Hey it’s a giveaway! Who doesn’t like free stuff? Especially free stuff with lifetime value. (update – extension! through tuesday night – 2 copies to give away!)
The item up for grabs? A copy of the esteemed yogi and incredibly honorable Bobby Clennell’s The Woman’s Yoga Book: Asana and Pranayama for All Phases of the Menstrual Cycle (Rodmell Press May 2007)
We mentioned Ms. Clennell earlier this year and the free yoga workshop series for breast cancer survivors she held at the Iyengar Yoga Institute of New York. (ps. it’s a recurring series). We really can’t say enough nice things about Bobby as an inspiration and compassionate spirit. Not to mention a superior teacher who is a close and long-time student of the one and only BKS Iyengar. And she’s in great company, Bobby’s husband is co-yogi Lindsey Clennell, the man behind the important film Addiction, Recovery and Yoga.
In honor of Breast Cancer Awareness Month we couldn’t be more pleased to offer this book to YD readers.
About The Woman’s Yoga Book, from bobbyclennell.com
In this book I present a yoga practice that honors and relates to the female body. I teach women to observe their hormonal rhythms and to watch how they play out in the body and the emotions.
The book gives sequences for each phase of the menstrual cycle, from the premenstrual phase (supported bridge pose stabilizes mood swings), menstruation (restorative poses allow the body to rest), and the post-menstrual phase (inversions allow the body to cleanse and recover).
Foreword by Geeta S. Iyengar (BKS Iyengar’s daughter)
Enter to Win: To enter in the random drawing we encourage you to post a comment below about a special woman in your life. It can be anyone who has touched your life however deeply or briefly. You’ll have all weekend to enter and through Monday Oct. 19. The winner will be announced Tuesday the 20th.
Huge thanks to Rodmell Press for providing the prize!
UPDATE: And the winners are…
My mother – for no other reason than that she is amazing and has taught me everything I know about being a mom, wife, friend and caring person.
Karina Mirsky, my yoga teacher who lives in Michigan and I in South Carolina is a special woman in my life. This morning, we had a phone appointment and when I called, she answered sounding a bit like she was talking to me from a cave. She was sick, coughing, fever. I asked her if she wanted to reschedule our appointment (even though my mind, spirit and body was looking so forward to a dose of her wisdom). She declined the offer and went on to lead me through the teachings she has been so blessed to give and share. While she spoke, I heard her grow stronger.. her voice empowered gaining strenth not from herself, but somewhere ancient and deep within.
I drank from the knowledge, extremely grateful to have such a teacher, such a woman who seeks truth and integrity on behalf of her students.
She owns Sangha Yoga studio in Kalamazoo Michigan.
As a teenager, I lived with my bachelor single father. My dad had a broad knowledge of many topics, but there were some that alluded him – like menstruation and the purchase of an appropriate bra.
That’s where Rita came in. She was our neighbour and quickly became my friend and confidant. Every teenage girl needs a mother figure to guide her and Rita steered me right. She helped me buy the bra, explained the ins and outs of my period and helped me pick out clothing (To this day, I’ve never managed to develop her finely honed fashion sense).
After we moved away, Rita and I kept in touch. A few years ago, she let me know she was thinking of me a lot. She had cancer and there wasn’t a lot of time. She passed away last year. I’ll never forget her kindness. She was my ‘port in the storm’ during a time of great transition. I was blessed to know her.
My sister – Because she’s accepting, intelligent, fun, full of wisdom, and always listens when I need her too. She’s also letting me take her to her first hot yoga class in a couple of weeks!
My friend Chanita is the most amazing woman. After college she joined the Peace Corps, but ended up leaving (along with her ENTIRE groupm, one by one) due to the high incidence of assaults/rapes on Peace Corps volunteers in her country. She travelled to Guatemala to learn Spanish, and then started a non-profit called Esperanza En Accion. Esperanza is not an “aid” group or a “development” organization, but a partnership. Esperanza works with Nicaraguan artists and artisans to promote their work and develop international markets that pay a fair wage for their work. (It is still common for some Westerner to show up to a small village with an SUV and offer an artist $100 for ALL of the pottery or textiles they have–which could be months worth of work. Then the artist is forced to choose between $0 or an unfair wage.) Esperanza is currently participating in America’s Giving Challenge; the organization that obtains the most $10 donations wins $50,000. Go here to help: https://www.causes.com/fb/donations/new?cause_id=32985&recruiter_id=90737485
Chanita also organized educational tours of Nicaragua to give outsiders a first-hand look at Nicaraguan life, politics, and history. She is no longer serving as the director of Esperanza, as she moved back to the U.S. to take care of her family. She would rather have stayed in Nica, but she was needed at home.
My sister! She is extremely intelligent, hilarious, caring and beautiful. I couldn’t be more proud of everything she’s accomplished 🙂
candy c. was on my interview committee when i applied for my current teaching position back in 2001. a veteran elementary school teacher, candy never lost her love for her students or her enthusiasm for teaching, even when she was faced with a diagnosis of ovarian cancer. happily for all of us who know her, candy is in remission (5+ years!!) and is enjoying retirement. she likely doesn’t even realize it, but candy has always been my mentor, both professionally and personally. whenever i think about giving up because the day, the task, the situation, seems too difficult, i think of my dear friend, and pull myself up and out of it. 🙂
My wife Jane! She does a Yoga routine with a Jason DVD almost every morning before I even wake up! She’s does it purely for the exercise and relaxation. She couldn’t care less about all my philosophizing and spiritualizing (except that she’s happy for me that I’ve found something I love so much). Don’t think she’s ever read “Yoga Demystified” or “Yoga in America.”
It’s partly Jane that makes me jump to the defense of what many in this blogging community deride as “just workout Yoga”. I embrace diversity because we have both extreme ends of the Yoga spectrum right here in my home–Yoga as workout and Yoga as ancient spirituality.
Jane doesn’t need Yoga spirituality because she already embodies all its ideals without even calling it spirituality, much less Yoga. I would call Jane an extreme karma Yogini who would never describe herself that way, partly because she wouldn’t have any idea what I was talking about. She is ALWAYS helping other people and making their lives better, just by being herself. It’s just the way she thinks and acts.
She lives in the present, cooks like an Ayurvedist, and is the a natural practioner of all the yamas and niyama, without even knowing or caring what they are.
Everyday Jane goes out to Milwaukee schools, including some of the toughest schools in the city, and inspires teacher to get excited about their profession again, and to become the best they can be, all for the benefit of the kids they serve.
I practice Yoga partly so I can learn to be as karmic and egoless as Jane.
Bob Weisenberg
http://YogaDemystified.com
My mom. Even my friends say they wish she was their mom. She’s creative and empathetic and hilariously funny. Not to mention she picks out clothes that I love more than what I pick out!
I think with my head first, and she thinks with her heart first, so she teaches me so much that I’d never see for myself.
My maman! – She made my sister and I her number one priority groing up. She is an Olympian, she participated in the 1968 Grenoble Olympics, had 2 girls, worked, went to school part-time and loved us.
I am blessed.
One of my upaya gurus, the woman who runs the yoga school where I’m studying to be a yoga teacher – Maya. She treats everyone who comes into her school like they are her children.
Makes me a little teary just thinking about her kindnesses. Earlier this year we had some horrible bushfires here in Victoria and one of the women in teacher training lost her home. Maya did everything in her powers to make it possible for her to stay in the course. Even though the woman was left with almost no personal possessions!
Then, when I was made redundant and thought I’d have to drop out of the course myself, she told me not to worry about the money until I was back on my feet. I wrote about it in this post: Humble Pie
She also offered me some cleaning work to just give me *some* kind of income until I found a new job. And paid me more than we’d agreed on.
More – at the start of this year I wasn’t doing yoga teacher training, just a practitioner certificate. But she suggested I switch to the teacher training and again told me not to worry about money too much – to pay her in my own time.
Finally, at the end of our third term (we’ve just started back in the fourth) I noticed she seemed to be doing some work as everyone was leaving. But I stayed and offered my assistance, along with one other person. She never asks for help from people! After we were done, we went for some lunch and she tried to pay for my lunch. I couldn’t believe it. After everything she’s done for me, I offer some of my free time and she wants to repay me.
Maya is one of the most glowing examples I’ve seen (besides my guru) of someone who lives and breathes yoga 24/7.
As my guru says, the fruit/results of your yoga practice show up in your conduct. And there you have it, she’s an absolute gem.
My Ammy Jo! What else can I say about her other than she is wise, loving, fabulously accepting and exuberantly encouraging. When my husband, son and I sold everything and decided to leave our crazy southern CA lifestyle and start our eco loving lives in Juneau, Alaska; well she was nothing but supportive. She knows when to give advice, when to give hugs and when to just smile. Most in-laws have not possessed that power, yet. 🙂 I am so lucky to have her, even if she is 3000 miles away.
My daughter>>> she’s happy even if she’s coughing. she always thinks about others. she smiles when she snuggles. she tries anything. she’s fierce and beautiful and wonderful.
My mother! She is so strong and inspirational. I know she gets that from her mother (my grandmother), so the lineage of amazing women is so inspiring!
My mom (as many have said already) is the most wonderful person I know…and her birthday is this Tuesday!
Without question, my Mom, who I loving call the Mathematician.
Simply put, she is uncompromising in her humble devotion to my dad’s and my far flung and wild passions. She easily finds logic within emotion, has this wonderful ability to provide a hug over the phone, and instinctively knows when a pint of Ben & Jerry’s is the best medicine for my soul.
My mother definitely inspires me. After my mother’s mother died when my mother was just two years old, she grew up with only her father and then went to boarding school from the 6th grade on. Essentially, my mother raised herself, without the nurturing and guidance of a mother. When I think about how hard that must have been for her, I am amazed at how she is such a nuturing mother herself. I saw a book titled ‘Mothering Without a Map’ and I thought of her because she didn’t have any mothering role model in her life (save for the nuns at the boarding school). I know she doesn’t think she did as good of a job raising us five kids, but I think that, given with what information she had to work with on how to raise and nurture children, she did a wonderful job. All five of her children are happy, healthy people that contribute to the betterment of society. She’s more of an inspiration than she’ll ever realize.
The special woman in my life would be my mom.
After growing up as the tough, protective middle sister of three siblings she met my father and at 20 years old gave birth to me. Fourteen months after that she had my brother, Adam. For the next 18 years she devoted her life to raising us the best way she knew how. As a single mom for the majority of that time her only goal in life was to do the best she could for us. It was hard and it wasn’t always pretty, but she did it. We never had to do without anything because she did without many things.
For the last 10 years my mom has been taking care of my grandparents and their business as their health continues to fail. Standing beside her in this effort is her forever loving husband Danny and her fluffy, white, barking sidekick Louie. In addition to all of the other titles she carries she is now also a grandmother to my brother’s baby girl, Aubrie.
Since I graduated high school we have had a very close relationship. Whether we speak for 2 minutes or 45 minutes, every day or every other month we can always make each other laugh, feel better, and know the other is loved unconditionally.
Since I got married a few years ago, my mom has welcomed my husband with open arms and seemlessly embraced him in her circle of unconditional love. She has given him the positive, reliable, admiring mother he has never had and has always deserved.
My mom is a strong, fiesty woman who plays a mean game of pool, loves a good joke and crossword puzzles, makes the best green chili and burritos, and continues to endure whatever life throws her way. Her heart is much bigger than her small 4′ 11″ frame lets on. Every day she gets up and does it all over again because she doesn’t know how not to.
THAT inspires me.
My sister-in-law, Shoshana. She is opinionated, passionate, strong-willed, ambitious, affectionate and loyal. She inspires me to be a better person.
My daughter, Elizabeth – who was born with a broken heart and a fire in her belly – who always had a smile for her mum – even though she spent the first 14months of her life in great pain. Elizabeth who had great resolve and determination, who never gave up. Elizabeth who worked hard to become so healthy and strong, who enjoys yoga, many sports and loves music and dance. Elizabeth who loves reading books and learning new things every day. Elizabeth who is kind and gentle with an endless capacity for love. Elizabeth who lights up every room she walks in to. Elizabeth who taught mummy to enjoy the rain as well as the sun, “…because without it Mummy, the flowers can’t grow…” Elizabeth who reminds me every day how wonderful life is. Thank you my darling.
Love forever, Mummy xxxxx
My coworker “Coach.” She has one of the most wonderful attitudes, and devotes so much of her life to service in one form or another. Although sometimes she challenges me, she is a constant reminder of how full a life really can be, and what really matters. She’s one of a kind and she has definitely touched my life and made it better.
One of the most influential women in my life was Ruth Ius – a family friend from church who was diagnosed with leukemia and given 3-5 yrs to live. That was when I was a child. Ruth was always positive and especially talented. Everything she did was done with grace, beauty, and love for others. She sang like a angel, created amazing hand crafted dolls, and was never without a smile or kind word. Often when she was struggling the most was when she extended herself to others in thoughtful and generous ways.
Ruth beat the odd, living a season at a time, until 15 years past her original diagnosis. I think of her whenever I’m struggling. Then I put on a happy face, help someone else, and count the many ways I am blessed
My mom Dolores (Dee) has shown me that it is so very important to have girl friends in your life. She will be 80 years old this coming March. She goes to the movies, bowls, and plays cards with her “Lady Friends”. I walk, do yoga and go out to dinner and drinks with my “Lady Friends”.
My daughter Bethany, a great young woman .She started coming to yoga with me several years ago when I was going through a transitional part of my life.She continues her yoga practice in NYC and has taken me to her classes there and introduces me to her super yoga teachers and friends. Thank you for taking me to the Wah! kirtan and discovering inspirational yoga reading material.
Love always, forever
I just posted a trackback because my comment grew into a post: http://yogaspy.wordpress.com/2009/10/19/ginger-and-karma-yoga/.
If you hate cats, skip it. But the female that I want to honor is my late feline friend, Ginger, who taught me not only about herself and her species, but about myself and human nature.
Yoga Spy
There is a woman who is special in my life. I really only just started to get to know her, but I can already feel the impact of her. I am a pretty busy p erson, so I don’t get to see this woman as much as I would like, but she shows up from time to time.
Just the other day, during Yin class, she suprised me by showing up unexpectedly. I was so happy to see her. She was just smiling and she seemed so serene and wise. She was there for just a short while, then she was gone, but I really enjoyed being around her. I felt her peaceful presence long after she had left.
Also, the other night, after a particularly difficult day at work, she came by and practicaly forced me to go on a hike. We talked and laughed for an hour or so, and I realized all the gifts the day had given me.
Just this morning she showed up during my morning practice and gave me the encouragement I so needed.
Tonight, as I was cooking dinner and whispering a prayer of gratitude, I caught her reflection in the glass. We have the same smile.
my late mother — who at the end of her life in spite of being very ill, remained “true to form” and cracked up the whole family by gossiping about her twin sister AND giving us instructions about how to turn out the city water main in a basement (“EVERY house has a red knob”) — you can’t beat that!
My special woman is my mother. At 90 yrs. old, she is an inspiration to keep getting up every day and doing what you need to do. She’s lived through more challenges than I could ever imagine, and has come through the other side with grace.
I’d have to say my grandmother on my mom’s side. She was like a best friend, I could tell her anything. She loved all the things my mom didn’t, shopping, makeup, clothes, malls….she always had to best stuff too, pink soap, soft towels and real butter. She died the year before I graduated high school but every day I know she is still there, watching over me and guiding me.
My life was forever changed by my college counselor. I first went to her when I had trouble adjusting my freshman year. During the following years I can honestly say she kept me sane. What I’ve realized since then is that she didn’t “give me the skills to cope,” – she helped me realize that I already had those skills, I just needed to believe in myself. I still keep in touch with her.
I am blessed to have my friend Cassandra in my life!
A true friend, who embodies all the qualities of a true friend!
My daughters- I hope to help them through their lives as teenagers and women in a yogic fashion- open, loving and celebratory.
My daughters, whom I hope to help through their lives in a yogic fashion- open, loving and celebratory
On a Trans-Atlantic flight I was told by a palm reader that it is my dharma in this life to learn how to be a woman because in my previous life I was a male ruler (ruler of what?…. who knows).
For me I would say the most influential woman I am naming the “Maha woman”. Every woman in my life who exudes the Goddess energy. Those women who have taught me tenderness, compassion, nurturing-ness…..even ferocity, endurance and passion. In my life it is the many that make up the whole of the Goddess, Durga, Lakshmi, Kali, Parvati and Saraswati.
My youngest sister is a very special woman – she is beginning a process of healing through yoga and I would love to give her this book to guide her on her journey.