Xiu Yang: Self-cultivation for a healthier, happier and balanced life

Description

'Exquisite... for anyone interested in building a sustainable life that is imbued with vibrant healthy, mental and emotional clarity, and the most basic human need of all: happiness' - Donna Farhi, author of Yoga Mind, Body, Spirit 'A treasure chest for the heart and mind, a potent tonic for body and breath, and a vibrant life essence for the spirit' - Simon Low, Principal of the Yoga Academy 'A beautiful and timely gift' - Sifu Matthew Cohen, Sacred Energy Arts Founder 'Profound and powerful' - Noman Blair, author of Brightening Our Inner Skies For centuries, Chinese sages, rulers and spiritual seekers have embraced a simple yet powerful principle to enable them to live in harmony with the Source of nature and all life; the art of 'self-cultivation' or, xiu yang. Xiu yang works with the idea that we can steadily nurture our capacity to being fully human and fully awake. Like a field that is patiently cultivated to optimally grow the nourishing and healthy crops, we can undertake practices aimed at smoothing out the roughness and irregularities in our bodies, minds and spirits in order to produce a deep, lasting spiritual happiness. Xiu yang promotes the idea that inner balance leads to outer radiance: in order to be in harmony with the world, we must first be in harmony with ourselves. By tending to the field of our own bodies, hearts, minds and relationships, we can start making positive changes within our lives and in the lives of others. In this nurturing lifestyle guide, Mimi Kuo-Deemer champions the contemporary value of adopting this ancient approach. Through a combination of practices from meditation and mindfulness to yoga and qigong, Xiu Yang offers a fresh approach to finding balance and bringing peace into your life, home and community. Part I: The Art of Xiu Yang Part II: Xiu Yang for a Healthy and Harmonious Body Part III: Xiu Yang for a Balanced Mental and Emotional Life Part IV: Xiu Yang for a Happier Place in the World

Mimi Kuo-Deemer is dedicated to living, sharing and evolving the art of self-cultivation through yoga, qigong and mindfulness meditation. She champions the balance of playfulness and precision as the best way forward in life, and never underestimates how sitting, breathing and conscious movement can provide the clearest and most compassionate perspective on the messy, complex and often unpredictable job of being human. She is a teacher of both students and of other teachers having practiced and taught meditation and the movement arts for over 20 years in China, the UK, Europe and the United States. In 1994, she graduated from Stanford University and in 2016, she received an MA with distinction from SOAS in Traditions of Yoga and Meditation. Originally from Tucson, Arizona, she lived in China for over 14 years where she worked as a photojournalist as well as acted as co-founder and co-director of Yoga Yard, Beijing's first and leading yoga studio. Mimi now lives in the UK, where she offers classes online at Movement for Modern Life and teaches classes and trainings at triyoga, London's pre-eminent centre for health and wellbeing. www.mkdeemer.com.

Kuo-Deemer doesn't simply write about these ancient teachings- she shares the fruits of practicing them, processing timeless truths in her own heart and mind and body, so that we can do so in ours. Xiu Yang gives glimpses of her own transformational self-cultivation, while showing us a path for our own - Martin Aylward, Co-Founder, The Mindfulness Training Institute Things I knew about myself but dimly, things I once knew but had forgotten, things I never knew at all. Xiu Yang is a wise and loving book. Thank you Mimi. Xiu Yang is an amazingly clear book about how to live in harmony with the world and universe by first experiencing harmony within ourselves. This is referred to as the art of self-cultivation, meaning the cultivation and nurturing of one's heart, the seat of consciousness, the home of the eternal, and the supreme sovereign. Mimi makes these ideas easy to understand, and very compelling. In simple words, inner balance manifests as outer radiance, as health, as a life lived with purpose, in balance and in harmony with all of Nature. It's about learning to live well . . . by experiencing real happiness and real peace right where you are. Almost lost in China over the past century's onslaught of modernization, xiu yang is now at the centre of Chinese people's search for values and belief--a tribute to the enduring power of these ancient practices. In this slender but powerful book, Mimi Kuo-Deemer unlocks xiu yang for the modern reader, de-mystifying it without losing the eternal, timeless qualities that have made it one of Chinese people's most potent ways of living a good, honourable, happy, and healthy life. Xiu Yang is a wonderful and clear resource of those of us who have lost touch with our own body and live a lifestyle of chronic stress and imbalance. Elucidating teachings nearly lost to humankind, Mimi Kuo-Deemer shines her inner light to show us the way to, as she so aptly puts it, "a self that is whole and complete." Highly recommended. For far too long, we have been given a punishing routine of exercises aimed at controlling the body and mind, followed by self-care to soothe our troubled spirits. Mimi carefully shows us how we can no longer bandage over the damage we wreck to our minds and bodies, but CAN make practical changes to our daily lives that truly nourish and support ourselves and the world at large. This is an absolutely essential, and very practical survival guide for life, giving us clear tools to move into a life of balance and sustainable wellbeing.