Work | Play
On February 1, 2022, at the outset of the Spring Festival — otherwise known as the Chinese New Year — I released the Kindle edition of A Righteous Stretch. This, my second book, explores precisely what Yin yoga is, how to do it, and why you should. Six weeks later the print edition came along sporting a slightly modified cover, and fresh pictures of all the postures. Eventually, this print version will be rendered as a flowing eBook, replacing the first. Sometimes seemingly simple things — going from print to digital, even in 2022 — tend to expand in complexity, and thus drag on longer than expected. Case in point. In any event, the writing work is done. The project is complete. And now it’s time to play.
But play isn’t recess. It’s still work. That work, happily, is enjoyable. It consists of teaching classes, signing books, and at some point traveling to yoga studios in the United States and abroad. We’ll see how that stacks up over the coming months. For starters, anyway, I’m streaming thrice-weekly Yin yoga via Zoom, and tomorrow I’m leading a Full Pink Super Moon Yin yoga class followed by a book signing at Yoga NoHo Center in North Hollywood. This is the studio where for a couple years, before everything was turned upside down, I’d fill the room twice-a-week with a lovely group of yogis and athletes. My students were individuals who already recognized or decided to learn the benefits of stillness in a yogic, and in a fitness-training sense. While it was certainly a physical and psychological challenge — sitting still can be hard work — it was also play. We smiled through the groans all together. Remember, ya don’t have to be having fun to have fun. So, this weekend I’m returning to that studio with however many Yin yogis choose to carve out some time for themselves on a busy Saturday afternoon. They’re in for a relatively active, Full Moon Yin yoga class, having their copies of A Righteous Stretch personalized, and enjoying all ensuing rewards. Maybe I’ll see you there then. Or in subsequent streaming classes. Or at some time … in some distant school … somewhere. Who knows? Until then.
Get your copy of A Righteous Stretch—Yin yoga: What It Is, How To Do It, And Why on amazon.com.