound position, all you are thinking
about is, Oh, my God, how am I going to reach my left wrist with my right hand? Your muscles and your mind are moving together to achieve the pose. You want it so badly, how could
you possibly be thinking about your boyfriend who just dumped you or the test that you have
tomorrow?
Moreover, as someone whos been practicing a long time, I would say I am becoming an advanced asana practitioner. As a result, the mat has become a total sanctuary for me. I know I
can show up and succeed. I know I can keep getting better.

How do you make Yoga part of your day-to-day life?

Meditation and pranayama are quite easy to put into my day because you can do it when
youre walking to class. You can do it when youre eating. You can do it when youre having sex.
I have tangible reminders on me at all times. I wear an Om. I sometimes wear my mala. There
are things that I do and practices that I have every morning when I wake up that help set me
on a yogic path.
As a leading campus yoga teacher, what are some of the things you get asked?
I get a lot of questions about yoga postures, injuries, healthy diets, and book suggestions.
More recently though, Ive been getting a lot of pleas for help from women dealing with anorexia or bulimia. Ive become a bit of a counselor in a way that is sometimes uncomfortable,
incredibly sad, beautiful, and painful, but still filled with potential. A positive way to think
about this tragic plague is that people know to come to a yoga teacher with these issues. Presumably they see that yoga is a practice in which you can really love your body and see, first
of all, that its a temporary, fleeting thing thats so unimportant, but also a beautiful vessel no
matter what shape or size.
Also, a lot of sports players come to my classes. At the beginning, I sort of developed a following of water polo playersI. These beig beautiful men would even come to my Jewish Yoga
class. One time I got an email from some gorgeous water polo guy saying, I really loved what
you said about the parsha now, this guys not Jewish but my hips are really sore and I
think I need your magical yoga loving. I get those kinds of questions a lot too. Though theres
certainly a perk of seeming like some sexy yoga teacher I try not to take (too much) advantage of this role!
How can yoga help in relationships?
A big part of a yoga practice is setting intentions and dedicating the practice to someone you
love or someone you have a hard time sending love to. By sending out love or forgiveness, you
make space in yourself to not judge. Take this off the mat. Compassion is huge.
Also, having a healthy body image in romantic relationships is important. Working the
Chakras, being honest with yourself, being honest with your partner all make for good relationships. And of course, Yoga creates flexibilityand you know what that means.
Whats your favorite part of yoga philosophy?
Whats so great about Yoga is that Yoga is everything and everything is Yoga. There is a universal idea that we all have a Divine Spark inside us. The basic business of saying Namaste and
truly saluting this light in everyone is the most fundamental part of saying that everyone is
Yoga.

I think a huge issue facing yoga for our generation is that there are some people who take it
so freaking seriously when its not a serious thing at all. The point is to create a lightness of
being and Namaste to honor the LIGHT within you, not to honor the seriousness and rigidity within you. We have to accept the darkness and go from darkness to light, but we also
have to create a sense of lila and playfulness. How do you do that?
I have an awesome playlist, always. I do a combination of Kirtan, Beyonc and the Rolling
Stones. Its not a workout class. Its a dance. Lets relax into the seriousness just as we embrace the transience of it all.
How can we spread the yoga practice to other college students?
The first step is good yoga teachers. We need to make college students who want to deepen
their practice excited. It has to be accessible, but also rigorous. If we build it, they will come.

Amanda White-Graff

New York University

Yoga Teacher
When did you start practicing yoga?
I officially started when I was 17 because the dance studio where I took classes in Wisconsin
offered yoga once a week for dancers so they could gain flexibility. I officially started my daily
practice in the spring of 2009 at Yoga to the People. I moved to New York in the fall of 2008 to
go to NYU for acting so I was a full time student and doing yoga.
How did you fit yoga into your day when you were in college? Did you do it with friends or on
your own? How did that fit into your college life?
I definitely went the first time because it was the cool thing to do. I went with a friend at prime
time Yoga to the People and we were on the top floor in the back row. I was like, This is really
challenging how is it an open level class? This is crazy! I have been an athlete my whole life.
I was a dancer and also played basketball and polo vaulted for track so when I went to Yoga to
the People for the first time, I was like, Im in really good shape so it is crazy that this is so difficult. I ran every day and at that point, I was probably running close to six miles a day and I
found that within a week, I was cutting my time significantly just from doing yoga. I was running
six miles a day and normally my time was roughly 58 minutes. After one week of doing yoga, I

was down to 55 minutes. I chopped off 3 minutes in one week just from breathing better!
Every day in the summer of 2009, I would wake up, go for a run, and then go to Yoga to the
People. The hardest part was just getting there. When I got to the studio I would lay down on the
floor and think, I dont want to do this, but Im here. Its gonna happen.
At the beginning, I was against any spirituality about it. I just wanted the workout.
When did the spirituality start coming in?
In the summer of 2010, I did my first teacher training with Yoga to the People. Even after my
first teacher training I wasnt completely sold on the spirituality. Between winter and spring of
2011, I joined Pure Yoga on the Upper East Side. Through joining Pure I had a giant revelation
of OMG, I was totally missing out on what Yoga really was! I thought it was just the one-hour
classes at Yoga to the People, but there is so much more. At Pure, I went to a Bryan Kest workshop. He was one of the people who coined the term Power Yoga, but he said that he would
rather call it Empower Yoga. Now, people interpret Power Yoga as strength whereas he meant
it as empowering yourself to be a bigger and better person.
Between fall and winter of 2010 and spring of 2011, I was in a giant state of depression. I
was taking antidepressants and I was just trying to hang onto things. It was when I went to the
workshop with Bryan Kest, and got my first taste of spirituality that didnt scare me off. Bryan
talked a lot about the mind, and how it likes to think all sorts of things; judgments of others and
ourselves. He went on to talk about a study he read that says we only think about seven different thoughts a day... and if they are constantly I suck. life is terrible. Hell never love me. Shell
never love me. Blah blah blah, then that is what you are. I think, therefore I am. Therefore,
his point was, it is on us to change our thoughts, to be the person we want to be. It wasnt until
months later while reading the Yoga Sutras did I realize Bryan was talking about Yoga Sutra
2.33, When thinking negative thoughts, think the opposite. The Bryan Kest workshop was the
end to my depression, and the beginning of what felt like my life. Id like to say it was the beginning to my spiritual life, however I think that started when I started practicing asana, whether I
wanted it to/knew it or not. Asana teaches basic yoga philosophy teaches, and as a teacher this
is one of the reason I continue to teach asana; to teach philosophy without them actually even
aware they are learning yoga philosophy. I like to call it, sneak attack philosophy.
A few months after the Bryan Kest workshop I began to understand the spirituality at another
level in Summer 2011. That summer I spent three months traveling in France. Up until this
point I was practicing asana roughly 2-4 times a day, everyday. A day did not go by that did not
involve asana practice; I was dependent on it, and addicted to it. However, over the course of
those months in France I rarely did asana; I barely practiced once a week. I learned that I do not
need asana to do yoga, yoga is a state of mind rather than a fancy pose.
And then April 2012 Id say I was totally sold on spirituality. I was in teacher training with Alanna Kaivalya, every morning we meditated for 20 minutes. I began to realize I could reach states
of yoga in 5 minutes of meditation that would take me hours to recreate practicing asana. I
remember coming home and telling my significant other at the time, I dont know what this
means, and it feels weird to say something like this, but I love god... not God, but something

larger that gives everything meaning and existence.

What does Samadhi mean to you?
Its weird for me to use terms like Samadhi. In general I have a hard time labeling something
that isnt physically tangible. I dont know what to call it when I meditate. Its one of the most
comforting moments of my life. I feel an overwhelming sense of ease and connectedness.
What was it like doing a teacher training as a college student?
I did it in the summer at YTTP, which is a popular place for young people. It was fun and cool to
be a yoga teacher while I was in college. I wanted my friends to come take my classes. It was my
side job.
Did you find that the practice helped you with your schoolwork?
Being an acting student, it 100 percent helped me with my schoolwork. Especially at YTTP, there
are hahs and hmms and brrs. More than half the teachers there are either NYU acting students
or grads of NYUs acting program. I believe that YTTP is geared towards actors, dancers, and
performers. On days where I was acting in a scene or play, I would always make sure to go to
yoga first. Not only did it warm up my body; it warmed up my voice. It was a huge part of my
schoolwork because the quality of my performance was affected by the quality of my yoga practice.
On the flip side, occasionally I would skip academic classes to go to yoga.
Do you think yoga is the rock n roll of our generation?
It is astonishing how many people are into some aspect of yoga. If people start to realize that
it is more than just a physical practice, it could totally change the world. If all the people who
practiced asana started to realize there is more to it than some silly poses, serious things could
happen. Rock n roll changed the music world because prior to rock n roll, it was still a music
scene and the creativity behind the music was lacking. Today, there are so many styles of music
that would not exist without rock n roll.
If the yoga community keeps growing and is not just a thing that people do for the next few
years and they start applying the spiritual and philosophical sides, I think that yoga could
change the world as drastically as rock n roll. It has the potential.
What advice do yoga have for either college students who practice yoga or college students
who feel like they need yoga and have not started yet?
When starting out, go to yoga four to seven days of the week for an entire month and then decide whether you like it or not. Doing it once or twice and saying, Oh, Im not good at that or
It doesnt work for me is not a thing. The hardest part about yoga is getting on the mat. If

youre there, you are going to do it and you are going to practice. If youre not, its not going to
happen. Part of the practice is just showing up.
One of my favorite aspects of the practice is that there are things that you think you cannot do.
A teacher will say, Now were going to do this pose and we are going to sit in it for a half hour.
And then youre like, No way. Thats not going to happen.
There was a teacher at Pure Yoga who was trying to show me how to press up to handstand with
straddled legs. I thought, That looks so cool and I wonder what it would take for me to do it.
I literally went home and practiced one night and then could do it the next day. I get that Im in
good physical condition and I do have hyper-awareness of my body and the way that it works,
but that shouldnt happen. I shouldnt be able to practice and then within 24 hours get it. And
then I read the Yoga Sutras and it explains what I just did: Practice and have no attachment to
what youre practicing and that will create stillness and calmness of the mind.
When people start practicing yoga, there is a tendency to think, Oh, I cant do this if I am not
flexible enough. I cant do this if I am not strong enough. But that is why you go! You go to get
stronger and more flexible, not to show off what you can already do.
What inspires you?
Possibility. Everything I have set out to do in my life, every goal I have ever had, has come my
way. This involves a lot of hard work and dedication. I still cant believe I am my age and teaching yoga for a living. There is a quote by Andrea Gibson that I love: I refuse to believe in miracles because miracles are the impossible coming true and everything is possible. I believe I can
do anything I want to do if I work hard enough and I hope that other people can see that as well.
Giving up is the only way you dont accomplish something.

Leigh Stewart

Wesleyan University
Yoga Teacher, WesBAM! Wesleyan Body and Mind
I had this amazing conversation with Leigh at a deli in Marin that sells kombucha, coconut water,
and our latest obsession: goldenberries. Leigh and I interned together at Mandala Publishing, which
produces a host of yoga books. It is our lunch break during our first day back after a long weekend at
the Wanderlust Festival where we volunteered as question mark girls (i.e. human info booths) at the
concerts and took 7 yoga classes in 3 days. Leigh and I are yogi partners-in-crime. We teach together
at Wesleyan University and throw yoga dance parties on Foss Hill. She is my most grounded friend as
eager to get down on the dance floor as she is to get into downward facing dog.
How did you get into yoga?
I took my first class in middle school with my parents, but it didnt interest me. I knew it was out there,
but I didnt get interested in yoga until high school. It was a social thing to counterbalance the other
athletic stuff I was doing.

What was the other athletic stuff you were doing?

I was doing basketball at the time and weight training. I got into yoga, found a couple classes. I would
go with different friends probably three or four times a week. It was senior year so things were winding
down. It was different. It was noncompetitive. It was an excuse to hang out with friends during the week
when we should all have been doing homework.
What yoga did you do in high school? Where did you practice?
In high school, I practiced at the local YMCA gym. They have a great yoga community there. And also
at the Jewish Community Center, which is a community center but also workout facility.
Didnt you used to sneak into an amazing yoga class there?
We would distract the woman in the front and then sneak in downstairs through the door.
I love it. Yoga badass.
The yoga teacher told us to sneak in. She just wanted more people in her class. It was definitely my
favorite class. It was Vinyasa and thats how that took direction and I realized that was what I wanted to
do moreso than Hatha or Restorative.
Can you describe your yoga practice your freshman year of college?
It was based off a few podcasts that friends had given me as well as some things that I thought resembled yoga poses that I had done that involved more movement from basketball and speed and agility
sort of work. In terms of practice, I would always carve out an hour and a half to do my practice three
or four times a week. That was really manageable for me. If I got another person to do it with me, we
would do a podcast and if it wad just me by myself, I decided I liked listening to music better than I
liked listening to someones voice so I would do my own thing based on how I was feeling. Its nice to
be pushed, but its also nice to know that if your hamstrings are tight, you can hold a forward fold for
five minutes if you want. So there was something refreshing about that, about not being told what to
do, that I liked.
What were the podcasts that you used or would recommend?
I started out using my friends podcast from a hot studio she went to in Boston called Breath and Body
Yoga. The womans name is Desiree Pierce and my friend had six of them so I would alternate. That
was enough for a week! So when I started getting more into it and was like, Okay, I need to do this
every day not just three days a week, I would just do a different one every day. Some were 60 minutes.
Some were 90 minutes. It wasnt until later that I was introduced to the Yoga to the People podcasts
and my mom actually had some old yoga videos from the Rodney Yee era.
Can you tell me what it was like doing yoga in the Bayit?
My friend asked me if I wanted to do a yoga podcast with her one afternoon and there was a house of
24 people so out of those people, four of us ended up in one room mat to mat and started doing the
podcast. It was a cool way to bring something into our friendship that we didnt have in common during the first year at school, but that all of a sudden ten or twelve of us were doing together on a regular
basis and that was really fun. Its a good way to get to know people in a constructed form.
What was it like practicing yoga as a college athlete?
Its like they say in P90X, I hate it, but I love it. There were parts that were challenging, but it was

also motivating. Ive always been interested in the differences of the human body and it was interesting to me that with the years of weight training and squats and lunges with 200 pounds on your back,
the minute you have to hold a lunge in yoga for two minutes, you could take a nap - its effortless, but
the minute you have to balance on one leg and bend another leg, its unknown. The strength wasnt a
problem and it was fun to explore that aspect at first because it was something I could do and I could
move up faster in that realm as opposed to the stretching and lengthening, which was hard for me at
first because when you are doing weight training, the point is that youre bulking up and tightening everything together. Strengthening involves tightening and that means everything gets short, but yoga is
asking your body to lengthen beyond what it already is. I immediately felt a difference on the basketball
court once I started doing yoga and I never had an injury. I did have an injury but it wasnt related and
not to the extent the other people on the team did where they had to take time out. I would say yoga is
very complementary.
How did you then decide to do your teacher training?
Sophomore year was really difficult for me physically with some injury stuff with basketball and emotionally because my friend passed away. I was trying to really jump out of the job I had been working
at the two summers before, but nothing was panning out and I didnt really want to come home, but
that was the reality of the situation so I knew I needed to do something to make the experience new or
different because coming back to the same thing...it wouldnt be the same because of the things that
had happened. It would be too weird for me to come back and try to pretend things were going to be
as they were.
I didnt have any money at this point so I was very limited. It wasnt just like, Oh, you can pick whatever style! It was because I wanted to learn more about yoga. It would be a great way to continue to be
active as I was thinking about quitting basketball. I needed something to keep me occupied while I was
transitioning out of that. So I found Yoga to the People in San Francisco and it was really reasonable.
The training weirdly fit hours-wise with my work hours and they didnt make you pay the whole thing
upfront. It was very bizarre how it worked out and I was just in time for the early registration date to
save money so I decided in less than a week and I applied. It was an awesome experience and it made
the summer completely worth it.
What was it like balancing your outside life and your teacher training while you were in it?
It was a mess! It was an absolute mess! I was working a 40-hour week at camp. At this point, I hadnt
told anyone I was quitting basketball so I still had to submit my workouts. And then I had teacher training Friday nights, going straight from work Friday to teacher training, going all day Saturday and all
day Sunday. And the real killer was we had to put in 5 hours in the studio taking classes on top of the
training on the weekends. And because of my work hours I had no way of getting to San Francisco or
Berkeley during the week so I stayed for five extra hours every Saturday and Sunday to get the classes
in so Id do a full day of training and take two yoga classes each night and clean the studio. It was
exhausting. Because I was lifting weights during the week for basketball, my body was whacked out. It
was crazy, but it was a greatI knew that it was a lot, but it gave me a taste of the real world of what
people deal with if they want to do anything on top of working a normal job. In that sense, it was nice
to be like, Okay, if I have to do this, I can do this. It was fun to be doing it at the same time as working at a summer camp. When I was at work, Id have to practice a sequence so Id get the kids and
create yoga as an activity.
How was transitioning back to Wesleyan afterwards?
My teacher training ended the day before school started. I had never been a real part of the yoga community at Wesleyan so I didnt know how much that existed. I had been in contact with some people
so I didnt know if there was a yoga community or a more general fitness community of people who
wanted to teach, but then when I got back and really sat down with people, the yoga community was

awesome. At first, I was sort of like, This isnt going to be teacher training. People are coming from
all different backgrounds, but I didnt know wed interact as much as we did and now, especially, I
can say that without a doubt, I am so much closer to the people I taught with this year than anyone in
my teacher training. That was really comforting. I remember telling you at one point, I feel like Im in
teacher training all the time! That was wonderful. It was a big added surprise because I thought that
you had teacher training and then are off on your own, but I was really lucky to come into a community
that allowed me to teach and have people that I was confident in as teachers and that were confident
with me as teachers. And 200 hours isnt that much time so it was huge. It was like continuing the
training into the fall and I still feel like that. Once you understand how to learn something, what you
need to learn is never final or a finished product. Its always changing.
What do you think is the importance of priorities?
Im glad this is coming off the Wanderlust experience because at the end of the day, what everything
comes down to is the idea of what Seane Corn was talking about. I heard a lot of teachers this weekend talk about happiness and wanting to be happy and thats always what Ive thought: people just
want to be happy and whatever will make people happy, but I think at the root of happiness is the idea
of giving and accepting love. I think thats what I mean by priorities. I mean that during finals, if I am
personally going to sit in the library for 10 hours during the day, I am not going to love myself and I am
not going to love other people, meaning I am not going to eat well. I am not going to be balanced. I am
not going to be out in the sun. I am not going to be able to be active. I am not going to be able to do
the things that I love to do and I am not going to be able to interact and do the things that I love in the
best way that I can. What I mean by priorities is taking time for the people and the things that I love to
do. If yoga is one of those things, I believe that if those are the priorities of life, then everything else
will sort of fall into place and it will fall into place in a way thats organic and in a way that is driven
from a place of happiness rather than obligation Everything that needs to get done will get done and
sometimes the fastest way isnt the optimal way. Thats something I think a lot about in college where it
seems that were all in a slaughterhouse. College is supposed to be run efficiently, which makes a lot of
sense, but there has to be times where you press on the brakes and just say, No, I need to take time
in this place. Whether that means I need to take time to read this in two weeks because it is so dense.
Those are the things where in two years, it wont matter when you did it. Something that Im working
on is the idea of being here now.
Can you define burnout and how yoga can help with that?
Burnout is getting to a place where everything becomes clouded because the mind has gone so onetrack and so narrow that it loses track of everything else because of one thing. Burnout happens when
the mind is on one track and the thing the end never gets accomplished. I think that burnout is a
reminder that its not the product that matters; its the means to the end. So how can it be avoided?
I think that abstractly, burnout can be avoided by constantly asking yourself, Is this what I want and
need to be doing? And if it doesnt fit into what I want to be doing right now, how is this helping or
bettering something to come? But I think practically, burnout can be avoided by change. This year, I
was in a rut in doing the same thing over and over again in the spring and burnout was avoided when
my housemate asked me to take a 15-minute walk. It was a 15-minute walk and I still remember the
walk! When I think of junior spring, I think of this walk, which is so bizarre because I go on walks all
the time, but that was something I severely lost sight of at Wesleyan.
Burnout can be avoided, in a very structured sense, by making a list of things you like to do in different
places at different times and just having that list with you in spaces where maybe the list doesnt even
match up. For instance, I might put on the list going to the beach and in Connecticut, that might not
seem feasible, but in reality, there is a beach. Its just different than the beach I might know and appreciate and maybe going to that other beach will create a renewed sense of something that I couldnt
even find at the first beach. I think that goes for not just experiences, but for people. I had a rule for
myself that I would add on a new activity every semester, which turned into adding in three new activi-

ties, which turned into being really overwhelming, but aside from that, I think that doing new things
in new areas and especially forcing yourself to go into situations where you literally know no oneyou
dont know what is going to happen and your mind cant think about what you are going to have to do
cause its so busy taking in a new experience that you have no connection to potentially so I think that
can be really helpful and I think the teacher training did that for me. I had no idea what I was walking
into. Working through discomfort can bring you to a new area and allow you to walk into situations with
a different mentality.
Could you talk about your experience with mono and how it effected or changed your yoga practice?
It did! It was so frustrating. First of all, Ill never forget that I wanted to take Acro and Thai Massage
so badly. We were doing Thai massage at the end of Acro and someone was massaging my neck and it
was so painful and I was wondering if it was related to all these spine issues I had been having where
my back was so sore, which can also be symptoms of mono. I couldnt do a bridge. It was sort of frustrating leading up to it so when I was diagnosed with mono, I was like, Oh, its good that I havent broken my whole spine! But at the same time, the doctor that I was working with told me that I couldnt
do anything physical for six weeks and especially with yogaI asked and the answer was, Restorative.
You came to all my classes!
The thing that was huge about mono was getting over the difficulty of doing something that wouldnt
be my first choice and learning to enjoy that because that was what was there and then also having the
flexibility of people around me and just to speak in the yoga world, to be able to come to your classes
and other instructors classes, informing them that I couldnt really do anything, that I wasnt trying to
be rude and just having people be so open and so excited to continue to share community, I really think
it was the community that made it feel like a big nap! And a good nap I dont like naps normally. I
think that goes back to the square blocks with the rounded lines inside. Being able to have the shape
of the yoga class and then being able to do what is best for you in that moment in the class.

Katherine McComic

Yale University
Yoga Teacher and Vice President of Yogis at Yale
Katherine comes to Yale from sunny San Diego, California. Katherine began practicing yoga
in 2006, and has been teaching since May 2010. Her practice has seen her through difficult
times and has shown her that when life gives you lemons, just breathe. Katherines classes
place a large emphasis on meditative breathing, in both relaxing and energetic poses. She reminds her students to maintain an inner stillness of mind and heart throughout their practice.
This inner calmness in conjunction with physical asanas allows for an active rejuvenation of
the body and mind.
Tell me a little about you, what got you into yoga and what got you teaching yoga.
I started practicing yoga freshman year of high school. I had to do two PE credits. I did tennis for the first part of it and for the second, I was like How about yoga?! And so it beganI
started taking classes at a local yoga studio in La Jolla, California. Im really fortunate to have
stumbled upon yoga at just the right time in my life. Yoga prevented me from stressing out
over the miniscule tragedies of high school academics. I knew that I still had a body and I
knew I could still move my body even when everything else seemed to be falling to pieces.

I stumbled into teaching through yet another happenstance: a new yoga studio was opening
up in my town, and the owner gave me the opportunity to do a work-study exchange at that
studio. I worked the front desk and took my teacher training course for free.
Talk to me about Yogis at Yale.
Yogis at Yale is a student-run, student-participating yoga organization with five yoga teachers. Two are grad students. Three of us are undergrads. We hold five free classes a week for
all members of the Yale Community. I like to believe we have fluid, stress-free system. Come
when you want. Leave when you want. Come as many times as you want or dont come at all.
Our goal, really, is just to get you to try yoga out, and if you like it, to enjoy it with us.
During my first few semesters with Yogis at Yale, I taught a Power Vinyasa class and a Beginners Class. This past year, I did away with my power vinyasa class (there being several flow
classes) because I thought we were saturating our schedule with too much aerobic yoga. In
its place, I started teaching a candlelight class, which was held on Monday nights at 10 o
clock. As its name suggests, we practiced, in the dark, by candle light. It was a very gentle,
meditative class. We were not in high-risk injury poses. As opposed to a substituting a run on
the treadmill, the focus was on finding ones breath and creating a soft space in the body. My
intention behind the class was to create a positive space where one could just let go and melt
into ones body. Let the day go, let work go in order to be present present in your body, in the
darkness, and in yourself.
How might we find softness in a yoga practice?
It means not taking the poses or the cardio aspect too seriously. Not looking around the room
or searching for your flaws. In college, and especially at Yale, you dont need an extra thing to
worry about, even if its as silly as That person over there has a great Warrior II, and Im all
over the place! The softer practice comes from the heart. With busy college schedules, people
think too much. Obviously, a university context is a hyper-intellectualized one. But a life of the
mind must still correspond to life, to a living and breathing body. With a softer practice, I wanted to teach the thoughtfulness of the heart. Think with your body now and allow your heart to
guide your body and dont fucking over- -intellectualize it. Its YOGA. Its for YOU and its beautiful. No theory, nor anything to analyze. Just practice.
Why do you think yoga is important for college students?
I always feel more focused and more refreshed when I approach my work after I move my
body. I need yoga to remind myself, Oh, yeah, my hamstrings exist or, Oh, HELLO, thats
my back. I think its very important for college students to be reminded of their bodies, to be
reminded that physical health is just as important - if not more important - than their intellectual and academic pursuits.
On a different note, yoga is full of surprises, and is, therefore, a great way for college students,
who might otherwise tire of their vicious routines, to reencounter wonder, and whats more,
wonder in themselves. Yoga, I think, is an exploration of What Is, as in, the wealth of all that is
always immediately present in someones life: body, breath, and consciousness. By meditating
on these fundamentals, students, especially young and anxious college students, can deepen
their inner peace and enjoy who, what, and where they are.

I meet people at Yale who take their majors or extracurricular activities really seriously. Sometimes Ill meet a fellow student and, during our introductions, all I can hear him or her say
is, Im an Econ major so Im an Econ major and Im an Econ major. And I think to myself,
Whoa. Youre also a human being. I think doing yoga helps mitigate the pressure of trying
to keep up or compete with other students. By maintaining a yoga practice based in the ideas
of self-awareness and acceptance, I think students can better navigate their social relations.
Instead of forming relationships with the intention of trying to reaffirm the identity that youve
molded for yourself, you can just float.
Yogas emphasis on the self has also, time after time, helped me in my search for direction,
which, as anyone in the liberal arts would agree, is no small victory. I think when I dedicate
time to my practice I dedicate time to sharpening my sense of intuition, my gut feelings. I love
that my yoga practice asks me to listen and trust in my body and my mind. Its refreshing to
then bring this attitude elsewhere and chill out knowing that there is no formula by which to
live your life.
Nonetheless, I also think that yoga has been the key to my growth and personal development.
Yoga has literally and figuratively opened me up to new things, new directions, and new places
to put my foot. It has helped me think more creatively; even with respect to the most mundane
projects, if I have an open heart, I can find another way to look at it positively. Opening your
heart to the universe and bowing forward in humble warrior is the same gesture as opening
and embracing whatever is in front of you.
How is yoga an empowering practice?
I feel like Superwoman when I practice yoga. Even though I
am my own self, my same body that I had yesterday and the
body that Ill have tomorrow - its mine, completely mine!
Through my practice, I acknowledge and accept what and
where I am. I check in and find where I am today. And then
some days, say my balance is really awesome, and I find
myself in a beautiful expression, I think I am on top of the
world. The universe rests on my fingertips. I think the empowerment comes from the fact that I constantly surprise
myself. The empowerment comes from being able find yourself in a new pose, or in a deep expression of an old pose,
and genuinely there feel amazed by yourself. With every
practice, to find yourself more truly and more strange!
How do you fit yoga into your day and make it a part of your day-to-day life in college?
In the mornings, I like to check in. I try to meditate when I wake up. Sometimes In class when
I feel myself spacing out, I employ a drishdi gaze. When I get discouraged by something that
has happened, I step back and focus on my breathing. In class. In the dining hall. I check in
and think, Alright, the world may be spinning around me, but I am in me.
In terms of asana practice, last year I lived in my residential colleges and didnt really have
my own private space, so it was a little bit difficult to find a time of the day when I could flow

without people coming in and out of the room. Nonetheless, I tried to practice three or four
times a week: at Yogis at Yale classes and at a studio called Breathing Room.
How does your yoga practice help you with your schoolwork?
The majority of my schoolwork consists of reading and writing papers, which are hard to do
when Im hyperventilating thinking about a thousand different things. Meditating or doing a
practice is very cleansing and it helps put things into perspective. It allows me to think more
clearly through a thesis or be more creative with my word choice. If Im about to start a paper,
my yoga practice helps me organize my thoughts and start writing.
How do you de-stress?
I do my practice. Sometimes I feel like Im the textbook definition of an introvert. I regain my
energy by being alone. Yoga helps me close my eyes to the bustle of the world around me so
that I can be with really myself for an hour or so. De-stressing happens when I find my center
and create softness in my heart.
What does Third Eye mean to you? How do you incorporate that in the day to day?
When I check into the Third Eye, its not just closing my eyes so I can be away from the world;
its closing my eyes so I can be part of something thats not visible. Its like checking in and
plugging into something that I believe is a transcendent quality of human beings, soul energy.
The Third Eye is a connection and acknowledgment of that. We can create that in our practice,
in our love for other people, in our relationships, and in our comportment.
Do you think yoga can create a different kind of college lifestyle?
Yoga can help realize what I think the liberal arts education is supposed to be, that meaning
something much more than a liberal arts tagline on a college brochure. It helps you encounter liberty within yourself. Ideally, in yoga, you can free yourself from the pressures of conformity and indulge in your own curiosity and creativity. This attitude, I find, corresponds perfectly to how I understand and enjoy the liberal arts college system.
Describe your personal practice and how you make it your own.
I never had a teddy bear, nor did I ever have a blanket. I never had a childlike connection to an
inanimate object. I got serious about my practice because in high school I felt like my home
life was falling apart. When I was a Junior my parents moved to China and left me, unintentionally, in a really weird situation. Yoga became my teddy bear and security blanket. Yoga, the
yoga community especially, became my parents. Yoga was my rock. I started my practice with
a desperately personal need for it. My practice is personal, so when I speak to my students, I
try to speak from a very intimate place. I try to say, I want to share this time and this practice
with you.
Were young. Were 20. Were so young and we have so much time and potential to grow.
I often think that the practice of yoga is symbolic of life, especially in the sense that for neither is there a final or correct answer. What matters is reconciling with where you are today.

Glossary
SANSKRIT
abhaya fearlessness
ahimsa non-harming/nonviolence
ana Sanskrit prefix meaning food/nourishment
anjali prayer
aparigraha non-greed
asana the physical yoga poses; it literally means seat, but the point of all asanas is to prepare the seat for meditation.
asteya non-cheating
brahmacharya non-excess; sexual mindfulness
chin [mudra] energy seal that stimulates concentration and balance
chitta vritti chatter of the mind; mental barriers to peace
dharana concentration
dhyana meditation
drishdi point of focus outside oneself; unmoving
guru translates literally from darkness to light; a teacher who serves as a guide on the Yogic path
Isvarapranidhana surrender
japa repetition
kirtans chanting that invokes divine names in groups of people and with beautiful sounds
Krama stage
kula community
lila play
mantra tool for the mind (comes from manas, which means mind and tra, which means
tool); a phrase that is repeated over and over to bring peace of mind
Metta lovingkindness meditation (Buddhist, not Sanskrit)
mudra energy seal created by postures of the hands
nadi shodana alternate nostril breathing meant to stimulate the energy channels (nadis)
throughout the body that form the wheels of subtle body energie (chakras)
Niyamas prescriptions of how to take care of ourselves; one of the eight limbs
padas books (there are four of them) in the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali
prana life force; energy
Pranayama a prescribed series of breathing exercises to stimulate, cultivate, and hone in
energy; one of the eight limbs
Pratyahara the inward pulling of the senses to prepare body and mind for meditation; one of
the eight limbs
saucha purity; cleanliness
Samadhi total bliss
sangha association; assembly; company; community gathering
Santosha contentment
satsang what happens when we unite with people who bring out our potential

satya truth
savasana corpse pose, final resting pose in a yoga class/sequence
surya namaskars a complete practice in and of themselves, Sun Salutations are the trademark of a vinyasa yoga practice.
Sva Rupes Essential Selves; what we are when stripped of the materiality of our lives
svadhyaya self-study
sthira steady and stable practice and energy
sukha spacious and happy practice and energy
sutra Sanskrit for thread; shorthand notes
Tantric the Yoga tradition that unites material and spiritual worlds
tapah heat energy; discipline
ujayi victorious breath cultivated by a deep inhale and exhale through the nose, closing off
the back of the throat; creates a sound like that of Darth Vader
vinyasa the linking of movement with breath; a style of yoga that has an emphasis on flow
Yamas prescriptions of how to act with others; one of the eight limbs
Yoga an interdisciplinary lifestyle that unites mind, body, and higher purpose
yuj Sanskrit root meaning to unite

STYLES OF YOGA
Anusara heart-opening yoga that uses its own principles of alignment; founded by John
Friend
Ashtanga style of yoga cultivated by Jois that originated in Mysore, India; combined with
vinyasa to create contemporary Western flow practices
Iyengar style of yoga that focuses on individual poses and that uses props for expert alignment
Jivamukti translates to liberation while living; style of yoga created and rooted in NYC by
Sharon Gannon and David Life

THE YOGIC TEXTS

Bhagavad Gita a small section of the Mahabharata that tells the story of Krishna and Arjuna,
as well as the contextual meaning of dharma
Patanjalis Yoga Sutras Foundational guidebook to life of yoga that consists of a series of
short, philosophical notes
Ramayana Hindu epic tale that tells the story of Hanuman, Rama, and Lord Ravana

IMPORTANT CHARACTERS (Gods, Teachers, Poets, Feminists)

Agni god of fire and digestion
Dharma Mittra an Indian yogi who practices and teaches in the heart of NYC; founder of
Dharma Yoga

Gandhi leader of Indian nationalism in British-ruled India; peaceful warrior for freedom
Ganesh elephant god, remover of obstacles, son of Shiva and Parvati
Lord Ravana villain in the Ramayana
Hafiz Sufi poet of love
Hanuman monkey god; an incarnation of Shiva
Kali fierce warrior goddess; badass destroyer of the ego
Parvati (wo)manifestation of Shakti; famous for cultivating enough energy through seated
meditation to lure back a lost Shiva
Patanjali Ancient yogic sage thought to be the founder of Yoga Philosophy; compiler of the
Yoga Sutras
Rama Vishnus seventh incarnation; Sitas hubby; responsible for destroying Ravana in the
Ramayana
Rumi Sufi poet and lover
Sarasvati goddess of creativity
Shakti feminine goddess of tantra, Shivas lover, responsible for dance, curly hair, and ecstatic expression
Shiva god of destruction; lover of Shakti
Sri K. Pattabhi Jois the man who put Ashtanga Yoga together as a method; disciple of Krishnamacharya
Sufi the mystical dimension of Islam; brought about the worlds most spiritual poets like
Rumi and Hafiz

ENGLISH UNDERSTANDINGS & INTERPRETATIONS

Hinduism Yoga and Hinduism are like siblings - they grew up in the same family, but were
different people. Hinduism is a religion, whereas Yoga is a practice influenced by
its sibling. Hinduism is responsible for the gods and goddesses. It is a religion that
comes from Ancient India.
Kombucha fermented tea that has hit the shelves of all health food stores and hipster delis
Third Eye the seat of intuition; the chakra that resides at the space between the eyebrows

WORDS I/AWESOME PEOPLE MADE UP FOR FUN

D-Flo-Mos Dance Floor Makeouts
dharmatastic how one feels, is, and acts when they are thriving on their lifes path!
hamily short for hall family (i.e. your BFFs from your freshman dorm)
maticure decorating your yoga mat (hint: use glitter!); discovered term at Wanderlust Festival
Kula Village
roommateic the collegiate relationship one has with the person who shares their abode

Resource Guide
I will have done my job in writing this e-book ifyou stop reading this book. Its funny to write
a book on Yoga because Yoga is inherently not something you read; it is something you practice. The end goal of learning is to get us to stop reading and start embodying! What reading
and listeningand watching does is it gives us the aspects and characteristics to embody.
The resources that I offer in this guide are like the asana practice. It is what you do on the
mat, a microcosm and practice space for life. It is your job, your OmWork, if you will, to bring
it into the rest of your world.
IT ALL BEGINS ON THE MAT: PROPS THAT MAKE THE YOGA POSSIBLE
Manduka mats and props
Jade mats
YogiToes (for yoga on the go)
Gaiam (for legit all yoga needs)
Yoga Accessories (getting props in bulk for your whole campus yoga cOMmunity)
BE PREPARED: CLOTHES TO PRACTICE IN (AND LOOK GREAT IN AFTER)
Zobha: Yoga, Pilates, and Workout Clothes and Activewear
Tanya-B: the design of quality and innovative apparel for an inspiring lifestyle
Lululemon: technical athletic apparrel for yoga, running, dancing, and most other
sweaty pursuits
Aaluuka: Studio 2 Street
be present: clothing for the yoga lifestyle
Beyond Yoga: a luxury lifestyle clothing company focused on empowering women
Lucy: a pant for every. body.
Athleta: Power to the She.
CHEAT SHEET: REQUIRED READING FOR LIFE
You are not going to die if you do not read these books, but I can promise you this: they will
help you live better! Why? A Yoga practice is like a pair of glasses that help us see the world
with clearer, brighter, inspired, and more enthusiastic lenses. Books (knowledge is power!) are
good indicators of what prescriptions we need.
The Red Book: A Deliciously Unorthodox Approach to Igniting Your Divine Spark by Sera Beak
o I mention this numerous times throughout Yoga U. This book is ideal for college
students because Sera breaks shit downwith profanity, vivacity, and a deep reverence for the divine in all of us.
Tranquilista: The Art of Enlightened Work and Mindful Play by Kimberly Wilson
o This book is phenomenal for college students because guess what? We work and
play! So we might as well do it in enlightened and mindful ways.

 Living Your Yoga: Finding the Spirituality in Everyday Life by P.T. Judith Lasater, Ph. D.
o It is one thing to have a great practice on the mat, but a wholly other thing to integrate what we learn on the mat into day-to-day life. This book ties together yoga
philosophy so that you can apply it to the kindness you give to the stranger at the
coffee stand.
The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali translated by Sri Swami Satchitandanda
o These sheer pearls of wisdom are your way of getting real traditional and grounded in the fact that is old information is grounded in your life. This philosophy will
make you nicer (even on the worst of days) - I promise!

Gratitude
This guide is made possible by the people who guide me, on a daily basis, in the Yoga practice
of life. I am abundantly grateful for the gigantic support network I have, both on and off the
mat. Words cannot describe how much these people mean to me, but hey, Im an English major so that wont keep me from using those words anyway!
Wesleyan University, I literally could not have written this book without your support. The
Summer Experience Grant gave me the funds to spend a summer in San Francisco living life
as a writer, interning at a publishing company, and teaching and practicing yoga. You have also
given me a beautiful on-campus yoga community, a plethora of friends to share the practice
with, and my first community of faithful students.
Julia Drachman, you rock and are superbly talented! Thank you for making the practices in
this book possible, for making it look utterly badass wonderful, and for using your creativity to
propel and inspire mine.
Insight Editions, thank you (especially Jan and Becky) for teaching me how to put a book
together and the science behind my passion of writing. Thank you for teaching me how to edit
and thank you for editing.
Leigh Stewart, thank you for being my yogi partner-in-crime.
Maxine Kozler Koven, thank you for paving a path for me to walk on, for doing your teacher
training the year before I did mine, and for not holding back.
Susan Engel, thank you for being a fantastic and supportive mother, reminding me of my own
progress constantly.
Brian Engel, thank you for always encouraging my love of writing (oh, and for being the best
dad ever).
Emily Klein, thank you for pillow talks, for roommate whispers, for being a constant form of
support, for giving me honest feedback about my teaching, for coming to almost all my yoga
classes, and for being the fantastic photographer that you are.
Catherine MacLean, thank you for a great and welcoming freshman year room, for showing me
how to meditate using coloring books, and for being a fantastic editor.
Editorial Dream Team, you awesome people (friends from elementary through high school,
teachers, mentors, and college pals), thanks for finding my typos, making invaluable sugges-

tions, and making Yoga U a work of respect!

Alanna Kaivalya, the teacher who first showed me the inherently spiritual nature behind the
yoga practice, thank you for inspiring me to write this book before the idea was even planted.
Thank you for showing me what it takes to write a book by writing your own, for sharing your
extensive and expert knowledge, and for being the best yoga teacher I know (and I know lots of
fantastic yoga teachers so that says a lot).
Laughing Lotus, thank you for both your centers in New York and San Francisco allowing
me to find hOMe on another coast, and for inspiring me through a daily practice with your
teachers, a job as a karmi cleaning the studio, and with the comforts of crying in pigeon pose.
Laine Armstrong, thank you for being a badass lawyer, easing my fears over copyright law, providing a hilarious sarcastic edge to our teacher training, and for so many laughs.
Hannah Cressy, you are the best guinea pig for crazy yoga sequences, asana model, and listener. Thank you for being there, my yoga pal in San Francisco, perpetual listener to my random musings and rants.
Brew Bakers, thank you for being our caf-office hybrid, and for all of the spinach and ricotta
wraps that made the assembly of this book such a delight.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Shira Engel is a yoga practitioner and teacher from New York
City. She loves to read things that make her laugh and she
drinks coconut water like its going out of style. She is a junior at Wesleyan Unviersity where she met the extraordinarily
talented Julia Drachman freshman year through the coincidental cosmic nature of housing placement. In her perfect
world she would do teacher trainings back to back, pausing
only for conversations with friends over a cup of coffee.

ABOUT THE ILLUSTRATOR

Julia Drachman is an aspiring architect and designer from
Seattle, Washington. She loves her cats and procrastinates
doing work by doodling in Photoshop. She attends Wesleyan
University, where she found an immediate friend, collaborator, travel buddy, and friendlationship partner in Shira Engel.