Yoga for Meditators ─ Poses to Support Your Sitting Practice

Charlotte Bell, author of Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life, has blended the practices of yoga and meditation since 1986. In her new book, Yoga for Meditators, she writes, "Asana practice, by its very nature, is about preparing the body for meditation. So a book on yoga for meditators may seem redundant. All yoga is for meditators, after all. Still, there are poses that I have found to be optimal in addressing the specific physical challenges that arise during meditation, and it is in this spirit that I offer the practices in this book."

Divided into four parts, the book offers practices that are designed for beginning and seasoned practitioners:

? Taking a Seat: Steady and Comfortable ? addresses the most common physical issues that can cause discomfort during sitting in meditation.

? Yoga Poses for Sitting Meditation ? outlines asanas to guide you to a more easeful practice. Whether you practice vipassana, Zen, Transcendental, kriya, or any other kind of sitting meditation, these poses will help you collect the mind, awaken the spine, relax the base, soften the shoulders, and quiet the body-mind.

? Practicing Yoga ? uses the asanas from part two to create sequences for calming agitation, increasing energy, opening the hips, relieving stress, easing the lower back, and during the moon cycle.

? Alternate Meditation Postures ? discusses the other traditional meditation positions ? walking, standing, and lying ? with ways to settle into each.

"The silent, peaceful mind is our birthright; it lives inside us all," Charlotte writes. "Our minds and bodies are interwoven. When the body is at ease, the mind has a much easier time settling into silence. May your asana and meditation practices uncover the peace that already lives within."

Charlotte Bell began practicing yoga in 1982 and began teaching in 1986. Guided by her teachers, Pujari and Abhilasha, founders of the Last Resort Retreat Center, in Duck Creek, Utah, she has blended the practice of yoga with that of Insight Meditation since 1986. She teaches workshops and retreats around the intermountain West and has served as faculty at several of Donna Farhi’s international yoga teacher trainings in the United States and Canada. Each year, Charlotte teaches yoga on women’s river rafting trips. She is currently board president for GreenTree Yoga, a nonprofit organization that brings yoga to underserved populations throughout Utah.

Charlotte is the author of Mindful Yoga, Mindful Life, published by Rodmell Press. She serves as a consultant for Hugger Mugger Yoga Products, and writes the blog on their website and a pose-of-the-month column for Catalyst magazine. She has modeled in asana photographs for Hugger Mugger Yoga Products catalogs and for Yoga Journal, Yoga International, and Shambhala Sun magazines.

A lifelong musician, Charlotte plays oboe and English horn with the Salt Lake Symphony and serves on their board of directors. She also performs regularly with the Scherzando Winds (a woodwind quintet), blue haiku (a chamber folk quartet), and Red Rock Rondo (a folk ensemble whose CD, Zion Canyon Song Cycle, has been released worldwide. In 2010 Red Rock Rondo’s hour-long TV special won two Emmy Awards for best arts and entertainment special and best musical composition. The DVD also won a NETA (National Educational Television Association) Award for program production. Charlotte began writing feature articles for the Telluride Bluegrass Festival in 1991 and has been invited to collaborate on a book about the festival’s thirty-five-year history.

Charlotte lives in Salt Lake City with her partner, Phillip Bimstein, and her three cats. Visit her website at www.charlottebellyoga.com and on Facebook and Twitter (@MindfulYoga).