Yoga teacher Cyndi Lee offers a fascinating look at her journey of self-discovery and her struggle to help others while attempting to resolve her self-doubt. Lee’s mission takes her across the world and allows her to speak with figures such as actress Jamie Lee Curtis and Louise Hay, one of the founders of the self-help movement. As a narrator, Lee reads with confidence, but allows her tone to become self-deprecating at times, which is fitting given the book’s subject matter. Both men and women will be able to relate to the author’s body-image issues. And her positive message and enthusiastic delivery will make believers out of skeptics. Many listeners will likely find themselves signing up for yoga classes upon the conclusion of this audiobook. A Dutton hardcover. (Jan.)
Overview
How can I help others grow and transform if I haven't done it myself...?" Cyndi Lee asks in the opening pages of her memoir, May I Be Happy, where she makes a surprising revelation. In spite of her success in physically demanding professions - dancer, choreographer, and yoga teacher - Lee was caught in a lifelong cycle of repetitive self-judgment about her body, which was infecting her closest relationships - including her relationship with herself.
Inspired by the honesty and vulnerability of her students, Lee embarked on a journey of self-discovery that led her outward - from the sacred sites of the parched Indian countryside to the center of the 2011 earthquake in Japan - and inward, to seek the counsel of knowing women, friends and strangers both.
Author and actress Jamie Lee Curtis; visionary health pioneer Dr. Christiane Northrup; and a founder of the self-help movement, Louise Hay, each have wisdom to impart. Applying the ancient Buddhist practice of loving-kindness meditation - "Normally you do it for others," a sage scholar advises, "but you must do this for yourself right now" - Lee comes to learn that compassion is the only antidote to hate.
With candid, contemplative prose, May I Be Happy gives voice to Lee's belief that every life arises, abides, and ultimately dissolves. By becoming her own best student, Lee internalizes the strength, stability, and clarity she imparts in her Buddhist-inspired yoga classes.
Editorial Reviews
Renowned yoga instructor Lee (Yoga Body, Buddha Mind) juxtaposes her expertise in mindfulness and fitness with her lifelong hatred of her body. Instantly relatable to almost every woman, Lee’s journey reels readers in. Though she danced and choreographed with Cyndi Lauper in the 1980s, she writes, “I just felt like an un-cool person with a wrong-shaped body.” In the present, Lee struggles about letting her hair go gray and feels empowered when she goes for it. With skill, Lee weaves together the story of her personal hardships—her dying mother, her marriage heartbreak—with yogic wisdom and sage advice from experts, gurus, and friends (including Jamie Lee Curtis). Determined to stop feeling bad about herself, she has several breakthroughs, one while she teaches yoga in Japan during the recent devastating earthquakes and tsunamis. Yogis will devour the insightful dharma talks, but the book transcends its New Age genre. Lee takes the familiar body image subject and makes it fresh—and better yet—manageable. (Jan.)
Whether or not you do yoga, this memoir is riveting.” –Fitness
“Lee’s candor in her healing process will likely resonate with self-help fans... For the millions of people — especially women — who fight the fat talk in their heads, her words will be familiar and comforting. In talking about her students, Lee says, ‘The honesty and vulnerability of each person touches me deeply.’ With this book, Lee has returned the gift.” –Associated Press
“Lee has the ability to look at her self-inflicted suffering with honesty, humor, and open-heartedness. . . . her challenges become part of every woman’story.” –Yoga International
“With candor and curiosity, Lee describes her battle with self-criticism and share how yoga and lovingkindness helped her make the shift from shame to acceptance.” –Yoga Journal
Despite international renown as a Buddhist-inspired yoga teacher, Lee (Yoga Body, Buddha Mind) experiences suffering just as we all do. In this heartfelt memoir, she reflects on hating her body—an all too common problem. Lee examines how her dance career, her relationship with her mother, and other life events affected her body image and in turn how it impacted her marriage. Honestly, and at times provocatively, she describes her journey toward remembering her basic goodness and finding contentment with her physical appearance. Woven into the narrative are first-person vignettes of Lee teaching her students. Her style is a beautifully accessible blend of Buddhist mindfulness practices and yoga asana. Guided by wise women (actress Jamie Lee Curtis, Christiane Northrup, self-help guru Louise Hay, various Buddhist teachers, friends, and herself), Lee remembers the truth: that we are all perfect and there is nothing wrong with us.
Verdict Lee’s writing matches her teaching style: patient, melodic, and straightforward. Yoga students of all levels and abilities will learn from the simple, profound lessons in this book.—Julia A. Watson, Marywood Univ. Lib., Scranton, PA
(c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Helped by conversational writing that flows into the most relaxed places of consciousness, renowned yoga teacher Cyndi Lee’s down-to-earth teaching describes the powerful connections between how we move our bodies, what we allow ourselves to think and say, and how we express kindness to ourselves and others. Her performance may lack the sparkle and polish you’d hear if it were handled by a voice pro, but what dominates the listening experience is less her reading style than her willingness to be vulnerable with her listeners. With her chatty, self-effacing stories and soft-serve Buddhist-inspired advice (she shares instead of teaches), this is an audio that will help women of all ages accept support from other enlightened women, embrace their own bodies and appearance, and find enduring emotional contentment. T.W. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
A yoga expert charts her path to centered serenity. From the opening pages of her memoir, the founder of Manhattan's renowned OM yoga center is outspokenly quick to correct misconceptions about yoga instructors, who are assumed to be "always chill and never grumpy." Lee's (Yoga Body, Buddha Mind, 2004, etc.) life has been a mix of long-sought-after wellness and the trials of caring for an increasingly frail mother fraught with a merciless diagnosis of Lewy body disease, "which presents as a cruel combination of Alzheimer's and Parkinson's." She reminisces about an upbringing greatly influenced by her father, a Protestant minister, and momentous visits from Gloria Steinem at her high school in the 1960s. Dancing and a steady interest in yoga buoyed Lee through an obsession with her physical image, which bloomed into a dogged "body grudge" and chronic low self-esteem that plagued her into adulthood. Several trips to India helped her comprehend that it wasn't her body being "the real troublemaker," but her mindset. Lee beautifully describes the yin and yang of an all-encompassing yogic lifestyle. Sprinkled throughout are short (but sweetly sage) anecdotes from the veteran yoga instructor's classes. The author writes that her beloved mother's firm direction on "how to be ladylike and strong at the same time" still resonates with her today and pretty much sums up the tone of this distinctively Zen autobiography. A reassuring treat for the yoga set and inspiration for flexible newcomers.
Product Details
| BN ID: | 2940172260650 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Brilliance Audio |
| Publication date: | 01/24/2013 |
| Edition description: | Unabridged |
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