Katie w

A timely book. Never before the onset of the pandemic in 2020 have I heard the word "resilience" so frequently. As both an educator of young people and a yoga instructor myself, my worlds were suddenly bubbling with this idea of "how do we incorporate / increase / support resilience through these great times of change & turmoil?" But, what truly IS resilience, anyway? The ability to bounce back? Do we even wish to turn back? If not turning back, is it the power to press on forward? In doing so, do we dismiss, push away, or, alternatively, take on board & identify with our experience of hardship? Do either truly support resilience? As you can see, a resilient approach to living is more intricate than one might expect on first glance. The author Kelly Golden does a phenomenal job outlining the age-old tradition of Yoga as a practice of resilience. She shows us that in fact, all times have always been chaotic & turbulent and filled with change, & that the way to ride the waves with buoyancy & intentionality have been discussed & articulated for thousands of years. Not to say it's a closed coversation, that the work here is done. Rather, Kelly opens the book like a discussion, an invitation, to experience resilience here-and-now, in your own body, as you. She implores you to add to the stockpile of yogic perspectives with your lived experience. True yoga, and, true resilience. Using approachable language, a deep understanding, reverance, & integration of that which she's sharing, the author has carefully crafted this succinct text with a mix of perspectives & practices, incredibly applicable to everyday life, & dare I say it, an "easy read". It's not easy to make yoga an easy read! But even though you could, I encourage you not to speed through this book. Rather, keep it by your bedside for years to come, revisit in troubled times, in good times. Take it in slowly like you're sipping your favorite tea. Savor it. Because if you allow it, it will, like the tea, steep deeply in your psyche, and seep into every crevass of your life.