Kate Kendall - Life In Flow: Inspiration, sequences and poses to bring yoga into your everyday life

Introduction

Written with a whole heart, Life in Flow is intended to be a useful, sincere and contemporary guide to living your yoga on and off the mat: to embracing joy, creating more meaningful relationships and discovering your true lifes calling.

This book is for the yoga and mindfulness curious as well as for those who have already begun their spiritual journey and are craving real-world tools and everyday rituals for living in an aligned way off the mat.

The four sections of the book provide guidance and tips for slowing down, embracing joy, creating more conscious connections and remembering that when we are in service to others, life feels not only more rewarding, but fulfilling and whole.

The book also brings ancient yogic philosophies into a modern-day light, borrowing inspiration from Buddhist and Hindu traditions. I am passionate about learning and putting into practice both traditions. Many aspects have useful applications for todays world. We can lean into the symbolism behind the deities as well as the gentle suggestions for living discovered in the eight limbs of yoga, which are all steeped in the Hindu tradition. And we can practise being the compassion and change we wish to see in the world, as embodied in the Buddhist tradition.

The illustrated Moving Meditations you will see in the book are flavoured with the theme of each section and are intended to make you feel good as well as help you experience meditation through movement.

By bringing my own experiences into this book, and highlighting friends who I consider to be in flow, I intend to give you useful tips and tools for greeting stress and anxiety, as well as real-life examples of how, when you learn to slow down, reprioritise, follow your heart and be in service to others, remarkable things come your way. There is no exception to this. Its a universal truth as I like to say, these things will come your way only always.

You see, as far as the yogi is concerned, lifes about finding a balance between hustle and heart: cultivating joy while also making space for grief and sadness; connecting with others while connecting to self; and giving to others just as you give to yourself. This is what we call wholehearted living being open to the whole range of human emotions and experiences.

And when we can find that sweet spot that sits between the ends and be open to the experiences that are in front of us in any one moment, life gets sweeter.

To live your yoga, or own your flow, is to be all in and totally up for this ride we call life, skimming over nothing and feeling everything; to greet the world around us with an open, playful and curious heart.

Lifes about finding an even flow not holding onto anything too rigidly and being willing to let go when something has run its course. Impermanence is one of our greatest life lessons and when we can strike a balance between holding on and letting go, we allow ourselves to step back into the flow of life, which is always changing. It might seem scary at first but if we start to ride the flow, it takes us on epic journeys that would have been unknown to us had we held rigidly to what felt comfortable. This flow of life only always knows which way to go. You dont have to know. Its called trust.

But how can we be in flow and fully trust if were running at a frantic pace, always striving to get ahead?

If we really want to live life fully and wholeheartedly, we must first learn to slow down, savour our moments and make choices that are aligned to our greatest good. I know that when Im at my busiest, I tend to forget whats really important to me. But if I can slow down for long enough to remember, I reprioritise and reset. Im back. It doesnt mean we have to run at a slow pace forever; laziness is not what this is about (there are definitely times to hustle). Its just a prompt to remember whats important and move forward from there.

In a fast-paced, busy world, the centuries-old philosophies and traditions of yoga are applicable now more than ever and so here they are, delivered in a friendly, light-hearted and easy-to-digest way.

This book is an ode to the true meaning of yoga coming from the Sanskrit root yuj or yug , which essentially means yoke which is to unite or connect. Its a book less about self-help and more about helping others and strengthening relationships and community.

I hope you find this book both practical and inspiring and that it fills you with faith to follow the charm and do what lights you up. Because yoga is all about listening; listening to your bodys natural rhythms, listening to the gradual pull of the universe and listening (caringly) to each other.

How we do one thing is how we do all.