Birch - Boomer yoga: energizing the years ahead for men & women

Beryl is my kind of woman, a pragmatic practitioner of yoga someone who takes you on a spiritual and physical journey with the proper mix of realism, compassion, joy, and laughter. She is the perfect guide to help us all appreciate the rewards of yoga and everything our more mature bodies and souls can continue to do for years to come.

Katie Couric

Beryl Bender Birch started teaching at Omega Institute almost 30 years ago, when the institute first began. She was a pioneer then, and shes still a pioneer with this new book, Boomer Yoga. Pioneers strike out for the territory beyond and pave the way for others. Beryl was one of the first teachers to bring yoga to mainstream America. She was one of the first women to be a leader in the yoga community. She was one of the first to introduce yoga to athletes. She has been one of Omegas most effective yoga teachers and we have always been proud to have her on our faculty. Now shes setting the pace again with this gift of a book that will help yogis of all ages approach change with grace and courage.

Elizabeth Lesser
Cofounder, Omega Institute
Author, Broken Open and The Seekers Guide

Meeting Beryl Bender Birch was one of the definitive moments of my life, and having her become, for many years, my yoga instructor (and friend) has made a huge difference to me in terms of health, flexibility of body, and general well-being. She is wise, good-humored, occasionally tough, and a perfect teacher, who not only makes yoga lessons productive workouts, but great fun as well, and who knows how to challenge people to do more than they think they can. I think anybody who does yoga, or wants to take up yoga, would benefit from reading her books. The only thing which would be better is going to one of her yoga classes in person!

Michael Korda
Author, With Wings Like Eagles
and Ike: An American Hero

The whole idea for Boomer Yoga started when I realized that I couldnt exactly do what I used to do in terms of physical activity. My body is changing. Oh my God. That was one hell of a realization. I mean, I wasnt exactly geriatric but there were subtle alterations. And it wasnt about discovering a gray hair or a wrinkle. Those things dont seem to bother me. Since my primary physical activity was a pretty athletic form of the yoga asanas (the practice of the yoga postures) that I had been doing since 1980 and that had inspired my first book, Power Yoga, it was in my yoga practice that I first began to notice changes to my body. Those subtle changes had probably been going on for some time. And now they had become a little less subtle.

In the past, I resisted change like mad and went ballistic when unfortunate things happened. I found that that really didnt get me too far. After years of practicing being with what is, as yoga directs us to do, I sat down, face to face, with change. One day, just after coming out of rest at the end of my yoga practice, I sat up laughing. My right hip was really bothering me and restricting my range of motion. I thought to myself, Oh boy, Ill have to start teaching boomer yoga, a practice for all of us whose bodies are changing. Boom, there ya go thats how it happens, a bolt from the blue boomer yoga. Im a couple of years ahead of the first boomers, but as I sat there still chuckling to myself, it occurred to me that if this was happening to me, there were a whole bunch of folks out there, part of the most successful and prosperous generation ever, who were going to be coming up on some big changes. And all their money and stuff, their apparent security, were not going to bring them the satisfaction they had hoped it would. That satisfaction would only come from knowing who they are, and what really matters in their lives. And ultimately, thats what yoga teaches.

So this book is for all of us the baby boomers born between 1946 and 1964. Who are we? Well, we are a powerful group, we do know that much because we sure get a lot of attention from a lot of different venues. We know that we arent our parents generation. We arent geriatric, at least not yet. We are healthier, we are living longer, and we are doing stuff our parents never dreamed of. We have spent a lot of time working on success. We have lots of nice things. We have beautiful homes. Weve weathered tough times and survived. Our kids are growing or grown and having kids of their own. And now we are looking around thinking, Okay, Ive done this success thing. Im comfortable, Ive prospered, Ive accumulated some sense of security, but Im not quite all that satisfied. There is something gnawing away at me, a restlessness, a subterranean yearning to know the deeper meaning of life. There is a movement we can feel, a perceptible but welcome shift.

For all of you who are moving into the middle of life and noticing change maybe for the first time, maybe for awhile now, or maybe not yet here is an extraordinary, simple, ancient methodology that will help you to know your True Self. This is not a one-size-fits-all-yoga-class. This is a means for evolution, your own evolution. Where it takes you is where it takes you. It will be different for everyone who climbs on board. Whether you have been doing an