Powers - Yoga, Teachings, and Practices to Illuminate Our Inner Lives

Sarah Powers writes with clarity and precision about the intimate and complex journey of awakening. With her deep knowledge of Yin Yoga, Internal Family Systems, and meditative traditions, Sarah guides readers systematically on how to awaken through the body, heart, mind, and relationships. This is an excellent guide for anyone who wishes to live with an embodied presence and an alive, compassionate wakefulness in life.

MARK COLEMAN, author of From Suffering to Peace

Lit from Within is a rich and engaging journey into the multidimensional terrain of our human experiencea journey that is fueled by our longing for well-being and liberation. Sarah Powers offers a lucid synthesis of the many wisdom traditions that have mapped this journey, and she consolidates it into an accessible and inspiring path to integration. Her compassionate, wise voice speaks directly to the heart and guides us skillfully down the path that she has so exquisitely traversed herself.

DORJE LOPN CHANDRA EASTON, Tibetan Buddhist teacher and translator, lead teacher for Tara Mandala Retreat Center

Sarah has done a fantastic job linking the Internal Family Systems model in a holistic and practical approach to mind and body awareness.

CHRIS BURRIS, LMFT, senior lead trainer, Internal Family Systems Institute

This is a book that you will refer to repeatedly as you continue growing in your practice. It is a compendium of insights, practices, and systems of understanding across an array of Eastern and Western core teachings. Both practical and inspiring, it offers a map for an integral practice.

PHILLIP MOFFITT, author of Dancing with Life: Buddhist Insights for Finding Meaning and Joy in the Face of Suffering

Starting from the academic study of psychology, Sarah Powers has studied with teachers from various traditions of Buddhism, Taoism, and yoga. She embodies the best of a modern spiritual practitioner: she respects all traditions but is not slavishly bound to any of them. She has adopted the tenets of Chinese medicine and modern anatomy as guiding principles of her practice and also integrates modern psychological theories with ancient Buddhist principles. Lit from Within is organized to address the various levels of our human embodiment, from the physical to the spiritual. This makes it especially useful as a resource for those looking to explore their inner life.

PAUL GRILLEY, author of Yin Yoga

Sarah Powers offers a beautiful and harmonious blend of the multiple facets of physical, emotional, and spiritual practices that a human being requires to be whole, healthy, and at peace. Clearly, Sarahs teachings are a product of her personal practice and the dedication, discipline, and integrity she applies to her own self-cultivation. We are blessed to have her share her experience and wisdom with us.

BHIKKHUNI JAGUANG SUNIM, Zen Buddhist teacher, Five Element Sasang nutritional consultant

Sarah Powerss brilliant Lit from Within gives us all the opportunity to look with new eyes at our direct experience of love and joy in the tapestry of relationships, suffering, death, Mother Nature, and the amazing play of language and intelligence. She interweaves the closely related traditions of yoga, Buddhism, and the embodiment practices of many diverse cultures. This gives us all the practical tools to live and contribute to everyone in todays quickly evolving world.

RICHARD FREEMAN, author of The Mirror of Yoga

In Lit from Within, Sarah Powers details the human journey of awakening based on her studies and her own experiences. She also lists practical suggestions for living with awareness and integrating our multidimensional beings. I am convinced that Lit from Within will be a guidepost for humans to live in harmony, transcending racial, religious, political, cultural, and other differences.

KIYOMI KURATANI, HON. PHD, author of Motoyama Meridian Exercises for Ki Practice

Lit From Within is full of intriguing ideas. I especially liked part three, The Emotional Body. Here, Powers integrates her understanding of the functioning of the psychological self with the practices of yogasomething that is rarely done so well. Highly recommended, especially for yoga teachers.

JUDITH HANSON LASATER, PHD, PT , author of Teaching Yoga with Intention

Lit from Within offers us the fruits of Sarah Powerss lifelong commitment to transformative practices and the depth and subtlety of her accumulated wisdom. This books uniqueness is in how she interweaves and integrates core teachings from different wisdom traditions, with love for and skill with the material that suffuses her writing, as it does her life.

MARTIN AYLWARD, author of Awake Where You Are

Sarah Powers brings us an exceptionally comprehensive, in-depth overview of embodied spiritual practice through a mindful and integrative path that weaves together the disciplines of yoga, meditation, and contemporary psychological wisdom. This masterpiece, emerging from a lifetime dedicated to translating ancient lineages and their practical application for these times, is a trustworthy and insightful guide for empowering our contribution to collective awakening.

THANISSARA, author of Time to Stand Up: An Engaged Buddhist Manifesto for Our Earth

It is rare to find a book that is equal parts practical and profound. In Lit from Within, Sarah Powers generously offers her decades of mastery working with the body-mind in a text that clarifies, stretches, and deepens how to wake up as embodied consciousness. This gem of a book is for anyone wishing to live with greater well-being and deeper connectionwith ourselves, with each other, and with all of life.

PAMELA WEISS , author of A Bigger Sky: Awakening a Fierce Feminine Buddhism

Shambhala Publications, Inc.

2129 13th Street

Boulder, Colorado 80302

www.shambhala.com

2021 by Sarah Powers

Photos Matthew Clark

Photos with meridian lines (first published in Insight Yoga) Matthew Carden

Illustrations Alysha Takoushian

Illustrations of nadis and chakras (first published in Insight Yoga) Kathi Tesarz

Cover art: Here / Lenka_X / Shutterstock.com

Cover design: Kate E. White

Interior design: Laura Shaw Design

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

For more information please visit www.shambhala.com.

Shambhala Publications is distributed worldwide by Penguin Random House, Inc., and its subsidiaries.

LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING - IN - PUBLICATION DATA

Names: Powers, Sarah, author.

Title: Lit from within: yoga, teachings, and practices to illuminate our inner lives / Sarah Powers.

Description: Boulder, Colorado: Shambhala, [2021] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021002090 | ISBN 9781611808506 (trade paperback)

eISBN 9780834843967

Subjects: LCSH: Yoga. | Awareness. | Mindfulness (Psychology)

Classification: LCC B132.Y6 P645 2021 | DDC 181/.45dc23