Waking Energy 7 Timeless Practices Designed to Reboot Your Body and Unleash Your Potential
After my epiphany with Pilates and in answering the very real need to continue my own transformative mind-body journey, I delved headlong into the world of the ancient Eastern subtle healing arts. I traveled metaphorically thousands of miles, from China to India to Tibet, meeting with masters and studying with adepts (scholarly sages who transmitted many of the ancient practices contained in this book) who had dedicated their lives to uncovering the secret to living a life of peace and abundance. Through these ancient practices, I learned how to navigate life, turn my pain into beauty, and embrace a path to healing and being “awake”—to loving myself and finding my true power. Just when I had myself convinced that I had turned every stone and cleared all the dark passageways of my psyche that prevented me from being all I could be, life tested me with another kind of trial. In January of 2014, after ending a relationship, I found myself suddenly single in a new city on the other coast. And just as I was starting to lick my wounds, my mother’s cancer came back. Everything in my life seemed to explode and disappear all at once. This was a new kind of pain, not turned inward the way it had been with my depression, but like a maniacal driver, dragging me along on an open road for sport with my feet chained to the back of the car. When I lost my beloved mother that July, the pain was so intense that I found myself crumpled into the fetal position, sobbing and railing at the sky, not once, but many times. I felt utterly helpless and alone, brought literally to my knees, and I wasn’t sure that I could rise again. It was here, in my darkest hours, humbled beyond anything I’d ever known, that I circled back through my own history, integrating and falling in love again with the very same practices in this book that you too will soon experience. I tapped back into my essential aliveness, my life force. Every day, no matter how I felt, I dedicated myself to connecting with myself, to loving myself—to manifesting balance, strength, and radiance. I rose again. I thrived, both physically and emotionally, in ways that I wouldn’t have thought possible. I reclaimed myself. And each element that now comprises Waking Energy reminded me how. The writing of this book, which I began just as everything in my life fell apart, was divinely timed. When I first conceived it, it was wholly intended for you, but along the way it became my salvation once again. It not only became my journal, but a kind of memoir, my Zen koan, my daily ritual, my compass. Each time I sat down to write, I knew I was weaving the strongest fabric yet—a collection of teachings and wisdom that helped me to trust in my own strength again, to believe that I was held, supported, and nurtured, cradled in my own love for myself with the universe behind me. The hummingbirds and ravens who landed in the fountain outside my window every day became my companions, bearing me up on their wings. The messages of the ancients whispered on the wind, calling my soul to climb higher, to have faith, to hope. The work and way of being contained on these pages not only restored me to myself, but helped me to give birth to a more authentic, brighter, self-loving, confident me, not once, but over and over again, every single day. And I lived every word I wrote in real time—my heartache, despair, anxiety, fear, loneliness—all answered by the magic of the practices, each day something different, another challenge, a new mountain to climb, and each time a new discovery that led me back to myself, my
true essence, to beauty, love, strength, and radiance. The Seven Ways I am sharing here are the very same ones that gave me my freedom. They are what healed, empowered, and liberated me. They helped to give me the precious ability to live into my soul’s true purpose, living the examined life of a seeker, one that is dynamic, energizing, and joyful, one that honors the commitment to nurturing a strong body and a centered, conscious mind. And now I am sharing my hard-won secrets of empowerment with you. Waking Energy is for anyone who feels overstressed, depleted, and anxious—and if you’re a person living in the twenty-first century with a demanding schedule, multiple distractions, and endless demands, I am going to guess that’s you. It’s also for the person—and I am guessing this is you too— who recognizes a deep yearning within, whose inner voice wonders, “Is there more? Could I be more peaceful, more content, more whole?” The answer is yes, and Waking Energy is the way. Informed by my personal experiences; my decades of expertise as a professional dancer, Pilates master instructor, and yogi; and my extensive study of myriad health and longevity modalities, Waking Energy uniquely integrates Western athleticism, Eastern philosophies, and ancient practices into one groundbreaking program. This unique and timeless combination is a synthesis of techniques that is unsurpassed for cultivating balance, harmony, strength, grace, and energy. If you follow it faithfully, you will: • Develop the body you’ve always dreamed of. • Liberate the hidden power of your mind. • Find the peace of mind you crave. • Unleash focus and concentration, will and desire, as you come to appreciate yourself and your abilities for what feels like the first time. • Transport yourself to a new level of awareness, where your physical accomplishments are reflections of your inner victories. • Learn the tools to live your very best and longest life. In nature there exists perfect balance: day and night, hot and cold, yang and yin. That same balance can exist in you, where all the boundless healing energy you will ever need is just waiting to be awakened. Once you learn how, you will gain access to all the energy you will need to live more instinctively; to live healthfully and longer, with less stress and greater vitality; to boost your metabolism and supercharge your immune system; to walk, think, work, reach, make love, and play with real zest, with true vim and vigor. I’ll teach you how to go deep inside your inner world, where you’ll learn about the meridian and chakra systems and how to balance them in harmony—consciously energizing the powerful and intricate, sophisticated network of energy pathways. You’ll awaken what the ancients called your “subtle body,” the breathing, circulating network of energy fields and pathways that house your life force, your chi, where balance, true fitness, and energy await you. You’ll increase mental stamina and focus as you learn to calm and quiet the mind, cultivating your
- Page 3 and 4: Dedication For my mother, Jane, who
- Page 5 and 6: About the Publisher
- Page 7: away any last trace of the pain. In
- Page 11 and 12: you. If you’re tired and depleted
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- Page 15 and 16: caffeine), I was wired—like a roc
- Page 17 and 18: helped, something inside me said th
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- Page 21 and 22: alancing our emotions and cultivati
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- Page 29 and 30: Through this sacred union of opposi
- Page 31 and 32: literally moving into and through t
- Page 33 and 34: inside your associated neural pathw
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- Page 37 and 38: including respiratory illnesses and
- Page 39 and 40: can do this, know that you’ve arr
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- Page 45 and 46: term adverse effects), and we have
- Page 47 and 48: PRACTICE ONE: Awaken and Play: Qigo
- Page 49 and 50: The Way of the World Unseen: By bec
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true essence, <strong>to</strong> beauty, love, strength, <strong>and</strong> radiance.<br />
The Seven Ways I am sharing here are the very same ones that gave me my freedom. They are<br />
what healed, empowered, <strong>and</strong> liberated me. They helped <strong>to</strong> give me the precious ability <strong>to</strong> live in<strong>to</strong><br />
my soul’s true purpose, living the examined life of a seeker, one that is dynamic, energizing, <strong>and</strong><br />
joyful, one that honors the commitment <strong>to</strong> nurturing a strong body <strong>and</strong> a centered, conscious mind. And<br />
now I am sharing my hard-won secrets of empowerment with you.<br />
<strong>Waking</strong> <strong>Energy</strong> is for anyone who feels overstressed, depleted, <strong>and</strong> anxious—<strong>and</strong> if you’re a<br />
person living in the twenty-first century with a dem<strong>and</strong>ing schedule, multiple distractions, <strong>and</strong> endless<br />
dem<strong>and</strong>s, I am going <strong>to</strong> guess that’s you. It’s also for the person—<strong>and</strong> I am guessing this is you <strong>to</strong>o—<br />
who recognizes a deep yearning within, whose inner voice wonders, “Is there more? Could I be more<br />
peaceful, more content, more whole?” The answer is yes, <strong>and</strong> <strong>Waking</strong> <strong>Energy</strong> is the way.<br />
Informed by my personal experiences; my decades of expertise as a professional dancer, Pilates<br />
master instruc<strong>to</strong>r, <strong>and</strong> yogi; <strong>and</strong> my extensive study of myriad health <strong>and</strong> longevity modalities, <strong>Waking</strong><br />
<strong>Energy</strong> uniquely integrates Western athleticism, Eastern philosophies, <strong>and</strong> ancient practices in<strong>to</strong> one<br />
groundbreaking program.<br />
This unique <strong>and</strong> timeless combination is a synthesis of techniques that is unsurpassed for<br />
cultivating balance, harmony, strength, grace, <strong>and</strong> energy. If you follow it faithfully, you will:<br />
• Develop the body you’ve always dreamed of.<br />
• Liberate the hidden power of your mind.<br />
• Find the peace of mind you crave.<br />
• <strong>Unleash</strong> focus <strong>and</strong> concentration, will <strong>and</strong> desire, as you come <strong>to</strong> appreciate yourself <strong>and</strong> your<br />
abilities for what feels like the first time.<br />
• Transport yourself <strong>to</strong> a new level of awareness, where your physical accomplishments are<br />
reflections of your inner vic<strong>to</strong>ries.<br />
• Learn the <strong>to</strong>ols <strong>to</strong> live your very best <strong>and</strong> longest life.<br />
In nature there exists perfect balance: day <strong>and</strong> night, hot <strong>and</strong> cold, yang <strong>and</strong> yin. That same<br />
balance can exist in you, where all the boundless healing energy you will ever need is just waiting <strong>to</strong><br />
be awakened. Once you learn how, you will gain access <strong>to</strong> all the energy you will need <strong>to</strong> live more<br />
instinctively; <strong>to</strong> live healthfully <strong>and</strong> longer, with less stress <strong>and</strong> greater vitality; <strong>to</strong> boost your<br />
metabolism <strong>and</strong> supercharge your immune system; <strong>to</strong> walk, think, work, reach, make love, <strong>and</strong> play<br />
with real zest, with true vim <strong>and</strong> vigor.<br />
I’ll teach you how <strong>to</strong> go deep inside your inner world, where you’ll learn about the meridian <strong>and</strong><br />
chakra systems <strong>and</strong> how <strong>to</strong> balance them in harmony—consciously energizing the powerful <strong>and</strong><br />
intricate, sophisticated network of energy pathways. You’ll awaken what the ancients called your<br />
“subtle body,” the breathing, circulating network of energy fields <strong>and</strong> pathways that house your life<br />
force, your chi, where balance, true fitness, <strong>and</strong> energy await you.<br />
You’ll increase mental stamina <strong>and</strong> focus as you learn <strong>to</strong> calm <strong>and</strong> quiet the mind, cultivating your
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