Evolving Your Yoga

Ten Principles for Enlightened Practice

By Barrie Risman

Foreword by Sophie Grégoire Trudeau

 

Evolving Your Yoga: Ten Principles for Enlightened Practice is your essential guide to deepening your practice …on and off the mat.

Whether you’re new to yoga or have been practicing for years, this book empowers you with tools and insights to expand the way your practice supports your life. A yoga retreat in a book!

Available on Amazon.com

Buy

Available on Amazon.ca

Buy

Get Chapter 1 for FREE

Download

Praise for Evolving Your Yoga

Bernie Clark

 

“There are many “how to” books on yoga, but few books on “why to.” Barrie’s book is an excellent combination of how to practice yoga, with many suggested sequences, and a deep philosophical understanding of the intention of the practice. Highly recommended for beginners and advanced students alike!”

- Bernie Clark, author of Your Spine, Your Yoga and The Complete Guide to Yin Yoga

Desiree Rumbaugh

 

“Barrie Risman has written the book I wish had been available when I first fell in love with yoga. This is a great resource for new students who are curious to know more about what draws them to practice. It’s also helpful for teachers who constantly look for ways to inspire their students in studying and learning as opposed to merely consuming yoga.”

- Desiree Rumbaugh, co-author of Fearless After Fifty: How to Thrive with Grace, Grit and Yoga

Benjy Wertheimer

 

“Sharing stories and personal insights with a rare mixture of eloquence, vulnerability, and authenticity, Risman provides both the fuel and the tools to enable the practitioner to deepen their physical practice as a ‘journey of expansive self-discovery and inner growth.’ And, with a clear delineation of the principles that guide her own practice, she has created an exquisite guidebook that will serve people at all levels of practice and experience.” 

- Benjy Wertheimer of Shantala

Christina Sell

 

"Evolving Your Yoga is an inspiring and practical guide for yoga study and practice. Newer students will find compassionate advice to get started. Experienced practitioners will benefit from Barrie Risman's seasoned and grounded approach to the inner and outer work of yoga. Yoga teachers of all traditions will learn tools, techniques, and insights to share with their students for years to come. More than a simple "how-to" book, Evolving Your Yoga is a manual for self-discovery and transformation. I wholeheartedly recommend this book for anyone looking to deepen their yoga practice." 

- Christina Sell, author of Yoga From the Inside Out: Making Peace with Your Body Through Yoga; My Body is a Temple: Yoga as a Path of Wholeness; and A Deeper Yoga: From Image to Freedom

Noah Mazé

 

“In writing Evolving Your Yoga, Barrie Risman has created an invaluable companion that each of us may bring on our yogic journey. It is full of insight and practical wisdom, prompts for reflection, sequences to practice, and guiding principles that serve to maximize and support the reader’s ever-deepening and enriching integration of yoga. I am thrilled that Barrie has chosen to synthesize her insight from her lifetime of practice and offer us such an invaluable boon. Regardless of the style of your practice, the length of time you have been on your yogic path, Evolving Your Yoga is an invaluable resource to bring with you.“

- Noah Mazé, founder of The Mazé Method School of Yoga

Richard Rosen

 

“This is surely one of the most unique instructional manuals I’ve run across in nearly 40 years as a yoga student. Most manuals tell us what to practice based on the author's experience. Barrie though, through her ten principles, teaches us how to develop an entirely personal and complete practice based on our own experience. Highly recommended.”

- Richard Rosen, author of Yoga FAQ

Ellen Saltonstall

 

“This book bestows a precious gift to every reader – an accessible and authentic exploration of the core teachings of yoga and how to apply them in modern life. Barrie’s voice throughout the book is clear, personal yet authoritative, and compassionate. She shows how yoga is much more than stretching, how it is a transformational journey of self-fulfillment that we have the power to direct for ourselves. I am inspired by reading every single page. Read this book and your practice will be richer and more satisfying, whether you are a beginner, a long-time practitioner or a teacher. This is the best yoga book to appear in a long time and belongs in every yoga teacher training. “

- Ellen Saltonstall, yoga teacher and author of Anatomy and Yoga and The Bodymind Ballwork Method, and co-author of Yoga for Arthritis and Yoga for Osteoporosis

William K Mahony PhD

 

“This is a very helpful book! Barrie draws on both her wide familiarity with the underlying philosophy of yoga and on her own decades-long experience as a practitioner-teacher in supporting and giving guidance to those who want to move forward in their understanding and practice of yoga.

 Barrie’s book will read, studied, and enjoyed by students who are new to yoga, by those who continue in their studentship, and by those whose studentship is expressed in their teaching of yoga. She shows readers at all levels how they can continually deepen, refine, transform — in a word, “evolve” — their understanding and practice of yoga.”

- William K. Mahony, PhD., Author of  Exquisite Love: Reflections on the Spiritual Life based on Nārada’s Bhakti Sūtra and The Artful Universe: An Introduction to the Vedic Religious Imagination. 

Marjorie Woollacott PhD

 

 “Barrie Risman’s book Evolving Your Yoga: 10 Principles for Enlightened Practice is a wonderfully rich and helpful book that should be on the reading list of every student and teacher of Hatha Yoga. It provides a strong foundation for any Hatha Yoga practice as it covers the essentials of asana and pranayama. Yet it doesn’t stop with Risman’s refined and supportive approach to teaching hatha yoga. Her thought-provoking book also points readers toward the understanding that true yoga aims at cultivating an enlightened life in which the body, mind, and spirit are fully and vibrantly expressed in all the areas of our lives, and it guides students toward exploring and mastering these ideals as well." 

- Marjorie Woollacott, neuroscientist and meditation teacher, University of Oregon, and author of Infinite Awareness: The Awakening of a Scientific Mind

Carol Horton PhD

 

 "Evolving Your Yoga expertly integrates down-to-earth guidelines for developing a meaningful yoga practice with mature philosophical insight and spiritual wisdom. This profound yet accessible book will prove valuable to beginning students and experienced teachers of yoga alike."

- Carol Horton, author of Yoga PhD; editor, of 21st Century YogaBest Practices for Yoga with Veterans, and Best Practices for Yoga in the Criminal Justice System

Roseanne Harvey

 

“Wherever you are on your yoga journey, there is something in this book that will speak to you. Barrie's insights into practice are perfectly suited for beginners curious about the full spectrum of yoga, experienced yogis ready to take it deeper, or seasoned yogis looking for fresh inspiration. The ten principles in this book are especially relevant for those who hunger for evolution not only in their practice but in their full experience of life.” 

- Roseanne Harvey, Founder, It’s All Yoga, Baby blog 

Saraswati Clere

 

Evolving Your Yoga: Ten Principles for Enlightened Practice is a must-read for yoga students and teachers from all traditions and all levels. Barrie is a powerful and transformative yoga teacher. She weaves her deep knowledge and years of experience into this unique book, which I wholeheartedly recommend to all yogis.”

- Saraswati Clere, San Francisco Bay Area filmmaker and Producer of Yogawoman 

Free Bonus Content

Our FREE, online bonus content is designed to complement and enrich your experience of Evolving Your Yoga. Resources like downloadable journaling prompts, breathwork, guided visualizations, and more will support your exploration of each of the Ten Principles for Enlightened Practice.