Living Your Yoga is an inspiring and approachable book for anyone seeking to explore their yoga “off the mat.” The author, Judith Hanson Lasater, is a well-known yoga teacher who has been instrumental in the development of professional standards in the U.S.

I relate to her personal stories in this book, and instead of a ‘review’ of it, I touch on some “a-ha” moments that I experienced while reading it.

The author divides the book into three sections…

Part 1: Yoga Within Yourself

“There is no objective except to fully experience your own life, free of the distraction caused by thoughts, plans, and even by moving around. … Instead of trying to fill yourself up, this is your chance to feel empty, feel still, and feel present.”

Here Lasater is telling her version of “why practice yoga?” I love to hear other teachers talk about this through the lens of their own lived experience. The common perception in the West is that yoga is exercise — which it is! But its real aim is the mastery of the mind … when inner peace arises from mindful living.

“Eventually we must give up everything.”

“Detachment is the greatest act of love.”

When we are detached from the fruits of our gifts and efforts, then every act is a loving act, because it’s given freely. Yoga philosophy emphasizes the importance of detachment (vairāgya) on the path to contentment.

This is a variation of “you can’t take it with you.” We all know it’s true, but it’s profoundly difficult for most of us to let go of things in this world (most of all: our life itself).

“Sensation is not mental.”

Mic drop—of course! She makes a distinction here between our thoughts and the sensations that we perceive through the gates of our senses. Often we recolor our sensory impressions with mental judgments, attachments or aversions.

This is a nice reminder to try to appreciate sensations for their own merits.

Part 2: Yoga and Relationships

“The antidote to impatience was allowing myself to reenter the flow of things, that is, to be in sync with the speed with which things were happening.”

I related a lot to the author’s admissions impatience. I try to apply this wisdom to the act of driving, where my state of yoga quickly evaporates. It’s easy to internalize my behind-the-wheel frustration but the truth is, (1) I have no control over traffic, and (2) other drivers have no real ill toward me. I try to remind myself to literally, as Lasater recommends, “go with the flow.”

Part 3: Yoga in the World

“As we begin to live the teaching of ahimsa, those around us give up their hostility.”

“One mind letting go of violence is one mind not contributing to suffering in the world.”

Or, “Two wrongs don’t make a right.” When passions are high, it’s difficult to imagine how a peaceable decision will resolve anything. But violence inspires our sense of self-preservation. Acting with malice creates a karmic debt. If we ever want to be happy, at some point we must try a compassionate resolution (or choose inaction).

Can you live even a half day without thinking or acting in ways that are harmful to yourself or others? The exercise might surprise you.

“Belief is a preconception about the way reality should be; faith is the willingness to experience reality as it is, including the acceptance of the unknown.”

“Worship is rather an internal shift stimulated by the external activity that we call ritual.”

I grew up in a traditional Christian family but my home family was not religious. So for most of my life, words such as “god,” “faith” and “religion” had mostly negative — or just plain nebulous — connotations.

I’d always associated religious concepts with rigidity and unquestioning belief. Over the years, my practice has helped me to define them for myself. By letting go of logic and preconceptions, I came to appreciate my personal sense of the divine.

Learn more about Judith Hanson Lasater at her website.