Yoga: The Antidote for These Times
Utilize simple yogic tools for nervous system regulation, self-inquiry, and the integration of all layers of the self.
Body, mind, and soul… The ancient practice and philosophy of yoga teaches us that our physical body, emotions, and spirit are all working together—when one part is imbalanced, it can affect the whole. The practice of whole-self-care means to nourish ALL layers of our being for greater health, joy, and peace.
In Care for the Whole Self: Yoga-Inspired Practices for Befriending the Whole Self, author Maryam Ovissi teaches clear and simple yogic tools to interject into your daily life. By utilizing breath, movement, and restful pauses—daily rituals for connection and stress management—we can change how we interact with ourselves and the world.
“Stress places pressure on our nervous and endocrine systems... when we wear down [these systems], we also wear down our immunity, resiliency, and capacity to handle and manage stress: physically, emotionally, mentally, and energetically.”
We are living amid a pandemic in uncertain yet accelerated times, marked by a constant influx of media, rapid technological advancement, and a need to consume more. Mental health challenges such as depression, anxiety, and addiction are on the rise.
We need to practice now more than ever the skill of slowing down and just being with ourselves. It’s not more doing that we need, but simply what we already are: human being.
“Our peace is a byproduct of not hiding anymore and being able to fully embrace ourselves. In yoga, self-care is the method of seeing all the dimensions and layers of oneself and taking care of them because they all reflect something very precious.”
Care of the Whole Self was written to support humanity in remembering what it means to be fully animal, human, and divine—to embrace, know, and live from all parts of who we are.
You’ll discover yoga methodology, trauma-informed neuroscience, evocative poetry, and simple but effective rituals that will give you a solid foundation to build a whole-self-care plan to transform your life and lead you to the lasting peace you deserve!
Do you believe that you are worthy of care, like the trees, bees, and other human beings?
Work IN, Not OUT
Most likely, you already have plenty of information about working out...and because of the frenetic culture in which we all live, less information about the power of “working in.”
Care of the Whole Self: Yoga-Inspired Practices for Befriending the Whole Self is a compassionate, comprehensive, and concise guidebook for how to work in by cultivating the ability to sit peacefully with yourself.
True yoga, when it is practiced with respectful attention to the ancient tenets underlying it, is about spiritual exploration and discovery of the subtle life energies that make up your being, as well as the universe. Yoga reveals that wholeness is always available to you in the present moment, as a complete understanding of your true identity. When you embrace your wholeness, you relinquish the delusions and illusions that keep you stuck in narrow definitions of who you are and who you should be.
Care of the Whole Self guides you through all the dimensions of yourself, which are interrelated and connected. For if you work with one, you will ultimately impact all layers of the self. You will also arrive at a deeper understanding of the workings of the universe and the oneness that is behind all phenomena.
Here’s what you’ll get from Care of the Whole Self:
A powerful collection of yogic tenets that will deepen your understanding of yoga and complement your at-home practice
Invaluable knowledge about each of the five interrelated dimensions of the whole self—and wisdom for how to nourish and attend to each of them
Guidelines for meditation and physical, emotional, and spiritual practices for training the mind and being at peace
A trauma-informed lens around regulating your nervous system in moments of anxiety and stress and intense fight, flight, or freeze responses
A daily whole-self-care routine that will put you on a path of lifelong peace and self-regulation
Poetic interludes that encourage you to pause and incorporate beauty and restfulness into your day
A complimentary 30-minute consultation with a Beloved Yoga instructor who will offer you insight into how you can build your own whole-self-care plan
Take this opportunity to work in and reconnect with your true essence.
Now Is the Time
Our collective experience of the global pandemic we’re currently in is the perfect context for me to launch this labor of love, which I have been working on for more than three years. I decided on a digital launch of this important resource—because this is the best moment I can think of to share the tools of whole-self-care!
We are already living in stressful and difficult times, and something as major as a global pandemic can hijack our nervous systems in ways that make it hard for us to function, individually and collectively. Without tools that invite whole-self-care, we can find ourselves stumbling into the downward spiral and becoming not just overwhelmed, but traumatized.
In a recent blog, speaker and gift economy advocate Charles Eisenstein shares:
COVID-19 is like a rehab intervention that breaks the addictive hold of normality. To interrupt a habit is to make it visible; it is to turn it from a compulsion to a choice. When the crisis subsides, we might have occasion to ask whether we want to return to normal, or whether there might be something we’ve seen during this break in the routines that we want to bring into the future.
In light of Eisenstein’s sage words, I know that Care of the Whole Self can be a tool for you to stay tethered during this time so you can find your power of choice and enter a new way of being in alignment with yourself and our home, this beautiful and fragile planet.
To that end, I am offering this book as guidance and inspiration. Please enjoy it, put it into practice, and share your feedback. Most importantly, explore and invite the curious child within you to choose to care for your whole self.
