Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi: My Humble Quest to Heal My Colitis, Calm My ADD, and Find the Key to Happiness

Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi: My Humble Quest to Heal My Colitis, Calm My ADD, and Find the Key to Happiness

by Brian Leaf
Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi: My Humble Quest to Heal My Colitis, Calm My ADD, and Find the Key to Happiness

Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi: My Humble Quest to Heal My Colitis, Calm My ADD, and Find the Key to Happiness

by Brian Leaf

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Overview

As a college freshman business major suffering from a variety of anxiety-related maladies, Brian Leaf stumbled into an elective: yoga. It was 1989. All his classmates were female. And men did not yet generally “cry, hug, or do yoga.” But yoga soothed and calmed Leaf as nothing else had. As his hilarious and wise tale shows, Leaf embarked on a quest for health and happiness — visiting yoga studios around the country and consulting Ayurvedic physicians, swamis, and even (accidentally) a prostitute. Twenty-one years later, he teaches yoga and meditation and is the beloved founder of a holistic tutoring center that helps students whose ailments he once shared.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781608681365
Publisher: New World Library
Publication date: 10/09/2012
Pages: 264
Product dimensions: 5.50(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.70(d)

About the Author

Brian Leaf is the owner and director of the New Leaf Learning Center in western Massachusetts. He has studied, practiced, and taught yoga, meditation, and Ayurveda for twenty-three years.

Table of Contents

Preface: The Rolling Incident xiii

Book 1 Turning on

Chapter 1 Moooola Bannnda 3

Chapter 2 Six-Packs 9

Chapter 3 Chicken Sandwiches 15

Chapter 4 Belly Down 19

Chapter 5 O'Malley's Mushroom Caps 31

Chapter 6 Kripalu Yoga 37

Book 2 Touring

Chapter 7 Tea with Oskar 45

Chapter 8 Fearless, Honest, Relaxed 49

Chapter 9 Ruby's 53

Chapter 10 Jerry Garcia 63

Chapter 11 Flatulence 71

Chapter 12 The Yamas and Niyamas 75

Chapter 13 Jemez 81

Chapter 14 White Sands 87

Chapter 15 Sedona, Arizona 99

Chapter 16 Belting Out the Bhagavad Gita 103

Chapter 17 San Francisco 111

Chapter 18 Ayurveda Revisited 117

Book 3 Training

Chapter 19 Cotton Swabs 123

Chapter 20 5:25 AM 133

Chapter 21 Catharsis 137

Chapter 22 Mom and Dad's 143

Chapter 23 What Would Joshua Do? 147

Chapter 24 ADD 153

Chapter 25 Shaktipat 163

Chapter 26 Urine Therapy Virgin 167

Chapter 27 Silence 177

Chapter 28 My Anger Mattress 181

Chapter 29 SLP 191

Chapter 30 Becoming Most Real 201

Chapter 31 What Now? 211

Epilogue: Most Real 215

Author's Note 219

Acknowledgments 221

Appendix 1 Sample Yoga Practice 223

Appendix 2 Sun Salutation 227

Appendix 3 Meditation 229

Appendix 4 Colistening 233

Appendix 5 Guided Relaxation 235

Appendix 6 Ayurvedic Constitutional Survey 237

Appendix 7 Ayurvedic Recommendations 241

About the Author 243

What People are Saying About This

Desirée Rumbaugh

This awesome book made me laugh out loud. I kept thinking, it's high time that a man told his Eat, Pray, Love story.

—Desirée Rumbaugh, creator of the Yoga to the Rescue DVD series

Rebecca Pepper Sinkler

From its first hilariously humiliating image to its closing words of grace, Brian Leaf's memoir is an unfolding miracle.

—Rebecca Pepper Sinkler, former editor of The New York Times Book Review

Timothy McCall

Brian Leaf clearly spent his formative years seated before masters like Obi Wan Kenobi and Seinfeld. Misadventures of a Garden State Yogi follows the path of yoga wherever it leads, from the sublimely ridiculous to the ridiculously sublime. It is ultimately a heartfelt testament to yoga's power to heal body, mind, and spirit.
—Timothy McCall, MD, author of Yoga as Medicine and medical editor of Yoga Journal

Kathryn Budig

Brian Leaf is like the Bill Cosby of yoga — recounting common emotions and situations on a yogi's path in a way that makes you laugh with acknowledgment. His story is so graphic, I felt like I was practically holding his hand!

— Kathryn Budig, author of The Women's Health Big Book of Yoga

Leslie Kaminoff

Brian Leaf's charming and engaging account of his yogic journey is sure to strike a chord with readers who are embarking on their own adventures toward health and self-discovery.

—Leslie Kaminoff, coauthor of Yoga Anatomy

Noah Levine

Brian's writing is funny and accessible and clearly reflects his personality and life experience. Check it out!

— Noah Levine, author of Dharma Punx

Stephen Cope

[Brian Leaf] writes in an utterly winning voice — by turns as neurotic as Woody Allen, as irreverent as Huck Finn, and as serious as Jack Kerouac. It's a fun romp — and much, much more.
—Stephen Cope, director of the Kripalu Institute for Extraordinary Living and author of Yoga and the Quest for the True Self

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